Bess

Welcome to your lesson notes page, Bess!

Sat 29^th November 2025

Scales

• Add the C keys to your practice, playing this in 2nd position.
• Watch out for the big tone-and-a-half gap in the harmonic minor scale.
• Think through the fingering before you play the arpeggios.
• The tuning of the 2nd note in each octave is super important!

Prelude

• Experiment with length of bow, aiming for as focused a sound as possible.
• Imagine you’re trying to help someone fill in the missing dynamics on their music as you play.

The Legend of Ashitaka

• Keep working on adding your lovely vibrato to this piece, but make sure you’re still aiming correctly with your fingers.
• Keep your left hand as relaxed as you can.
• Work on the bowing for the upbeat to C, keeping the music really calm to help you be able to do the crescendo at D.
• Keep the staccatos in 8&9, 32 & 33 light.
• Work on your fluency of the last 3 notes – first just with the bow on one note, then with the real notes.

Butterfly

• Practice finding your first note silently! Try 5 times in a row each practice.
• Work slowly on the 4 bars I’ve marked for metronome practice. Only move up to the next tempo when you feel safe at the current speed.

Check whether I gave you a shifting book.

Sat 15^th November 2025

Prelude

• When playing your fingertips warm-up, always listen out for one thing to improve on each time.
• Seriously work on the metronome chart now – aim for at least two more steps of the chart.
• Listen out for clean string crossings.

The Legend of Ashitaka

• Aim for a quieter first half.
• Experiment with vibrato in the louder second half, remembering to try and keep your left hand relaxed.
• If you want to try some vibrato in the first half, try and make it match the mood of this section (narrow and slow).

Butterfly

• Start by practising the quavers in 40-44 slowly, with separate bows.
• Next, play from C. Keep the staccato crotchets nice and light.
• Keep deliberating over the fingering on bar 43.
• Once you’ve practised that bit, carry on and play the rest of the piece. Write in any fingerings you need from the first part of the piece, but see how you get on without the colours.

Sat 1^st November 2025

Scales

• Keep working on last time’s scales, plus the new ones I underlined today.
• Before you play each scale, see if you can remember the key signature. Especially for B major, this will help with forward planning, as you’ll know which open strings not to use!
• For B major, it might be helpful to think of your hand as being in 1.5 position. Try not not bring your 2nd finger up when you reach for you high 4s!

Prelude

• Use the metronome chart to help you gradually speed this up – I only expect one step up each lesson, but if you manage it, 2 is fine as well!
• Start looking at the dynamics a bit more.

The Legend of Ashitaka

• Work on the first 3 notes for a “mysteriously sweet” start of the bow, and a clean string crossing.
• Think about tuning on your first line.
• Keep the staccatos at 8 and 9 short, but still within the mood of the piece (delicate).
• For the bow change in bat 9, avoid kicking the bow so that it sounds smooth.
• Keep the upbeats to 15 and 17 delicate.
• Practice the shift into D with a light 2nd finger, thinking about the size of the tone.
• From bar 25, work on getting a resonant f sound from arm weight rather than pressing. Can you try some of the other methods with this, to get it even louder?

Sat 11^th October 2025

Scales

• Lots of the G4 scales have flats in. Make sure they are low enough.
• Practice the ones we underlined in the back of your book today.

The Legend of Ashitaka

• Decide which bowing you prefer at the end of bar 14.
• Keep your bow light, even though you are thinking hard!
• Look out for the dynamics.

Sat 4^th October 2025

The Legend of Ashitaka

• Warm up with a G minor scale and arpeggio.
• Count yourself in for the first bar of this piece.
• Think about bow distribution in section A.
• Practice the 3 note slur with the shift in bar 7 a few times. Remember to keep your 1st finger light.
• When practising A and B one after the other, be very conscious of the difference at bar 13.
• In section C, notice that you’re in 2nd position until the quaver rest. Make sure the quaver upbeat flows into the next bar.
• Choose a fingering for bar 20. Base it on what sounds best.

