IMSLP Forums

Im a 3rd year viola player and ive been told that i have extreme potential, ive never had a teacher and don't think i will ever be able to. I plan to try out for my allstate competition next year and i needed some advice on how to improve my technique.
1, Double stop inotation and balance
2. better sound* im good, but not quite as good as the allstate player in my class)
3.faster speeds
4. moving my fingers with intervals and faster
5. smoother string crossing
6. anything else you guys might have
thanks!

Could you join an orchestra? So perhaps you would notice sound differences with the other violists, and understand to work still to be done.

Are there any music workshops that last only a week or so in your country, but with a viola course every day? This could take the place of your usual hollidays, instead of the usual 1 course/week. And often you are introduced to chamber music.

Ask someone - no need for a viola teacher - to check that your bow/string angle is always 90°.

And I hope http://www.mit.edu/~jcb/viola-jokes.html will not offend you

I can sadly just do my school orchestra and every year i do a region orchestra competiiton, but that its, nothing else is affordable, and im already one of the best violists in my school/ orch..so noluck there.

With all due respect, find a teacher who can clarify these issues for you. You obviously need help, and I doubt very much if you are going to find adequate solutions to your many technical problems on a forum.

stez wrote:find a teacher who can clarify these issues for you

I agree -- find a good teacher if you can afford one. But the next best thing, though it is in a distant 2nd place, is to make videos of yourself playing, even videos of you just doing scales and arpeggios. This is easily done with any sort of video camera, such as in a cellphone. It's hard to assess what you are doing wrong while you are doing it. One of the important functions of a teacher is to watch and listen dispassionately and analytically to what the student is doing. Videos allow you to do the same for yourself. Some technical faults may be plainly visible (such as the 90-degree bow angle mentioned earlier). And I'm absolutely sure that those who succeed in an allstate competition will have a disciplined practice schedule of at least a couple of hours every day, at least half of it devoted to the most basic things like exercises. Yes, they're boring, but they're like any muscular activity (such as working out or practicing for a sport). You have to do lots of exercises in order for the movements to be programmed into your "muscle memory." Hope this helps. And good luck!

--Sixtus, a violin player

PS: If you've never had a teacher of any kind, you may still be getting some fundamentals wrong, such as your bow grip or the angle of your left arm under the instrument. Even things like the proper hair tension on the bow have to be taught and learned. You gotta get these things checked out by teacher or at least somebody more advanced than you, like a professional player. Unlearning bad habits that limit your technique might be EXTREMELY difficult at this stage since the bad habits have gotten into muscle memory. Even spotting what is amiss in a video may be difficult, since you may not know what proper technique looks like. That's another reason why a teacher is essential, even if only for a couple of lessons.