Make 2nd position a winning position with this series of broken chord exercises in C, F, and Bb major. Every note needs to be in tune to win the trophy! Good luck!
Make 2nd position a winning position with this series of broken chord exercises in C, F, and Bb major. Every note needs to be in tune to win the trophy! Good luck!
Wait a second, take a moment, and make sure you’ve got the right fingers on the right notes in these soothing 2nd position exercises. Time well spent … every second!
Hmm … not sure Henry VIII would provide good company to pass the time with, but he certainly knew how to write a good tune! Great rhythms, too … enjoy!
The skeletons come out to play in Danse Macabre, Op. 40 by Saint-Saëns … full of unnerving tritones, bone-rattling staccatos and weird waltzing melodies!
A rondo is a piece that repeats the main tune again and again and again! Locatelli cleverly shares out the repetitions between the parts in this quick, quicksilver duo.
The Song of Veslemøy, from Halvorsen’s Suite Mosaique, is a gorgeous folk song. It’s yearning, heart-warming tune will keep you warm on a chilly Norwegian evening!
These two-finger scale exercise are fantastically useful for improving shifting and intonation and a great way to warm-up at the start of a practice session.
This study has lots and lots of broken chords, where each note of the chord is played one after the other, up and down, up and down, otherwise known as arpeggios!
Join the band of brave elves as they venture on an adventure to uncharted pastures! Watch out for the tremolo trolls, shifting serpents and staccato sea monsters!
If you always know how to improve then you'll always be getting better and better! And this Practice Menu helps provide a clear structure for your violin practice.
The melody of this sorrowful piano prelude by Armenian composer and musicologist, Gayane Chebotaryan, yearns and wails, ebbs and flows, grows and wilts. Intense stuff!
Anton Rubinstein was a Russian pianist, composer, conductor and educator (Tchaikovsky’s teacher!). He is best known for this delicious little sweetmeat, Melody in F.
The German pianist and composer, Carl Bohm, really knew how to write a good tune! This is a fine example of a Sarabande — a slow, stately dance with 3 beats in a bar.
Johann Vierdank was a composer of the early 1600s. His Capriccio II features some wonderfully antiphonal, delightfully conversational interplay between the two parts.
This lovely, lilting, flowing, yearning, dancing Medieval/Renaissance Ronde - written by that mysterious composer ‘Anon.’! - is exclusively arranged for two violins.
Largo' is the opening aria from the 1738 opera, Serse, by Handel. It's sung by Xerxes I of Persia as he admires the lovely, sweet shade of a plane tree!
Bénoni Lagye’s Danse Espagnole captures the spirit of Spain with its vibrant, insistent rhythm patterns. Use energetic, incisive bowing to really make the piece dance!
This rousing melody by Henry Purcell was written to accompany the dramatic and tragic late 17th century play, Abdelazer. You'll need agile fingers to play this one!
Johann Vierdank was a German violinist, cornettist and composer of the early 1600s. His Capriccio I features some delightfully imitative interplay between the 2 parts.
You'll need some violin-playing friends for this one! Each piece is a canon (or round), which means you play together but starting at different times!
Ain't this an oddity! Bizzarie by Ancelotti is a quirky duet with many chromatic twists and turns. Bring out its eerie, dance-like qualities with vibrant bow strokes!
Stay up to date with the repertoire that you have learnt. What are you learning now, what's still 'active', and what are you going to learn next?
Keep a record of what you have achieved in each of your practice sessions, as well as discoveries and new insights that have occurred to you whilst practising!
Use this Practice Plan template to help clarify your goals, and what you're going to achieve in each of your practice sessions.
Massenet wrote this beautiful piece as a reflective musical interlude for an opera. Its memorable melody is now one of the world's most famous tunes for violin!
