How To Practice Music

Fiddling with life and learning with the occasional dad joke thrown in...  

 

Brahm’s Fiddle Waltz

Did you know that you can take a classical melody like this Brahms waltz and transform it into a fiddle tune?   Further learning Offbeat Accents On The Fiddle Improvisation Workshop Improv Playground   Return to the Fiddlosophy Blog >>

Jamming with the Pogues and the Dubliners

I finally get to jam with these musical heroes on the Irish Rover!   I’m also making some lesson videos for this on my Youtube channel.   Further learning Offbeat Accents On The Fiddle Improvisation Workshop Improv Playground   Return to the Fiddlosophy Blog >>

How To Play Violin In One Minute

 Here’s how to learn a fun song like The Irish Rover.   Play the first note, then Chain the first two…   Now you have the first musical Chunk   Go slow, allowing the fingers to easily reach the destination.   Then Loop on that Chunk until if flows.   Memorize it before you … Continued

How To Play Violin In One Minute

Here’s a quick video showing the essential skills for beginner violinist. I’ll show you how to: — Hold the violin and bow — Pluck rhythms on the strings — Bow the strings — Use left-hand fingers — Play a simple song All in one minute ⏱️. This is part of How To Play Violin – … Continued

Improvising With Rhythms

One way to make music practice fun is to improvise with Rhythms. Start with a long-short-short pattern known as Hoedown or the Nashville shuffle. Play it on scales like D Major Pentatonic: D0-1-2-A0-1 Do it with the Metronome. Alter the rhythm: Reverse it to create a short-short-long pattern Split it across two notes A more … Continued

Fiddle Goals For 2024

Are you someone who benefits from having a goal? Or do goals make you anxious? I suggest three goals that I think you and all my students can achieve. No matter what your skill level is. Three Goals For 2024 Play Every Day Practice Well Good Mindset If you think about it, these are just … Continued

Chaining And Chunking

Here are two practice strategies that feel like games. I use them every time I play. You can Chain together single notes to form musical chunks. Then loop the chunks. That’s how I teach tunes in the live workshops: But you can also take a top-down approach. Take a tune or skill, and break into … Continued

Practice Blocks

Pick a song and a skill, and then practice in 25-minute blocks with intention. Strategy Pick a strategy to guide your session. Use this card for a week to understand how it works. For example: Chaining Plan-Do-Reflect Play Slowly Loop Fiddling With Micro-Motions Song | ⏱️10m Learn a song you like. Discover what’s challenging about … Continued

Guided Practice Session – Hesitation Blues

Here’s a guided practice session on how to take recently learned tunes to the next level. I used ​Hesitation Blues​ as an example. This is an experimental format: part lesson, part open practice session. Some of the practice suggestions: Play a single note, focus on breath, posture, good sound. Plan-do-reflect for different hard parts of … Continued

How To Play Chord Backup On Fiddle And Violin

Overview Did you know that you can play chord backup on the fiddle and violin? This is a role normally played by the guitar, mandolin or piano. But you can do it on fiddle with two-note double stops chords. Why learn chord backup? Knowing how to play chord backup will help you to play with … Continued