u/krissspy_

i’m 15 and practice violin for 3-5 hours everyday.
i feel like as i get more advanced, i get more critical at myself, making practicing more and more difficult.
nowadays in a practice session, i’m never satisfied- dwelling over a mistake and practicing it over and over again until i burn out.

my attention span also sucks, so when i’m practicing i’m either zoned out or frustrated.

i don’t think it helps that my mum insists to listen to me practice, giving me criticism. she’s just trying to help, but i feel like every piece of advice she gives me is just a reminder of what i can’t do. i think i’m overly sensitive…

how do i fix my perfectionism and make practicing enjoyable for myself? thank you so much:’)

ive realised that as you reach the higher levels of violin, playing accurately rarely determines how good your music is.

when practicing, we tend to focus on intonation, ability to play difficult repertoire, rhythm and such. while these things are important, they rarely make a difference in how special your sound is. this is especially when you get to advanced levels, where everyone already knows how to do these things.

instead, i think the two factors that really make your music is musicality and sound quality.

i think musicality is straightforward. music is supposed to be emotional, to tell a story. you need to be able to control tension, tone colour, phrasing and such in order to make it a special experience for the listener.

but this wouldn’t be as effective without a good sound quality, since bad quality muddles the perception of the music as a whole. i’ve seen many technically advanced violinists who are musical, yet their bad sound quality seems to drag them down significantly….

but how do you create a good sound quality?

in my opinion, the technical aspect needed for it is very overlooked at. it’s surprising, but the smallest of details will change your sound, and i think eliminating tension is the root cause that will help you start doing these things.

keeping relaxed significantly helps with stiffness in sound. check for tension especially on your right shoulder, which you can tell is tense if it is very high. if you have built a habit of tensing over the years (just like me haha), it’s quite hard to fix. but with constant practice you can correct it, and it’s genuinely really really worth it. it’s also beneficial to your health!

it helps you to start doing other things, like using your full arm weight instead of your fingers to lean into the string, resulting in a much fuller and smoother sound. your bow strokes will probably be smoother with less unintentional jerks or pressing.

it’s really hard to get your sound quality top tier but it’s really worth it!

sorry for the lengthy post, i’m not sure whether i phrased this in the most clearest way but i thought this could be really helpful to some. i improved significantly upon correcting these problems, and hopefully it’s the same for you too. happy practicing^_^

hi, my close friend came out as pangender to me and i was wondering if there was anything i should know to help them feel more validated. for instance, do you guys feel dysphoria or have preferred pronouns? what is your own experience of being pangender like? anything i should avoid?

thanks a lot !!