Violin Forum/Message Board

[Becky]

During my practicing, I encountered a passage that I was having particular trouble playing in tune. I tried drilling over it, but it just wasn't working and I was getting rather tired of hearing/playing it. Rather than give up, I tried something new. After playing the last note of the passage I went in reverse and played it backwards, then when I hit the first note of the passage I went forwards again. I also went slowly, but each time I played a new note I continued playing the preceeding note. For example, I had a g on one string and my next note was b on the next string, so I played g and b together, and continue playing that g until it was time to play a new note on another string (so if the next note was a d on the same string as the b, I'd play the old g with the d, but when it switches to a new string, I play the two notes on the last two strings used). It was great intonation practice. I heard things differently when playing the intervals this way.
The results were great...it's the best sounding passage of the whole piece.
Just thought I'd share those tips
The biggest part of good intonation is always listening to yourself and not letting yourself continue until you can play accurately over and over. It's not always fun, but it's definitely worth it.

[Shirley]

Becky - it sure is "worth a try." Sounds nifty. And I've decided that anything you suggest is worth a try. Thanks! Shirley