The steps of practice to master the seven basic elements of a piece or composition that are:
- Scale and Arpeggio.
- Note in Alphabet, Up-Down-Same, In Out Black, Solfege and Aural Spelling.
- Fingering and Touch.
- Beat and Tempo.
- Articulation, Dynamic and Expression.
- Passage and Phrase.
- Chord.
How to Practice?
Firstly, play the scale and arpeggio then you play and say the note as follows.
Violin as a fretless instrument need a clear and strong visualization to play its notes well, you are producing the tone. Instead of playing by guessing the place of note, learning by measuring, mapping and visualizing dot to dot on finger board is compulsory. Spelling “say” the note while playing is very helpful and gives an enforcement in mind. There are four spelling steps on violin:
- Play and say the note in alphabet (a, b, c, d, e, f, g) including its sharp, flat and natural.
- Play and say the note in solfege or doremi according to its scale or keynote.
- Play and say “beat” for the note on down beat only and say “tek” for the extra beat and say rest on the rest sign.
- Play and say the note in aural, tam-tam for detache’, ta-ra-ram for legato. pam-pam for staccato, dam-dam for tenuto and bam-bam for accent. When you are performing there is only aural spelling in your mind.
The reasons either physical and mental of every steps above, I will explain them in my class or discussion forum. Practice those four steps part by part for a long piece or composition and play whole piece for the short one.
