Imitation in music

Today, I buckled down a bit more than I had on my first day back at the violin. I practiced the shifts in my 3-octave C-major scale. I played the Schradieck Number 1 exercise slowly and insisted on hearing the notes ring. I practiced the fast sixteenth notes in the Kreutzer exercise with a metronome, gradually increasing my speed and using different rhythms to make the practice more interesting. As for Bach, I just counted it out loud! The rhythm of the last measure gives me trouble, so I tried to solidify it in my head today.

In violin, a note is out of tune unless proven in tune. When notes don't ring, they are out of tune. I used to think the opposite: that my intonation was fine unless it sounded bad. Once I realized how wonderful perfect intonation sounded, how nice ringing notes sound, I started insisting on it. Trying to, anyway. The Schradieck exercise sounds beautiful when all the notes ring, but if I play it fast and it's not quite in tune, I can tell something is wrong.

My old teacher, Arnold Liver, used to play with me at lessons quite frequently. I think part of the benefit of that was that I could match my intonation to his. If I was out of tune and he was in tune, our notes would clash and it would be obvious to both of us (not just to him!). If we were both in tune, our notes would ring.

Beyond that, playing with him allowed me to pick up his musicality rather than having to attempt it from his instructions. He taught more through music than through words. It's easier to play well with someone who is setting a good example. Then, the memories of that practice linger on. It's easier to copy someone by playing with them, then try to recreate that sound alone than to create a beautiful sound alone, from scratch.

It's funny how much thinking about how you want to sound affects your playing. But it does. And how you think about music depends on the music playing in your head every day and on the music you listen to. I think that listening to recordings of the music one is learning really does improve one's playing.