Prelude

• Make sure you really know your quaver bars!
• In the bariolage, use small bows and shallow string crossings, keeping your right shoulder relaxed.
• Keep the last 3 notes punchy, all the same length.

Butterfly

• Keep thinking of light touchdowns after rests.
• Use a little bit of squeeze from your bow index finger to help with your articulation at C.
• Practice bars 40-44 separate bows or pizzicato.

Sat 27^th September 2025

Prelude

• Write in any fingerings you might need at the start of scales.
• Start working your way up the metronome chart.

Butterfly

• Great work on the beginning! Keep thinking about a light, flowing bow.
• Spend most of your time with this piece on bars 24-27.
• Work up to bar 40.

The Legend of Ashitaka

• Listen to this a few times. We’ll start with this next lesson.

Sat 20^th September 2025

Remember to keep practising tuning with your left hand coming around to move the adjusters as you play.

Butterfly

• Keep practising your rhythmic D major scale, thinking in quavers to make sure the rhythm is clear. Make sure you shift within a rest, not a slur.
• At the start of the piece, think in quavers so that your first quaver isn’t too short.
• Keep the crotchets in 17 and 19 as short as the previous ones.
• Keep working on on 24-27.
• Start trying section “C”.
• If you have time, write some fingerings in for the final 2 sections, based on what we did earlier in the piece.

Prelude

• Warm up with a 2 octave G major scale, separate bows, and the arpeggio with 4 focused semiquavers on each note (small bows and heavy bow arm).
• Work on having no hesitation in bar 10.
• Before playing bar 11, practice the “Fingertips” exercise. You can mix it up and play it on the G&D and A&E strings if you like too.
• Practise the whole piece now.

Sat 13^th September 2025

Butterfly

• Keep practising your rhythmic D major scale, thinking in quavers to make sure the rhythm is clear.
• Aim for light take-offs and landings either side of the rests.
• Work on getting the quavers from bar 18 really even, factoring in any shifts.
• Work on the quavers from 24 by starting with 2 notes, then 3, then 4 etc, like we did in your lesson. Try to keep the bowing as it will be in the piece, with a light bow.

Prelude

• Warm up with a 2 octave G major separate bows, and the arpeggio with 4 focused semiquavers on each note (small bows and heavy bow arm).
• In the piece, make your staccato really clear.
• Look ahead in bars 3-5 and 7-9 so that you’re ready for the first note of each sequence.
• For the bariolage technique, try to keep your fingers on the lower string (especially in bars 12, 14, 18 and 20).
• See how far you can get with the rest of this piece.

Fri 5^th September 2025

Check your “General Holiday Goals” from last lesson as you play some of your old favourites, and maybe do a bit of sight reading in your other books.

Butterfly

• Warm up with a 2 octave D major scale, shifting to 3rd position on the 2nd octave.
• Try another version of the scale based on the rhythm and bowing pattern of the opening of the piece.
• Start learning the section we coloured in today, remembering to shift in the rests when needed.

Fri 25^th July 2025

General Holiday Goals

• Challenge yourself to place your fingers carefully before you play, in a way that means you don’t have to check them with your bow before you start playing.
• Think a bit more about your bow hold each practice session. Make sure all your fingers are curved as much as possibly.

Gavotte duet

• Warm up with F major in 2nd position. Even though you’ll be playing the piece in 1st position, this can warm up your ears for the sound of this key.
• In the piece, think about your hand almost being in half position, as most of the notes are low versions.
• Once you’re more familiar with the notes, try playing this holding your bow past the lapping, to simulate a baroque bow. Next, try to simulate the lightness of how that sounded, but holding the bow in its usual position.
• Keep an eye out for the bowing patterns in this piece, especially on the semiquaver groups.

Sat 28^th June 2025

Musical Pastime

• Work on upping the tempo – vivo means lively.
• See if you can make this sound a bit lighter – the staccato notes should be very light.

