Day 22

Well, today was probably one of the least efficient practice days. I tried to capitalize on my vibrato breakthroughs, but it did not happen. I was hitting a wall every time I tried to speed up my vibrato or when I was trying to incorporate it into the piece. I think I spent an entire hour today on vibrato exercises! I did not get what I wanted, but it was not a complete waste of time. I noticed that my left thumb was tired, so I decided to check if I could vibrate without it. Turns out that I can!

Moreover, if I allowed the thumb just slide across the violin neck, I could get the exact vibrato I was looking for. So thumb was not completely relaxed after all and was slowing down the vibrato. But this is good. It means I identified one more problem to work on in the future:).

After I spent so much effort on vibrato, I tried to rush through the next page of Haley's book. And this was doing more harm than good. The exercises continue to become more and more difficult (for the right arm), and without my "constant feedback loop," I feel that I lost time doing them. Quantity without quality only will help to make your bad habits stronger:). Anyway, I must get back on track tomorrow, hopefully :).