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Don’t just play, play well!
Print this to do the 28 Day Challenge:
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5 Ideas:
1) Is your set-up adequate? Chinrest and shoulder rest must support violin properly. If your left hand being tasked with supporting the violin, it will be impossible to break the squeezing habit.
2) Thumbless Torture
3) Scroll Against the Wall (use a sponge)
4) Thumb Pop-Quizzes (use a timer…every 2-3 minutes; thumb should remain feather-lite)
5) “Oblique Lift” concept (lifting using passive surface friction, not opposeable thumb pressure)

Schedule:
Days 1-28: Investigate your set-up. (This can take many months)
Days 1-28: Ponder and play around with the “Oblique Lift” concept on ALL your exercises

Days 1-7: Combine Thumbless Torture, Scroll to the Wall, and Thumb Pop Quizzes with the following:
• Play Open-1 on all four strings until you are successfully relaxed on ALL exercises
• Then graduate to Open-1-2-1-Open
• Then 0-1-2-3-2-1-0
• Finally, full tetrachord: 0-1-2-3-4-3-2-1-0

Days 8-14: Thumbless Torture, Scroll to the Wall, and Thumb Pop Quizzes with the following:
• One Octave Scales
• You might start slow, then play faster as you gain confidence

Days 15-21: Thumbless Torture, Scroll to the Wall, and Thumb Pop Quizzes with the following:
• Simple tunes (two full grades below your current level)

Days 22-28: Thumbless Torture, Scroll to the Wall, and Thumb Pop Quizzes with the following:
• Introduce vibrato
• Start playing harder repertoire
• Attempt other techniques such as spiccato

Give it your all for 28 days, and you WILL break this habit! Good luck!
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Find out about all my online offerings at these links:
• Suzuki Book 1 for total violin beginners:
http://www.RedDesertViolin.com/onlinelessons

• Suzuki Book 2 for beginning to intermediate violin students: http://www.RedDesertViolin.com/suzukibook2

• Suzuki Book 3 for students ready to transition into mature musicians:
https://www.reddesertviolin.com/suzuki-violin-book-3-lessons/

• New! Suzuki Book 4 is the whole reason you started to play in the first place! It is a rite of passage to violin masterpieces
https://www.reddesertviolin.com/suzuki-violin-suzuki-book-4-lessons-sp/

• Wohlfahrt Opus 45 Etudes home study for students really wanting to boost their technique
https://www.reddesertviolin.com/wohlfahrt-opus-45-1-30-sp/

• Intermediate Fiddle Class for those who can play, but need help learning fiddle styles: https://www.reddesertviolin.com/online-fiddle-lessons-2/

• Kids fiddle coming soon!

• Plus: vibrato, tune kits, and much more! Come visit and explore!
http://www.RedDesertViolin.com