JAVS Spring 2011

increases stamina, promotes flexi bility, and enhances awareness, concentration, and focus. Some useful resources for establishing an effective workout/practice routine are Stretching for Strings by Jack S. Winberg and Merle Salus or talk ing to your doctor or other med ical practitioner. Devote enough daily practice time to ensure growth and consistency. Technical facility and musicianship must be practiced consistently by applying technique to your studies and repertoire. Similarly, physical awareness must be developed by regularly applying principles learned through the practice of yoga or other physical awareness exercises to your daily practice rou tine. Practice time should be dis tributed throughout the day to optimize muscle use. By remaining keenly aware of your muscle use and moving through each phrase with the least amount of effort, you can avoid thoughtless repetition and incorrect perform ance. Keep an intense focus on tone production and musical direc tion as you play—be constantly aware of your tone while anticipat ing the next sound. Always consid er the difference between powerless effort and effortless power! Make It Happen

individual must discover the appropriate balance to advance technical development, stimulate musicianship, and create an enjoy able experience. If you aren’t get ting the results you want, establish healthier habits. Happy practicing! For further reading, see Madeline Bruser’s The Art of Practicing and Barry Green’s The Inner Game of Music. Lana Avis is violist of the Capstone String Quartet and doctoral candi date in residence at the University of Alabama. Ms. Avis currently resides in Northport, Alabama, where she enjoys solo and quartet performances as well as teaching privately and with the Tuscaloosa City School Strings program in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

In the study of your repertoire, devise bowings and fingerings, find and shape phrases, and determine the appropriate articulation and bow distribution. Listen to record ings of the work and other similar works to familiarize yourself with the style of the work. Then practice what you’ve studied. Studying/knowing the music is only about 2% of the process; practicing the performance is 95%! The last 3% is the most fun—pol ish it until you see your reflection. At each step, remember to choose manageable amounts of material, maintain your focus, persist until you sound better and feel more comfortable, repeat to reinforce progress, and then move on. You should never spend more than twenty minutes on a single task. So,What Is Healthy Practice? Good practice is energizing. Don’t allow your natural energy to turn into frustration or discouragement. Be determined—practice is neces sary, but by maintaining a bal anced “diet” of technical facility and musicality, the performer can build on previous successes from session to session. This process is similar to grazing on multiple healthy snacks throughout the day rather than one oversized meal. While the process should always begin with different foci on facility and musicality, eventually you will become comfortable with the process of technical development through the pursuit of musical expression and phrasing. Each

1. Study the score.

2. Practice what you’ve studied.

3. Polish until you see your reflec tion.

J OURNAL OF THE AMERICAN VIOLA SOCIETY 62