Star Wars Main Theme

• Think of the character of this piece before you start.
• Count all the minims carefully.

Can You Feel the Love Tonight

• Start your vibrato warm-ups, then try adding vibrato to the piece.

Fri 20^th June 2025

Pops

• Choose a new piece for next lesson.

Can You Feel the Love Tonight

• Keep playing this to keep the standard up. We’ll add vibrato once you’ve got to grips with these exercises:
• Vibrato warm ups:
  • Bounce your finger joints against your thumb.
  • Without the bow, rest your fingertips on the A string and slide them up and down the string, opening from the elbow.
  • Next, slowly squeeze down on your first fingertip. Then go back to sliding up and down the neck before landing on the second finger, etc.
  • Try a 1 octave D major scale, with a semibreve on each note, oscillating between in-tune upright fingers and leaning backwards in a quaver rhythm.

Musical Pastime

• Start looking at the top line of this for next week.

Sat 7^th June 2025

Bow hold

Sleep Song

• Touch the nut with the side of your 1st finger to ensure your first F# will be in tune.
• Keep your left hand as relaxed as possible, to prepare for adding vibrato.
• Make sure every note is in the character of the whole piece.
• Try to keep everything flowing, especially places like bars 10-11, 27-28, 28-30.
• From bar 11, think lots about how you’re using your bow. Could it be lighter? Further from the bridge? Experiment.

Looney Tunes

• Make a good contrast between smooth (legato) bowing and staccato.
• Use the corner of the fingerboard as a stable resting point for your thumb when pizzicatoing.

Can You Feel the Love Tonight

• Look out for quaver rhythms – they really need to be snappy!
• We’ll start talking about vibrato next lesson, then we can add some to this.

Fri 16^th May 2025

Revise your bow hold:

• Hold onto the bow with your left hand whilst you set your bow hold.
• Fold your “rabbit’s teeth” over the bow.
• Curve your little finger, step it away from your other fingers and set it on its tip, on the back side of the octagon.
• Practice your pinkie push-ups. Start with 5, and up it to 10 when you feel ready, then 15 etc.

Ashokan Farewell

• You can just play this for fun now! Keep it up your sleeve for assemblies etc.

Sleep Song

• See if you can find your piano part to bring next lesson.
• In bar 3 (your first bar), try to make the open A sound as soft as the rest of the bar.
• Link bars 4 and 5 with sound.
• From bar 11, make sure your counting is even and your bow is flowing.

Fri 2^nd May 2025

Ashokan Farewell

• Warm up with D major slurred.
• In the piece, try not to let the grace notes disturb the pulse.
• Listen to Jay Ungar playing it with his family:

Practice both your ABBA tunes in the Pops book, keeping a close eye on all the rhythms.

Fri 25^th April 2025

Telemann March

• Imagine dancers in big dresses and wigs – keep it light and with forward movement.
• When you play the minims in the 2nd line at the beginning, imagine a paintbrush stroke, leaving some air at the end of your minims.
• In the second half in particular, take note of the dynamics.
• Practice 20-21 a few times for fluency.

Move onto the next piece too if you get time!

Can You Feel the Love Tonight

• Make sure you’ve got a strong sense of the pulse in the introduction.
• Watch out for rhythms in the verse, where notes are very similar but not quite the lengths you expect.
• Count the chorus in crotchets for now, and practice it to get comfortable with the 3rd position notes.

Fri 28^th March 2025

Warm up with D major – you could even try recording yourself so that you can play a duet of this!

The King’s March

• Choose a faster speed for this now.
• Practice switching lines on the repeat, like we did in the lesson.

Can You Feel the Love Tonight

• Work on the rhythm when you have tied notes. It might not be exactly what you expect!
• Get to know the fingering for the chorus in 3rd position.

11th March 2025

Grade 3 violin: Merit 128/150

🥳

Fri 7^th March 2025

Blackberry Blossom

• Practice the second half especially to make sure there aren’t any hesitations anywhere.

