So Much Effort to Make It Seem Effortless

"Loosen your wrist"
"Try not to accent the down bow - play evenly"
"Play it this time with this pattern...[demo].."
"Pluck the string when you are lifting fingers off, especially before the open string - get that vibration going"
"You're a hair late when you cross a string - you probably are getting there at the right time but you need a little extra time to get the string vibrating - you need to compensate for that"
"Careful, when you shift you are slowing down your bowing just a little bit - disconnect what your right hand is doing from what your left hand is doing"

I'd spent the week working on playing sixteenth notes - prompted by the panic practicing I start doing 2 weeks before a concert. There is a long run of just sixteenth notes in the second movement of the Karelia Suite, and I wasn't happy with the way I was playing it. I hadn't worked on playing fast passages in a while and it was time to circle back to work on playing fast. So many things to think about (see above list for some of the advice from my teacher!) and when I do one thing something else suffers.

At least for this week I got double duty out of the practicing - a little better on the 16th notes and preparation for the concert. Think I'll spend time this week trying to play arpeggios quickly - to tackle some of the shifting and crossing strings challenges...

I'm always so amazed at the uneven effort it takes to play something that sounds even (and hopefully effortless!)

Last concert is this afternoon - will post something about it later!