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Yes, I've used that one. I think the problem with the violin is all the interchangeable parts and accessories- strings, bridge, chinrest, shoulder rest...not to mention the bow. It's a breeding ground for excuses. I remember one of my teacher's students told him it didn't make sense that the violin strings G,D,A,E were not in alphabetical order and it was hard to remember- the student decided to just call them A,B,C,D. My teacher said "I don't care if you call them Moe, Larry, Curly, and Schemp as long as you know what note to play on each string. Can you play me a Curly.

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I had to laugh- when I finished reading this, I thought to myself: "so I guess you're trying to say that everything is relative" and then I looked back at the title and there it was.

With the intonation point, you mentioned your fingers feeling stretched or squeezed. I hate the word "squeezed" in any discussion of violin technique because undue pressure and tension held my progress back far too long. I guess it's OK to say squeezed in the context of "feeling" it as opposed to "doing" it. I really liked what you said in another blog post where you described the note transition as raising and lowering the finger as opposed to pushing it forward and pulling it back. When I played "close" notes, I would anchor my thumb and pull that finger back like it was a tug of war...then I'd tell my teacher I had to because I have fat fingers. He'd always reply- not as fat as Itzhak Perlman and that was that. I imagine you've heard all the excuses from your students as well. You could probably write a top 10 student excuse blog!

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May 10, 2023Liked by Edward Scott Pearlman

Thank you for this article. It clarifies a lot of things and gives me some new ways to practice.

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