You no longer have to practice alone, or have your own metronome! You will still have to watch yourself in the mirror and check your position and posture, but playing along with these and other YouTube creators can really help you learn pieces more quickly. If you are struggling with a certain section, stop and slow it down for yourself and repeat until you are comfortable to play it at the speed of the video. The creators below likely have one for most Suzuki Book 1 pieces. And other creators do as well.
You can create small exercises for yourself to practice any problem sections. Take a section the song that starts a few beats before the tricky section and ends a few beats after. Try different bowings and rhythms and repeat in many different ways. If the problem is the string crossing, you can play it with just open strings (this is harder than it seems!) You can also add mini accents if they help you organize and plan the correct notes, and you can drop them when you no longer need them. There are many more layers to finding fine-control over certain difficult sections, and we can discuss all of these in lessons, (including preparation for each next note, varying the part of the bow arm that articulates certain notes, using a stable left hand pattern, etc.)
Another helpful practice video for the same piece on YouTube
Leave a Reply