Rehearsing
1. ‘Nitty Gritty’ rehearsing – rather than saying ‘don’t rush/speed up’ doing things to fix /it such as counting out loud, clapping, tapping foot. In other words, doing physical actions so students can fix a rhythm. Also if students are playing wrong notes, rather than just repeating a section, going over the section very slowly / note by note to get the notes. Also separating the hands here is useful – pluck the strings so the student can concentrate on the left hand (the hand that plays the notes) and not have to worry about the bow (right) hand.
2. ‘Logical’ warm-ups. Scales make sense but they should be done to accomplish something (better sound, rhythm, etc.). Having students play scales fast just to play them fast does not help and trains poor right/left hand coordination.
3. Rehearsals should accomplish something and there should be an improvement. Repeating things over and over can be necessary sometimes but not as the only rehearsal techniques. Again, if it sounds bad speeding up is not going to help.
4. There should be emphasis on fundamentals and technique – sit up (but saying sit up once is useless, it needs reinforcement), curved fingers, bow placement (the bow should be between the bridge and fingerboard).
