Practice Violin Like an Expert
How Expert Musicians Actually Practice (And What It Means for You)
By Beth Blackerby | ViolinLab.com
When I started creating my violin Practice course in 2018, I wasn’t sure where to begin. The internet was full of videos and blogs regurgitating all the basics, like the value of slow intentional practice and “perfect practice makes perfect.” I knew most adult students already understood these principles, because unlike children, adult violin learners tend to dig deep into available resources. I wanted to offer a course that filled in the gaps, revealing mental processes and habits of seasoned players.
My premise was to ask a simple question: what do professional musicians do when given challenging music to learn in a relatively short amount of time? I based this on personal experience — showing up to a recording session having never seen the music, with only 15–30 minutes before the start of the session to CRAM. (It is standard practice that music is not distributed prior to recording sessions, which is a big part of why recording sessions are so stressful.)
In this microcosm of intense preparation, players are hyper-focused and rely on their most effective and efficient strategies to do their best work in a very short amount of time. There is literally no time to waste — mistakes and sloppy playing must be eradicated before the mics start to record.
It was in this spirit that I broke down what, through years of training, are lightning-fast practice processes and created a sequential approach to learning music effectively. Thus the Practice Course came into being.
It turns out, that my approach and instinct for helping adult violin players improve their practice habits is backed by research.
What the Research Found
A study published in the Journal of Expertise (Killion & Duke, 2025) took a detailed look at how elite musicians actually behave during individual practice. The researchers filmed six professional trumpet players with illustrious careers, and analyzed their practice sessions in close detail. They looked at moment to moment behaviors as each of these expert musicians practiced music they were professionally responsible for.
It probably wouldn’t surprise you that despite practicing different pieces in different styles at different stages of preparation, all six musicians followed essentially the same underlying strategy. The researchers call it the “central strategy of music practice”, and it’s worth understanding as it applies just as much to a violinist working through a Wohlfahrt étude as it does to a trumpet virtuoso preparing a concerto.
(I’d encourage you to read the full article — it’s detailed, readable, and genuinely fascinating.)
The Central Strategy, in Plain Language
The primary process for practice is repetition. The term “repetition” is inadequate because it implies doing something over and over the same way expecting a different result, and we all know what that means, thank you Einstein.
As a violin teacher, one of the most common patterns I see in students’ practice routines is repetition without modification. A student encounters a difficult bar. It doesn’t go well. So they back up a few measures and run through it again. And again. Each time, the tricky spot arrives and the fingers fumble in the same way, at the same moment, essentially reinforcing the mistake. Without adjustment, mistakes get learned and bad habits only become more prominant.
A more accurate way to describe the practice process of experts would be: doing many strategic and meaningful reiterations of the same music. In any case, know that the trumpet players in the study all practiced (as do most experienced musicians) by repeating tricky sections to improve them.
Here’s the loop that every expert musician in the study followed, over and over throughout their practice sessions:
1. Hear it before you play it.
Before each attempt, the experts in the study had a clear plan for exactly how the passage should sound — not just correct notes and rhythms, but phrasing, tone, and style as well. Some of them sang the passage, or conducted through it, to resharpen that inner image. This mental target is what allowed them to notice immediately when something went wrong.
What Does This Mean for You?
Professional musicians draw on a lifetime of training and experience to form a mental “image” of what they want to sound like. But as a beginning violinist, you haven’t yet cultivated a precise mental template of how to play the music with detailed expression and nuance.
The absolute best thing you can do.
While of course it takes time to cultivate this ability, you can speed up the process tremendously by actively listen to your music…A LOT!!!! “Active listening” means studying your music while listening to a stellar performance. Here are simple steps to jump start this skill.
- While listening to a great Youtube video performance of your piece, have a pencil in hand and make detailed dynamic markings reflecting what the performer did while playing.
- Air-play your violin along with the performer.
- Listen to the performance with noise cancelling headphones, volume turned up. Play with the soloist. Regardless of what is actually coming out of your violin, imitate and play as if you are creating their sound.
2. Stop as soon as what you hear veers from what you intended.
The participants in this study, as well as most all professional musicians, understand the value of “nipping problems in the bud” before they become ingrained in muscle memory.
What Does this Mean for You?
