I really enjoyed reading The Talent Code, recommended by the parent of one of my violin students. The book is full of wonderful stuff, but the one that sticks with me is a very simple graph of music students, the amount they practice, and their level of skill. The book notes that, yes, more practice does equal more skill, but the biggest key to building more skill is the belief that you will be a musician for life. That is, kids who begin an instrument with the idea that they will play this instrument forever do better than kids who think they'll play for a few years, and they in turn do better than kids who are just trying it out with no real expectation of commitment. Wow.

There is also an excellent section on practicing at Meadowmount and somewhere in there the comment is made that being a musician is an "honest profession". You put in the time to learn something, and you either know it or you don't. This is different than when I was growing up...I thought that some people were just better at the violin, had some mysterious skill that I did not have. Of course, it's true that everyone has different skills they're better at, but it wasn't until I trained myself to play violin all over again that I realized that skill is really built by dedication, careful practice and awareness.

Yes, you train your muscles, you improve your posture, balance, and coordination. But the quickest way to do all of these things is to train your awareness of what your body is doing, starting with the big muscles and slowly becoming aware of the tiny motions you're making. The moment you can develop enough awareness, you can start to become your own teacher, to notice things you're doing as you practice and ask questions of your violin teacher when you're at your lesson. And finally, you're able to teach yourself.

This is what I want for all of my students. I'm thinking about and working on more exercises, and will get going soon with some fresh posts. I'm also thinking about ways to tie everything together, a "road map" for learning the violin. Exciting!