Rédowa de Wallerstein

• Work on bar 9 for clarity of the notes, keeping them slow as they’re not triplets this time.
• In variation 1, use a lighter bow on the 6 note slurs so you don’t run out of bow. Don’t cut your crotchets too short.

I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’

• Make sure the ends of your 6 beat notes link well to the next note.

Scales

• Make sure you’ve thought carefully about how to play the first 3 notes of each scale before you set off.
• Practice finding your first notes silently by thinking about the spacing and by listening to the sounds your fingers make when you put them down.

Aural

• Try the grade 3 examples on the website.

Sight Reading

• Time yourself having a practice of each piece, then play it to someone.

Sun 2^nd March 2025

Scales

• Try to use your fingers a little more lightly in your scales this week.
• Aim for metronome mark crotchet = 63. You are at about 50 at the moment.
• In your minor scales, make sure you’ve thought about your 3rd note before you start.
• If you want to, practice the melodic minor as well so that you have the option. We raise the 6th and 7th on the way up, and lower them on the way down. The first 5 notes remain the same as the harmonic minor.
• Practice your arpeggios more than your scales this week, both slurred and separate bows.
• For B flat major, place your hand being in half position.
• Practice singing: “I must practice my semitones until they get much better” to help with your tuning in the chromatic scale.

Aural

• Have a go at home and let me know if you want to do any in your lesson.

Blackberry Blossom

• Start practising this piece at bar 9. Start slowly, then speed it up a bit and play the whole piece at that speed. Maybe keep track of what speeds you’re doing with a metronome.
• Take a mental breath before the f in the 2nd time bar, so that your two upbeat quavers really lead you into the next bar.

Rédowa de Wallerstein

• Count the last bar of each variation carefully, so that you give yourself enough time before diving into the next bit too soon.
• Listen for clarity of notes from bar 25, especially the triplets.

I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’

• Make sure you count your long notes carefully, to avoid cutting them short.
• Great dynamics – well done!

Check all your metronome marks for your pieces.

Tue 11^th February 2025

Papini

• Push yourself to aim a little closer to the metronome mark.
• Watch out for the bowing in 80 and 81.
• Make sure you connect bars 84 and 85.

Once the festival is over, start practising the aural, sight reading and scales with a vengeance.

Blackberry Blossom

• Play in front of the mirror, or ask someone to watch you, to see if your bow is running parallel to the bridge in this piece. Push out with your bow arm to help this.
• Keep up the great work on the double stop section!

Rédowa de Wallerstein

• Position your bow just over the fingerboard for the opening section of this.
• Work on the flow. This might mean taking a few of the later sections slower for now, but that’s fine!
• See if you can add the dynamics into Variation 2. If you need to just work on flow first, that’s fine, but you might be able to work on both at the same time.
• Remember to use a heavy bow in your f dynamics, not a pressy bow (especially in double stops).

I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’

• Think about the flow around bars 10-11.
• At 25, listen to your sound quality – can you be a bit gentler with your bow when you’re on the E string, so that it’s closer to matching your A string sound?
• Spend some focused time on your downward shifts (like bar 13, 21 and 43).
• Practice bar 31-33 slowly so that you don’t feel panicked. Then speed it up slowly.

Fri 7^th February 2025

Papini

• Look up whether you’re allowed to play the whole thing.
• Try to make the dynamics integral to (part of) everything you do.
• At the start of Var. 3, think of your bow landing on the string like an aeroplane to get a nice smooth sound.
• Any places where the quavers are tripping you up, break it down into smaller chunks and add a note each time (like we did in bars 55 and 56).
• Work on 65-66 together, and then 67-68. Try to keep your bow moving in time on the separate bow notes.

Wed 5^th February 2025

Well done with your sight reading! Try another for next time.

When practising your scales, add some flow so that they sound like a lovely piece of music!

