Box and Fiddle
Year 20 No 01
September 1996
Hints on Fiddle Practice
by Kevin McCann
All of us would like to fiddle better and learn as quickly as possible. Fortunately, there are some rules of thumb which make the learning process more efficient. There are a few thing to keep in mind though. All individuals are different in their various abilities. Some people find bowing easy and fingering difficult while others encounter the opposite situation. You will find that some techniques on the fiddle come more naturally than others.
Here are some facts about practising, which, if followed consistently, will help you to learn faster. Scientists have found that the brain works more efficiently under certain conditions. For example, it is better to practice in short repeated sessions than a long continuous session. Two separate 40 minute sessions a day are better than a two hour continuous session. Beginners often profit with two 20 minute sessions a day, once in the morning and again in the evening. Some people find that three separate sessions are even better. The best length of a practice session is different for everyone depending upon stamina, previous experience and day-to-day routines.
Fifteen minutes every day is better than an hour straight every three days.
I suggest practising often in front of a mirror to observe your style. This way you can check if your bow is perpendicular to the fiddle, how much of the bow you are using, whether your bow strokes are smooth, whether your body is in good posture, etc.
An advantage of practising is a small room or stairwell is that the sound of your fiddle is amplified and sounds better, no matter what your ability, sort of like singing in the shower! A contrasting situation would be to play in a large carpeted room which might make your fiddle sound thin. This type of practice situation might help because you must work harder to get a full tone.
In order to get the most out of a playing session you must be refreshed and relaxed. Many fiddlers and violinists alike have found that they play better when relaxed. Some (including Yehudi Menuhin) find that yoga and stretching exercises work best for their playing programme.
Try to remember the first few times that you tried to dance, skate or ride a bicycle. If you were like most people, you found that your muscles were tense and you felt somewhat clumsy. Later on the activity became easier and you found it more enjoyable. If you continue long enough at it, you found that you could learn to move gracefully and efficiently.
Your muscles were no longer tense and you didn’t get tired as easily because you were only using the muscles that were needed when you needed them.
With fiddle playing, you don’t build up strength as you learn to play better, but instead use less strength than when you are starting, but in a more efficient way. You learn to use only the muscles that you need, when you need them. If your left hand is clamped down on the fiddle, knuckles white, as you struggle to get the right notes, you are wasting energy and tiring yourself out.
This tension will creep up into your arms, jaw, neck and back, and you will begin getting aches and pains. Now, I want to emphasise that everyone will experience some tension and strain during practising and learning the fiddle. But if you are aware of this muscular tension, you can do quite a bit about it.
First of all, try to avoid clamping down on the fiddle, either with your left hand or with your jaw and collar bone. Of course, you don’t want to relax so much that you drop your instrument, but you do want to find a happy medium. Ideally, your fiddle should be balanced, delicately, yet firmly. If you constantly think ‘relaxed’, you will gradually get better at it. Why is it so important to be relaxed? Besides making it easier to play the instrument and allowing you to play for longer periods of time, your playing will sound much better!
If you are stiff and tense your playing will sound scratchy. If you are relaxed, your bowing will be stronger and more and more rhythmic on a fast reel or polka, and richer and more vibrant on a waltz. In addition, your fingers will be able to move more rapidly and with greater accuracy.
I should note here that a fair number of fiddle players hardly ever ‘practice’ the fiddle in any systematic way. Rather, they just get out their fiddle and play the tunes that they know whenever the mood takes them. This may suit those who play only a particular style, where constant repetition of tunes served as a source of practice.
However, if one is interested in learning more diverse styles, or improving tone or bowing, a little self-discipline is needed. The easiest way to practice is to play all of the tunes that one knows best. A more profitable was to practice might be to concentrate on the tunes or techniques which one finds most difficult yet want to learn.
Some performers mix easy and hard tunes in their practice sessions, but most spend at least three-quarters of the time on very difficult or new pieces. They save the tune they know well for playing with their friends or for performing purposes.
Most find that practising the difficult pieces increases their ability to play the easier ones better without actually practising them. In addition the players gradually overcome the difficulties of the tough tunes.
