Week 1

Liesbeth Meijnckens Great question, thank you for the reminder - I will definitely record the session and get this posted later! 

Liesbeth Meijnckens Thanks so much for checking it out!! Just about to dive into your exercises 😀 

Liesbeth Meijnckens 

Day 1: - Much better! I love how you really go for it on FFF, especially at the frog. However this etude is about keeping the evenness throughout the bow -- see if you can keep that same intensity even more as you move through the middle and upper half. Additionally, watch the zoom video and in the end we were talking a bit about the parts of the body we can use to remove weight from the bow while still feeling gravity in the arm. Use that as guidance to keep searching for balance in the ppp to avoid bouncing of the bow! 

Day 2: Nice, I can hear your fingers working after the swells to really stay in the core of the string which is great -- keep your awareness on this as developing this finger awareness will open up so many wonderful color tools for you. See my day three comments for a few notes about what I hear going on with bow speed, but also note that you occasionally "whip" the bow on the last beat in attempt to hold all the way to the end... this is a good skill to have in the bank, but should not be your go-to. Keep thinking about holding to the end and releasing without making any extra "ta-da I'm done" sounds! 

Day 3: On Day 3, I feel as though you are hearing this exercise much more smooth than I imagined as you are allowing the quarter note to belong to the dotted half-note (apologies I don't know the european quaver / semi quaver terms well!). Instead of this, I would love for the quarter note actually be a leading tone into the downbeat creating a re-energizing over the bar-line. Hear in your head "one two three FOUR ONE two three FOUR one" ... etc. What I'm hearing is a decrescendo through the bar when I actually want the quarter note to have more energy in it than the dotted half note to find a "U" shaped sound in the quarter note! 

Additionally, I am hearing a bit of a struggle with bow speed ... some in Day 1 and 2... but definitely in Day 3. I can't know exactly without seeing you, but I suspect that you are using 30% too much bow speed. Ergo, the relationship of bow speed / vs. weight is slight off, at least for your particular instrument. Since you are already getting a nice sound, this means to mean that you have access to an even nicer tone! See if you can find a slower bow (its hard!) so that you can sink even deeper into the strings especially in the middle and at the tip of your bow. 

Try this exercise again and imagine first you are playing through water, but then try again and imagine you playing through jello or mashed potatoes with the goal of really feeling the resistance through your bow 😃 🥔 

Liesbeth Meijnckens 

Day 4 & Day 5: Go even further -- where the "ghost" and "crunch" notes are very loudly weird notes for viola playing. On first listen, your "ghost" notes could have been the PPP and your "crunch" notes could have been FFF. 

Sometimes I do this exercise with earplugs (because I'm a softy), but really see if you can create radio static in your "crunch notes" like you're playing a piece of new music. And for the "ghost notes" see if you can create something that sounds steeped in fantasy. It is alright if you come out of the core of the string for these "ghost" notes! 👻 

Day 6: Great making the fourth note lead to the downbeat! I listened to this one 3-4 times to figure out exactly what I wanted to say. I really like the energy you start the etude with, it sounds very excited for the first measure -- technically meaning that there was more energy and bow speed ... which makes sense as it is easier to add this on the C/G string. As you go upwards, try and carve into the D and A string more to create this. Don't be afraid of an overall shape in these etudes also, even with the metronome is on 😃 

Day 7: Oooo, This one is hard for sure! Give a few more days to this one and keep actively feeling "Weight in / Weight out" of the string. Note when you have your "weight in" to always feel a "U" shape in the sound ... you want to feel the hair almost meet the stick to create this "U" shape. If you want to slow the metronome down a bit, this might help give you a little more time to think. 

As for the "ghost" tone, again don't be afraid to get wispy harmonics, you are almost there especially on the low strings! For the "crunch note" let this be a fun moment to make some ugly sounds, I almost hear no crunch in your note -- feel free to put on headphones or ear plugs to mute the sound a bit if this lets you go more wild.

Thanks for sharing everything with me!! It is lovely to work together 😃 

Liesbeth Meijnckens No problem! Sorry for the novel, haha -- but hopefully you find it helpful! If you have any follow up questions don't hesitate to reach out 😃