Esha

Welcome to your lesson notes page Esha!

Sat 14^th May 2022

Night Song and Pantomime

• Warm up with a C minor scale, noticing all the flats.
• When playing the piece, be really low on your 1st fingers.
• In bars 8 and 22, try to have your finger on both strings to avoid moving it too much.
• Keep checking the rhythm – are your crotchets double the length of the quavers?
• Work on getting the notes comfortable up to bar 25.

Sat 7^th May 2022

A3 Allegro

• Remember to keep all quavers short and light.
• Remember the slurs at the beginning of bars 8-11.
• Revisit last lesson’s notes too.

B3 Chanson Triste

• Keep working on making all the crotchets the same length, and keep reminding yourself of this as you go hrough the piece.
• Play 70 as harmonics.

Sun 1^st May 2022

A3 Allegro

• Work in sections to avoid getting tired – this way you can work in more detail.
• Aim for a bit of air between all quavers, eg. in bar 1.
• Register the fact that the whole of bar 5 is in 1st 1st position and almost all on the E string.
• In 7-11, set your sights on the top note of each scale. As we di in the lesson, practice the scales first, and then practice the quaver bits.
• Lower tuning on the the Gs from 12.
• In sequences like 12-15, 20-27, notice patterns, and what stays the same.

Sun 24^th Apr 2022

Chanson Triste

• On all the staccato crotchets, close your eyes and listen to see if they all sound the same length. You may find this easier starting in the middle of the bow.
• Work on the crescendo at 15 and 16, first by playing two F naturals. Think about how you’re using your bow as you do this, and once you’ve tried it like that several times, switch back to playing it with the F sharp, as written (tips on how to change dynamic are below).
• As you’re getting used to this new bow hold, make sure you stop every 8/16 bars to out the bow down, completely relax your hand and build it up again, keeping the fingers as soft as possible.
• Keep checking your right elbow, and especially shoulder, are relaxed.
• Try to work out how to practice the other shifts in this piece with ghost notes, like we did in the last bar of the 1st page.

6 tools to help you change dynamic:

• Arm weight;
• Bow speed;
• Bow length;
• Bow angle (all the hair for loud or tilt to use only a few hairs for soft);
• Sounding point (near the bridge or near the fingerboard);
• Lower or upper half of the bow.

Choose 1 or 2 of these to try together when thinking about adding dynamics to a piece.

Mon 4^th Apr 2022

Your first lesson with me! 😄🎻

As promised, here is my bow hold video! There are some other facts about the bow at the start, but you’ll find the actual bow hold at 4 minutes.

La Cumparsita

• Practice playing your staccatos off the string.
• If you hear you are touching the next door string by mistake, adjust your right elbow height to help.
• In bar 11, use long heavy bows for the tenuto lines to make a really string contrast between p and f.
• In bar 18, start the pizzicato halfway down the fingerboard on the G string, pulling your index finger towards you diagonally as you pluck the chord. How much “ping” can you get on the E string?
• Work on the bowing in 20&21, 28&29.
• Practice 34 with a gap between the crotchet and the chord, only playing your up bow when you know the bow is on both strings.
• In the Trio section, keep an eye out for all the rests.