Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother - Amy Chua [54]
But Ronan didn’t seem to be listening. “Oh, my god—there’s more,” he said, incredulous. And he was right. Lying around were dozens of instruction sheets, some typed, some handwritten, that I’d forgotten to hide. “I can’t believe it. These are so—weird.”
I didn’t think they were weird. But you can judge for yourself. Here are three unedited examples of the daily practice notes I wrote up for Lulu. Just ignore the nutty titles; I made those up to attract Lulu’s attention. By the way, in the second one, the “m.” means “measure”—so yes, I’m giving measure-by-measure instructions.
CHOW CHOW LeBOEUF Installation One.
Only 55 minutes!!
HELLO LULU!!! You are doing great. Light!! Light!!!! LIGHT!!!
APOLLO Mission: Keeping violin in the position that allows it to stay up by itself sans hands, even on hard parts.
15 minutes: SCALES. High, light fingers. LIGHT, ringing bow. 15 minutes: Schradieck: (1) Higher lighter fingers. (2) Hand position, so pinky always stands up and hovers. Do the whole thing with metronome once. Then DRILL hard sections, 25x each. Then do whole thing again.
15 minutes: Kreutzer octaves. Pick ONE new one. Do it slowly first - INTONATION - 2x.
CHALLENGE OF THE DAY:
10 minutes: Kreutzer #32. Work it through YOURSELF, with a metronome. SLOW. Light bows. If you can do this, you rock.
LOS BOBOS DI MCNAMARA - BRUCH CONCERTO
GOALS: (1) KEEP YOUR VIOLIN UP! Especially during chords! (2) articulation - focus on making the “little” notes clear and bright - use quicker, lighter fingers (standing up more) (3) shaping passages; dynamics - start with slower bow and get faster
DRILLS
PAGE 7
Opening measures: mm. 18 & 19:a. Use ½ the bow pressure & faster bow on chords. Lower elbow. Keep violin still!
b. Drill little notes (da da dum) to make them clear - drop fingers more quickly and relax them more quickly
m. 21:a. triplets on the string - 25x each!
b. make 8th notes clearer - drill! RELAX fingers after tapping!
mm. 23-6: Again, ½ bow pressure on chords and clearer, faster fingers on short notes mm 27-30: IMPORTANT: This line is too heavy, and your violin drops! Super light chord. Clearer articulation. MORE the second time. m. 32: Drop fingers from higher and relax them quicker. Keep violin and head still on the run. m. 33: Faster bow, lighter! Circle off (up!)!
PAGE 8
m. 40: This chord is way too heavy! ½ bow pressure and high violin! Articulate short notes.
m. 44: This chord should still be light, even though more sound - use a faster bow!
mm 44-5 - soft hand, soft wrist
mm 48-49 - make this more lively! Faster, lighter fingers! Stand them up but relax them!
m. 52 - articulation!
mm. 54-58 - each one should get LONGER BOWS! More exciting - grow!
m. 78 - higher fingers! Don’t push - keep fingers light!
m. 82 - really crescendo, start slow then faster bow! Then drop quieter and crescendo huge!
FIRST run is TAYLOR SWIFT! SECOND run is LADY GAGA!! THIRD run is BEYONCE!!
m. 87 - more direction, follow the phrase (louder going up, quieter going down)
PAGE 9:
mm. 115-6 - start with less bow and lots of bow on the high A. Direction!
m. 131 get quiet!
mm.136 -145 - really SHAPE this (louder and more bow when you go UP, quieter coming
down) Drill out-of-tune notes, 50x each
mm. 146-159 tranquillo but GOOD articulation
mm. 156-158 - keep crescendoing
m. 160-161 - articulation
PAGE 10
m. 180: Practice entrance. Direction! Start w/ slower bow, then get faster, most on high B!
m. 181-83: drill clear articulation - quick, light fingers!
m. 185: ½ the bow speed on chords - lighter! Clearer little notes (da-da-dum) - quicker finger
m. 193-195 - DRILL shifts - exact position! 50x
m. 194: Start less, then really crescendo!
m. 200 - memorize correct notes - drill 30x
m. 202 - practice chords - exact hand position - intonation!
m. 204 use very soft hand and relaxed wrist!
SPUNKY PICKS - ALOHA STREAM 7 MENDEL SSOHN!
Perpetual Mobile
Page 2
Opening:*On crescendo,