Just before I went to study at the conservatory I played quite some gigs here and there. I often played all alone without accompaniment, sometimes even in a recital setting. That was quite scary… alone in front of a room of people staring at you… I choose difficult pieces, perhaps to make a good impression. These difficult pieces were in my repertoire, so I thought I could practice them the day before and then perform.

Of course lots of things went wrong… perhaps they were only in my head, because I don’t remember what actually really went wrong. Anyway… I was highly uncomfortable.

This is the confidence paradox. I was very nervous to play in this setting, but I choose pieces that were on the top of my level and didn’t take much time to practice them.

In some way I wanted to compensate for my nervousness and tried to show off and prove that I can do something. Maybe I just wanted some proof for myself.

I’ve learned from this experience and now choose safe pieces that I prepare in a way that they can’t possibly go wrong (I hope).

I see this a lot with students too: they feel very nervous and insecure, so they choose really difficult pieces and don’t take enough preparation time.

They take themselves into a situation that triggers loads of stage fright and makes everything worse. That’s destructive for your confidence.

I’ve learned that whatever I have to play, wether it’s dead simple or more challenging, I prepare for a very long time. I always want to be on the safe side. I never assume something to be on or under my level and I can just play it away. I only play things that I really have control over. I don’t take much risks anymore.

When you only use your arm and lock your wrist, it’s hard to control your vibrato

In the video I give some exercises to start using your wrist for vibrato and move your arm a little less. In this way you can control the tempo of your vibrato and your violin will be more stable.

Start with vibrato when you learned the third position

If you’ve learned how to shift between positions, you are already used to a motion that is a bit similar to vibrato. It will be easier to learn vibrato at this point.