It's been a busy month since I last posted...Thanksgiving, travel, concerts, an unusual amount of snow for Seattle, and getting sick (while on a trip, ugh). I had a nasty bug -- sore throat and coughing (still coughing after 2 weeks) and haven't felt so sick in a long time. I managed to keep from coughing during the last concert (I managed to hold the coughing except during the loud parts from the brass...holding it in during some of the solo parts was really hard)
Where has practicing fit into all of this? It's been tough, especially having to stop to cough and drink hot liquids. But at my last lesson (we had to cancel this week because of snow and the previous week because I was sick) my teacher asked me to think about the weight of my bow hand/arm and to keep applying pressure while staying flexible. So among all of the other things I've been working on I've been thinking about that...and it is helping. I can hear more consistency in tone up and down the stick, and I am starting to feel the string as I move the bow across it. It sounds funny describing this feeling, but it is a good one!
2 comments:
How is that going, with the flexible/strong bow? I think that it is probably the most important thing to do, esp. because the right hand influences the left. A relaxed right thumb often means a relaxed left, etc. Just checking in on your progress...
:)
Hi Emily,
thanks for asking! I was feeling pretty good about the improvement in my bowing, then I traveled for a week. Since coming back I am working back to where I was. I can hear the difference in both the clarity of sound and I feel like I can control the volume much better through the length of the bow. I do have a better feel for the strings than I did previously, so I guess progress is slow but definitely happening!
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