Here is a new practice routine for me:
Practice.
Analyze
Write down your observation and make conclusions
Continue your practice.
I found those breaks to be extremely useful (so typing the blog during the practice is not a waste of your practice time but an integral part of it:). It allows me to:
Rest and regain my focus.
Write down my observation, so that I will remember them later.
Formulate what I observed clearly.
Another realization, practice is not about what you play. It is about what you learned from it.
Today I started (as usual) with open strings (but using an entire bow), but I changed my sound point to no. 4. I was expecting that I would need low pressure and higher speed, but it turned out to be inaccurate. The faster the bowing, the more pressure you will need to maintain a good sound. And you still can play forte at sound point 4, but now the problem is that (with faster bow speed AND more weight) the string bends down too much, and you begin to touch other strings. Conclusion: it is not practical to play forte close to the fingerboard, but it might be helpful if you need to play double (maybe even triple?) stops.
Another goal for today I want to work on my vibrato. When I find something I cannot do, it becomes an obsession to get it right. Sometimes it is valuable, and I get what I was looking for, and sometimes (when I am not ready yet), it is just a waste of time. But you have to try it first to know:).
Again, as usual, I begin with D on the A string and, for a minute, do a full bow without vibrato to check that I can maintain a consistent tone. Then I add vibrato in the middle of the bow and gradually expand it for larger and larger portions of the bow. It looks like yesterday’s practice was not wasted, and I can produce relatively uniform vibrato. But I noticed two new problems, the tension in my left shoulder and … I hold my breath when vibrating. Have to address them before I move on.
Surprisingly it solves the problem of maintaining the vibrato throw the whole bow (of course, you could not do something for a longer time if you hold your breath :)) )! But my breath is still not natural yet. I become light-headed :)). I also notice that I synchronize my breath with the bow (one breath per bow :O ). I still need to bow slowly, so I use sound point 2 (suitable for the A string). Before increasing the bowing speed (my main objective), I try to make the vibrato wider (it is too shallow for my taste). I need to relax my fist knuckle and let it bend freely. I can do it with a very slow vibrato, but when it speeds up, my finger tense and the knuckle stop bending. I try to speed up my vibrato gradually, but I have to keep several balls in the air, and they begin to fall. My tone deteriorates, and my body is tense. I have to stop. I took a couple of deep breaths to relax and restarted the process. I checked my tone first (no vibrato!) and that my body was not tense. I begin to do a wide and slow vibrato and notice that it is still challenging to maintain it through the full bow. Solution? I need to practice it more (to make it easier to do) before going to the next step (speeding up vibrato and the bow). It is a good time to stop my first practice session.
My second practice session was slightly disappointing. I decided to play Prat’s study again and see if I could incorporate the vibrato on longer notes. Nope, not yet. With full vibrato, my tone suffered miserably. I had to retrace my step and play without vibrato first, but focusing on the tone instead. I tried to add a splash of vibrato at the end, but the final result was far from my goal. The main reason, perhaps I want too much too soon:).