VIOLIN

**Write down what aspect of music you are interested in learning about this semester.** I want to get closer to mastering the violin. **What do you want to know more about?** Something that I think might be interesting is finding out about the man who made my violin. I know that he lives (or lived, he might be dead) in Ohio, and I know that my violin is absolutely one-of-a-kind because of the knife slip in the back of it. **What skills do you wish to develop?** Basically, my teacher gives me some exercises like double stops, or bow techniques, or just general études. Practicing these will help improve my overall ability, because I can then apply them to repertoire I'm working on. I have all of my 3-octave major and melodic minor scales and arpeggios memorized, so a logical next step might be memorizing harmonic and/or natural minor, and the bajillion arpeggios that I work on each week but don't have memorized. Also, I'd like to work toward auditions, making sure I'm polishing the pieces I need for each (because of course, they're all different - ugh). I also have working pieces for my teacher (right now, the third movement of the second unaccompanied Bach partita and the first movement of the Viotti concerto, which I need to polish for the MMF student recital in early March). **What topic will inspire you to engage in creative research?** My inspiration is ultimately working towards being the best violinist I can become in this short amount of time. It will be helpful to have time to work on this in school, because often I don't get home until 5 pm or later and then have homework and other work to get done. **What tools will be needed for your study?** My scale book, my binder of études, scales, and working pieces, and old exercises or pieces that could be used to warm up.
 * 1. Brainstorm**

**2. Narrow down the topic** **What are all the components that would need to be learned in order to master the topic?** I basically went over this in the question about skills to develop. **If you are unsure of all the components, do you think you can find more information to help you find depth for your study?** A really great resource will obviously be my violin teacher. She has a lot of knowledge, and is able to present it to me in a way that I can really understand. If I need further information, I am sure there are a lot of internet resources, and the CD of Violin Methods + Solos that Freebern gave me last year might also be a good further resource. **Are there enough questions about the topic that need to be solved or do you already know enough about the subject?** Like on piano, I feel like I have the knowledge available of what to do and how to go about it, I just need to get it done. A lot of it is just about improving my overall musicianship. **Is there a history to your subject that can help your study? Who has done this? What have they done with it? Has it ever been done before?** Something to help me get into the swing of things might be to look at people like David Garrett, Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn, etc. and look at how their careers developed, and figure out why they are successful musicians.

**3. Initial Research** **Complete some initial research into your subject. Is there information readily available? Are there method books or articles that will help your work?** Most of my research will ultimately come from the books I already have and Joana, although to find out about the man who made my violin, I will probably have to use the internet. I might also consider contacting Josef Firszt, who gave me the violin, and ask him about how he acquired it and such. My dad often saves articles about violin, music, and musicians he comes across for me to read, and there are a lot of resources on the internet that I can use if I need them.

[|daily_dozen.pdf] This file is basically an étude book, but in the beginning it has a table of contents that breaks down the steps that are taken through the book, which I could make use of and supplement with my own resources. [|Etude 1.doc] This is a good one for bow control and moving the bow during eighth notes so that I have enough for the half notes. It will also help clean up string crossings. [|Technique 1.doc] This looks like a fun étude that will not only help with left hand finger speed and control but also bow control and dividing it proportionally so that each note gets the same length of time, volume, and tone quality. Plus the "Basics - 300 exercises and practice", which is too large to upload, and pretty self-explanatory.
 * Server Resources:**

**4. Review** **Review your brainstorming with your instructor. Use this a guide for the creation of your proposal.**