Frequently Asked Questions

Yes.
 

Small bites are enough to get the big picture and start building your base technique.

Many students find that they want to practice more once they are seeing progress and starting to see tunes come together. In the Yuki’s Song Tune Session module I explain how to start stacking five minute practice blocks to accelerate your progress while learning and memorizing music.

That’s actually a good thing. It’s better to learn by ear first without the distraction of a sheet to look at.

 

I’ll share sheet music and tab for those who enjoy it.

Bit by bit the exposure will add up and you’ll start to know what you’re looking at. Then in the Pachelbel’s project I’ll explain how to read sheet music in case you’re interested.

 

But you don’t have to learn to read sheet music to learn violin! So that is totally optional.

 

If you’re a visual learner, it could help to keep a notebook and take a little extra time during tune learning videos to write your own reminder notes. You can just list which finger on which string. It will make your 5 minute video take 8-10 minutes, but it’s a worthwhile exercise to write music out in your own language that makes sense to you.

 

This is just as a guide until you get the music itself memorized.

Please don’t worry or stress about it.

And I don’t recommend trying to “catch up” or “make up for lost time.” Just hop back on the horse and start back with your next 5 minute practice.

It’s much better to practice 5 minutes a day consistently than it is to cram with 2 hours of practice on a weekend.

 

If you need to go on vacation don’t worry about that either. Just pick up where you left off and resume your 5 minutes a day.

Many players find they have mysteriously gotten better when they return from a break.

Feel free to experiment and find the pace that works best for you.

Just know, if you start to get frustrated that skills aren’t developing, it could be that you’re overstimulating yourself each day.

The brain sometimes finds it easier to make a firm pathway when you practice fewer new things per day. So if it starts to feel like things just aren’t sticking, you could then slow it down to a smaller bite each day. 

 

Violin progress is like steering a cruise ship not a scooter. The direction changes gradually and not on a dime.

So it’s no problem to experiment and correct course as needed.