The Importance of Relaxation

When one plays a stringed instrument, it is very easy to allow tension to creep into the practice room. This pesky menace locks up muscles, freezes joints, and can cause injuries like carpel tunnel (ouch!). Fortunately for you, the music student, there is a better way.

Be ever vigilant about sensing the level of stress on your muscles. Where are you holding it? Your lower back? Your neck? How are your shoulders? Are you squeezing the viola too hard? Periodically do self-checks of these common problem areas to ensure you arent tense and starting to get sore. It can be all to easy to allow focus and concentration on the task at hand to supersede your own body and what it is trying to tell you. So pay attention! If your problem is recurring, make sure you are using proper posture and that the weight of your head and bow arm are being utilized efficiently. Holding up your instrument shouldn't be a chore!

If and when you do feel tension beginning to build, take a short break. This could be as simple as getting a drink of water, having a brief chat with a friend or relative, eating a light snack, or doing a homework assignment. Anything will be a change of pace that will keep you from going into the danger zone.

Keep your emotions in check. It can be easy to get frustrated with your progress, or lack thereof, in a perticular passage or exercise. Don't let it get to you! You are the master of your instrument. Not the other way around. Take deep breaths and step back from that section to see the bigger picture. Play something easy or that you have previously mastered that gets you in the right frame of mind. Listen to a recording of your favorite piece, or the piece you are working on. This can inspire you to make that breakthrough!

That's all for now friends.

Happy practicing!

Solfege; It's not just for singers!

You might be thinking "why should I learn Solfege when I'm not a singer? The answer is simple: understanding scale degrees and their relationship to one another is key (pun intended) to understanding music. Where are the half steps? Where are the whole steps? Is this position have open intervals or closed ones? is that a Major or minor 3rd? all these questions can be answered by knowing what scale degrees you are playing.

You may not want to learn all these funky syllables and such because strings. But I assure you that they are better than numbers for us because we already use numbers for so many other things: positions, counting, and not the least of which; fingerings! It is much easier to keep Do Re Mi in line with 2 3 4 (fingerings) in stead of 1 2 3 (scale degrees). See what I mean?

The Basics

Do a dear... no I'm not going to sing the song. But the basic Major scale is just that. The thing from the hit musical production 'The Sound of Music.' Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do. With the half steps appearing between Mi-Fa and Ti-Do. Their pronunciation is also akin to that found in the musical. Doh Ray Me Fah Soe Lah Tee Doh.

To raise them or lower them by half step, we need to introduce new syllables. Between the half steps there needn't be any new syllables because they are already half steps.

So to raise a syllable, change the vowel to i (ee). E.G. Do -> Di, Re -> Ri etc.
The sum total of new syllables we get are Di Ri Fi Si Li.

To Lower a syllable, change the vowel to e (eh). E.G. Ti -> Te, La -> Le etc. The exception being Re becomes Ra. ( SIDE NOTE: Some solfege aficionados reverse this;  for them the second full syllable is Ra and it's lowered counter part is Re. I don't have strong feelings but this is the traditional way, so it is what I am showing here.)

Thus we get our full chart:

Note where the natural half steps are, highlighted with green lines. 

Application

So how does this work with music? First of all, let me explain that what I am showing here is the movable Do system, where the letter name that coincides with Do changes depending on the Key Signature. In this system, Do is always Tonic or the letter name of the Major Key. The minor key we use La for tonic. But I'll get to that in a second. 

This helps with finding key signatures immensely. This is because key signatures are always the same. Sharps (#) = F C G D A E B, and Flats (b) = B E A D G C F. Because of this we can predict with certainty what solfege syllable the last flat or sharp will be. 

The Last Flat is always Fa (meaning that the 2nd to last flat is always DO!!)

The Last Sharp is always Ti

Thus if we have 4 sharps, they will always be F# C# G# and D# which means (if the piece is Major) we are in the key of  E Major because E is the step above D# (or Ti.) so Ti = D# thus Do = E. Key of E Major. If we are in a Minor key, the key is C# minor because C# is La. and the minor tonic is always La.  This is true because C# Minor and E Major share the same key signature, and are thus referred to as Relative major and minor keys. No Sharps or Flats is always C major-A minor. thus C is Do.

On your instrument...

It is also useful for position work. If you know that first finger is Sol and there are no accidentals, you know that you are in a high 3 finger pattern. Thus you can know exactly where the half step is.

In scale work it is very useful so that you don't get lost in a scale. Keeping track of what syllable you are on helps you to know exactly where you are, where tonic is, where the half steps are and how far you have to go.

It is also very helpful for intervals. Knowing how these scale degrees relate to one another from m2 to M7 and P8 is very helpful for understanding the sound of intervals on your instrument!

Practice

So how do we make this work? Practice your solfege just like you would any other ability! Sight sing your scales, arpeggios, your etudes, and your repertoire pieces! Join a choir that uses solfege and sight sing with them. (HINT: if you are going to go to college for Music, this will IMMENSELY prepare you for your music theory classes that will most definitely have accompanying sight-singing or sight reading classes as well.)

Solfege for the win!