Blackberry Blossom

• No need to do the repeats in this for the exam.
• Practice the middle section without the open Es, at the speed you’re playing the opening of the piece.
• Try the exercise at the top of the page, first silently (without the bow) and then with the bow. Try not to press too hard with your left hand, and relax your bow hand too.
• Be brave with adding the open Es – try to keep your bow going at the same speed as you were without them.

I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’

• Start with the bow on the string, but from then on in your staccatos, aim for the banana bowing we practised in your lesson.
• For your shifts, sing the tune in your head and make your left hand keep up. You are better at them than you think!
• Practice getting your most beautiful p sound from 25.
• In 31-33, try to keep going – even over the shift!
• From bar 44, do a gradual diminuendo. Make sure the crotchets are never louder than the long note you’ve just played.

Sun 2^nd February 2025

Sight reading

• Try at least one piece of sight reading from your scale book this week.
• Notice the key signature, time signature and any important features before you start.

Redowa de Wallerstein

• Play a G major scale and arpeggio to warm up.
• Remember to start bar 9 on a down bow.
• Practice bars 7-9 several times, imagining your 1st finger travelling from a B to a D as you shift.
• In Variation 1, watch out for C naturals in bars 19 and 23.
• Can you get all of bars 19 and 23 into one bow?
• Practice bars 27-28 open strings to get your bowing more comfortable.
• Get to know the notes in the first half of variation 2.
• Remember to start bar 41 on a down bow. Use a heavy relaxed bow arm.
• Practice the strings crossings in the last section by playing them as open strings first.
• Finish your practice with a challenge: play the last 8 bars through without hesitation.

Fri 17^th January 2025

I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’

• Start by practising a staccato G major scale, with 2 of each note. Start by hovering the bow above the string, then dipping down onto the string.
• Get used to the bowing bar 18-19 & 49.
• Use a light bow at bar 25.
• Work on the new fingering at bar 32.

Blackberry Blossom

• In the first section, work on getting a freer feeling in your right hand.
• Every time you have a triplet, ask yourself whether all the notes are even. You could clap yourself a steady beat, then say the words “fimo violin” to practice this.
• Practice from bar 9 without the open E strings a few times. Have a heavy feeling on the first note of each bar, then jump with the bow on the 2nd note. This way you’ll have enough bow for the slurs.
• Keeping the hand relaxed, work on the left hand only of the G and B in bar 12. Then try those two notes with your bow. Then add the A to see if your 3rd finger has ended up in the right place! Play the whole bar when you’re ready.

Fri 20^th December 2024

Start looking at Blackberry Blossom, Redowa de Wallerstein and I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’.

Sat 30^th November 2024

Vibrato practice

• Great work so far – keep doing what you’re doing!
• Also add an E minor 1 octave scale, just ascending, with long free bows and doing vibrato on every note. Keep your head and neck as relaxed as you can as you do this.

Vivaldi Allegro assai

• Think about the character of the staccatos before you start – they should be light and happy.
• Practice bar 89 just with the first 4 notes, then 5, then 6.
• Next, practice it in rhythms.
• You’re playing most of this at crotchet = 90. Practice from F at crotchet = 70 for now. When it feels easy, go up to 75, then 80, then 85, then 90.

Sun 24^th November 2024

For vibrato practice, polish the strings by opening and closing your elbow. Then bounce the top joints of your left hand fingers against your thumb. Then go back to string polishing, but taking it in turns to rest each finger on one spot.

Papini Theme and Variations

• In your warm-up scale and arpeggio, find out what speed you’re playing it at and challenge yourself to up the tempo.
• In the piece, practice your first few notes to get really good at a gentle bow change. Then play through the whole Theme aiming to keep this gentle mood.
• Next, work on getting the Theme up to minim=50. As you get used to it, you can start thinking about the gentleness too.
• In Variation 1, listen for the sound quality at the start of each down bow.
• Make Variation 2 your strongest one, focusing on right arm weight to get a lovely strong sound.
• If you’re struggling with bar 47, do the open string exercise we tried in the lesson. How smooth can you make your right arm movements as you change string.