Finally, I hope that this article will encourage fiddle players, particularly beginners to persevere. From personal experience I can attest to the benefits of it and hope that it will help to keep fiddlers who may be faltering to give it another try and keep on with the queen of instruments.
by Kevin McCann
All of us would like to fiddle better and learn as quickly as possible. Fortunately, there are some rules of thumb which make the learning process more efficient. There are a few thing to keep in mind though. All individuals are different in their various abilities. Some people find bowing easy and fingering difficult while others encounter the opposite situation. You will find that some techniques on the fiddle come more naturally than others.
Here are some facts about practising, which, if followed consistently, will help you to learn faster. Scientists have found that the brain works more efficiently under certain conditions. For example, it is better to practice in short repeated sessions than a long continuous session. Two separate 40 minute sessions a day are better than a two hour continuous session. Beginners often profit with two 20 minute sessions a day, once in the morning and again in the evening. Some people find that three separate sessions are even better. The best length of a practice session is different for everyone depending upon stamina, previous experience and day-to-day routines.
Fifteen minutes every day is better than an hour straight every three days.
I suggest practising often in front of a mirror to observe your style. This way you can check if your bow is perpendicular to the fiddle, how much of the bow you are using, whether your bow strokes are smooth, whether your body is in good posture, etc.
An advantage of practising is a small room or stairwell is that the sound of your fiddle is amplified and sounds better, no matter what your ability, sort of like singing in the shower! A contrasting situation would be to play in a large carpeted room which might make your fiddle sound thin. This type of practice situation might help because you must work harder to get a full tone.
In order to get the most out of a playing session you must be refreshed and relaxed. Many fiddlers and violinists alike have found that they play better when relaxed. Some (including Yehudi Menuhin) find that yoga and stretching exercises work best for their playing programme.
Try to remember the first few times that you tried to dance, skate or ride a bicycle. If you were like most people, you found that your muscles were tense and you felt somewhat clumsy. Later on the activity became easier and you found it more enjoyable. If you continue long enough at it, you found that you could learn to move gracefully and efficiently.
Your muscles were no longer tense and you didn’t get tired as easily because you were only using the muscles that were needed when you needed them.
With fiddle playing, you don’t build up strength as you learn to play better, but instead use less strength than when you are starting, but in a more efficient way. You learn to use only the muscles that you need, when you need them. If your left hand is clamped down on the fiddle, knuckles white, as you struggle to get the right notes, you are wasting energy and tiring yourself out.
This tension will creep up into your arms, jaw, neck and back, and you will begin getting aches and pains. Now, I want to emphasise that everyone will experience some tension and strain during practising and learning the fiddle. But if you are aware of this muscular tension, you can do quite a bit about it.
First of all, try to avoid clamping down on the fiddle, either with your left hand or with your jaw and collar bone. Of course, you don’t want to relax so much that you drop your instrument, but you do want to find a happy medium. Ideally, your fiddle should be balanced, delicately, yet firmly. If you constantly think ‘relaxed’, you will gradually get better at it. Why is it so important to be relaxed? Besides making it easier to play the instrument and allowing you to play for longer periods of time, your playing will sound much better!
If you are stiff and tense your playing will sound scratchy. If you are relaxed, your bowing will be stronger and more and more rhythmic on a fast reel or polka, and richer and more vibrant on a waltz. In addition, your fingers will be able to move more rapidly and with greater accuracy.
I should note here that a fair number of fiddle players hardly ever ‘practice’ the fiddle in any systematic way. Rather, they just get out their fiddle and play the tunes that they know whenever the mood takes them. This may suit those who play only a particular style, where constant repetition of tunes served as a source of practice.
However, if one is interested in learning more diverse styles, or improving tone or bowing, a little self-discipline is needed. The easiest way to practice is to play all of the tunes that one knows best. A more profitable was to practice might be to concentrate on the tunes or techniques which one finds most difficult yet want to learn.
Some performers mix easy and hard tunes in their practice sessions, but most spend at least three-quarters of the time on very difficult or new pieces. They save the tune they know well for playing with their friends or for performing purposes.
Most find that practising the difficult pieces increases their ability to play the easier ones better without actually practising them. In addition the players gradually overcome the difficulties of the tough tunes.
Finally, I hope that this article will encourage fiddle players, particularly beginners to persevere. From personal experience I can attest to the benefits of it and hope that it will help to keep fiddlers who may be faltering to give it another try and keep on with the queen of instruments.