From April 30-May 13, you and fiddle students around the world will make music a regular part of your life. The primary goal is to establish the habit of daily practice, and have the time of your life doing it!
Click here if you’d like to be an active “Practicipant”. Every few days, I will send an email to check in with you and cheer you on. Do you want to take the challenge but not get email from me? No worries. You’re still welcome to do the practice challenge on your own.
Set two goals
Play every day.
Recommended goal: 30 minutes a day.
If you know in advance that you have to miss practice on a specific day, write that in on your calendar or practice tracker before the challenge begins.
Pick one challenging tune or skill you want to improve. Some ideas:
At the beginning of the practice challenge (April 30), record yourself (audio or video) playing the challenging new tune or technique.
At the end of the practice challenge (May 13), record the same thing. You’ll then listen to the recordings to help you understand what improved and what still needs work.
Tell others what you are doing.
Telling friends, family and roommates is a public commitment which will spur you on. You also signal to everyone that music is important to you and to respect the time you take for it.
Before beginning the practice challenge, I recommend answering the five questions in the workbook below to focus your practice and strengthen your intention:
I’m asking you to take yourself seriously as a musician. What does that mean? You are a musician if you play every day. I encourage you to approach the practice challenge with a sense of adventure and fun. What a great thing it is to play music, and you’re going to do it every day!
That’s it. If you want to learn more about practice read the following articles:
Remember, taking yourself seriously as a musician doesn’t mean that you don’t have fun. I’m certain that if you find a way to play every day you will enjoy it a lot more.
Thanks for taking part, now go fiddle with it…
⤠Jaso’n
Practice Toolkit
Here is a quick way for you to access the essential practice tools you need. Under each tab you'll find play-along tracks, tabs and condensed teachings to help you as you practice. This is an evolving idea, so let me know in a comment below if it could be better.
Here's a newer version of the Notefinder which is based on sheet music. If you're interested in learning to read, this will be an invaluable reference. I'll be posting lessons on this in 2020.
Note: the brackets indicate notes that are the same pitch but spelled differently. For example, AH3 (D#) sounds the same as AL4 (Eb). Without going into too much teory detail here, this will be determined by the key of the tune or piece you are playing.
Notefinder table
Here's he original table version of the Notefinder. Sometimes people learn in different ways...
Sawmill tuning Notefinder
This is used to find notes in Sawmill tuning (when the G string is tuned up to A and the D string is tuned up to E). If you're a beginner...best to ignore this! Learn more about sawmill tuning in the Appalachian Fiddle course.
Here are some common scales used in fiddle tunes. Each runs through a series of variations: two bows legato, two bows staccato, four bows, tucka (4 shorts, two longs), hoedown (1 long, two shorts), throwaway bow, triplets, tremolo.
D Major
G Major, starting on D3
A Major
D Dorian
A Dorian
Practice a tune with its scale (Kerry Polka is in G major, so practice a G major scale). Practice scales before, during and after practicing tunes.
Always return to a good sound, even if it means playing quarter notes on the D string. You can do this! You just have to remember to pause on practicing the challenging thing and just get a good sound on single notes.
Why do this? Because it will bring you deep joy. And it will build your confidence which will inspire further practice.
Here are a few technical reminders to remember as you practice.
Posture reminders
Curve left-hand and right-hand fingers.
Bend right thumb.
Bend right arm and wrist.
Use minimal energy.
Left-hand fingers land on tips, not pads. This makes for more precise playing.
Bowing tips
Take time to focus on bowing during each practice session.
Get the best possible sound on single notes using long bows, throwaway bow, rhythms. Even just a few minutes of this will drastically improve your sound.
Use less bow.
This is a rule of thumb for fiddle tunes, especially for when things are difficult.
Continue to practice long bows. This will improve your overall sound.
Play in the middle of the bow. This is the sweet spot.
Use no extra energy or force for double stops.
It's more a matter of getting the bow perfectly balanced between the two strings.
Again, playing with less bow will help with this.
Left-hand fingering tips
Keep fingers down when possible.
For example, if you are rapidly playing D1-2, it is easier if you keep D1 down while fingering D2.
Practice this on scales.
Practice Little Lift
Don't lift left-hand fingers too high. Let them just hover above the string.
This allows you to play faster, better in tune and with more ease.
If you notice you are tense and not breathing evenly, simply pause on what you're currently practicing and play a single note. Make it sound nice. See if your body is more relaxed now.
If you can play a single note with a relaxed body, then try more complex things: 2-note intervals, scales, simple tune phrases, whole tunes.
Keep returning to single notes as a way to center yourself, relax and enjoy the process.
Little pauses
If you find that sound is sloppy, try adding a little pause in between the notes. This gives your fingers time to find the next note. This is especially helpful with string crossing.