Vivaldi Allegro assai

• Practice your scale with the shifting exercise.
• Keep practising the piece and we’ll look at it next lesson.

Fri 15^th November 2024

Practice tuning with your left hand whilst you play the open strings.

Allegro Assai

• In your D major warm-up, see if your slurred shifts can be a bit more subtle.
• Practice the arpeggio with slurs, about 5 times in a row to get it feeling really safe.
• Work on this piece in the sections we marked out in the lesson.
• In the piece, let’s see if we can bring some more lightness into it:
• At figure B, move your bow quickly on the staccato quaver so that you have enough bow for a full crotchet. Make the dynamics really obvious here too.
• At C, use less bow as this is p. Practice the semiquavers in dotted rhythms like we did in your lesson.
• In bars 93 and 121, practice getting the shift fluent.
• Let the up bow at 128 remind you of the dynamic.
• At 132, try to look ahead a bit more so you know what notes are coming.
• Practice from 149 in rhythms too.
• From 146, practice slowly. Use less bow and think about little circles with your right wrist.
• Make sure you are noticing the dynamics.

Sun 10^th November 2024

Great work on your heavy right arm! Keep up the good work, especially in your scales.

Allegro assai

• Warm up with a D major scale and arpeggio, both separate bows and with slurs, focusing on a smooth shift.
• Refamiliarise yourself with the 1st page of this, especially working on keeping semiquavers flowing.
• In the middle section (124-155), get used to all the note shapes – are they arpeggios, or are they scales? This will help with your reading of this section.

Vivaldi

• Variation 2: keep your bow flowing, as if you were in an orchestra.
• Variation 3: can you start bar 53 as quietly as you ended bar 52?
• In bar 62, think ahead so that you’re ready for your 3rd and 4th fingers in the next bar (same in bar 46).
• Coda: In the first bar, don’t use too much bow on the up bow – this will help with the bow distribution for the next bar.
• Work on your tuning in bars 67 and 68.

Sun 3^rd November 2024

Scales

• On your D major scale page, see if you can lighten your bow a little to help you play a bit faster, especially in the exercises with quavers.

Vivaldi

• Well done for your work on dynamics! Keep thinking about that. Remember to use a heavy bow arm in the f passages, rather than pressing.
• Theme: Remember to count yourself in before you start to make the crotchet upbeat the right length.
• In the pp section, try to keep it super quiet when you go up onto the E string.
• In variation 1, practice getting your crescendos by using more of your bow hair.
• When you work on the last 4 bars of variation 2, relax your left hand so you can reach for your 4th finger more easily.
• Variation 3 is the best variation to be thinking of a heavy arm and light bow hand, rather than pressing.
• Practice bars 61-62 open strings to get used to the string crossings.
• In the Coda, work in 2-bar phrases, playing each one about 5 times until it feels more familiar.

Sat 19^th October 2024

Your first lesson with me! 😊🎻

Scales

• Practice D major this week, trying out the new fingerings we added.
• Start making your Grade 3 scale pic’n’mix – write each scale you’ve learnt on a piece of paper and use 2 pots or envelopes: one to pick from and one to put completed scales into. Choose how many scales you’d like to do in each practice session (maybe 3?). You can add new scales into the rotation as you learn them.

Theme and Variations

• Play a 2 octave G major scale and arpeggio to warm up for this piece.
• Theme: Count yourself in before you start, so that the crotchet upbeat is the right length. Start it in the middle to help with this too.
• Experiment with different dynamics using the methods listed below. You’ve got a really lovely strong sound at the moment, so just work on bringing the quiet stuff down.
• In variation 1, work on getting your 2nd finger C naturals a little lower.
• In variation 2, work on bars 45-48 to make sure they’re really comfy.
• Practice the D chromatic scale before you tackle the Coda, remembering the open A on the way up.

5 ways to change dynamic

• Arm weight;
• Bow length;
• Bow speed;
• Sounding point (close to the bridge or close to the finger board);
• Bow angle (flat hair or stick tilted away from you).