You’ve heard the phrase “you don’t know what you don’t know”. I can’t tell you how many times a violin student has played a wrong note, not even just a little out of tune, but completely foreign to the key signature, without an inkling of recognition. Even students with developed ears can play incorrect notes and rhythms in complete oblivion.
Don’t underestimate how easy it is for the brain to convince itself that what you are playing is correct. The key to catching problems is to PREPARE your music.
The absolute best thing you can do.
Map every detail of your score before you start practicing with your violin.
- Mark all accidentals, particularly the ones at the end of the measure that are not marked with the altered #, flat, or natural sign.
- Perform rhythms by clapping and singing with a metronome to cement accuracy from the start.
- Make sure fingerings and bow markings are well marked.
- Study the relationships from note to note. Where are the half steps? Where are the Whole steps? Exactly how far IS that shift? What IS the finger pattern?
- And as mentioned above, listen to your piece with score in hand many times to learn how it should go. This helps sharpen your wits to catch errors and sloppy playing.
3. Zero in.
In the article, there were video links of the trumpet players practicing. I watched each one, and it was clear each participant targeted a specific spot to improve, one they knew might be problematic.
What Does This Mean for You?
I have no doubt every one of you reading this knows that good practice means isolating tricky passages and measures. But for many beginning violinists, starting in the middle of something is challenging. I often hear, “I need to start over – from the top”.
What You Can Do
De-contextualizing music is a skill. You can start by:
- Make a game out of it. Close your eyes, point to a measure. Open your eyes and play it.
- If that’s difficult, sing (out loud or mentally) the measures that precede your isolated measure. You might need to start at the beginning of the previous phrase.
- Record your piece on your phone. Listen back and circle the spots you are not happy with. Number each circled spot. The next time you open your music, you’ll see the circled areas and know where to start practicing.
- Make a practice copy of your music and mark every bow change. That way when you isolate a measure or passage you will instantly know which bow to start on.
4. Make it easier.
The researchers found that the trumpeters didn’t merely repeat a failed attempt, hoping for a better result the next time. Instead, they modified the task, making it more “doable”. In fact, they coined the verb: “Doable-ize”. (From now on I’m going to say “doable-ize”.)
For instance, the musicians might slow down the tempo, or shorten the spot to even fewer notes to increase focus. Basically, they simplified the passage in some small way, just enough to make success possible, but not so much that the musical context disappeared.
What Does This Mean for You?
This step is the meat and potatoes of the practice loop. It takes no time to stop when you detect an issue, but this stage will account for the bulk of your practice time. This is the time where you creatively make every repetition count.
The absolute best things you can do.
- Don’t just slow down the tempo, play in SLOW MOTION. Pretend you entered the Matrix, your movements are now sloth slow, and narrate (in your head) every single action as it occurs. Your thoughts might sound like a sports announcer: “And the 3rd finger is preparing to cross the string, while the shoulder releases and drops to the D string. Whoah, here comes the 4th finger stretching to home base…”
- Pause between repetitions. All professional violinists know the only path to good muscle memory is repetitive practice. But mindless repetition can bake in mistakes and poor playing. Take several seconds to mentally replay what you actually played. During your brief pause, as yourself “How can it improve?”
- Keep a list of practice strategies and ideas. Entertain different thoughts as you replay the passage. Make note of which strategies worked best.
For a long list of things to ponder and reflect on while performing repetitions, email violinlab@gmail.com. Type Practice Tips in the subject line.
5. Retain expressive elements, even in the thick of working out technique.
Even during simplified, slow practice attempts, every musician in the study played with expression. The character of the music was present in every single trial, no matter how stripped-down.
What Does This Mean for You?
Perhaps of all the steps this is the one students typically DON’T do. Most students feel they aren’t “allowed” to add phrasing and expression until the technical aspects of the piece are learned. I tell my students expression IS the North Star for technical development. Without expressive intent practicing tone, bow placement, bow speed, etc. will be less fruitful.
The absolute best thing you can do.
Think of your dynamic and phrasing plan as the architectural blueprint for “building your house”. Every wall (measure) you work on, make sure it is executed according to the blueprint.
- Prolifically mark every crescendo, decrescendo, taper, rubato, articulation, dynamic marking, and anything that will trigger a response to follow your plan.
- Learn by imitation. Mark the expressive devices other artists use. If Joshua Bell accentuates a shift, or elongates a note, so can you!
- As you repeat your passages and measure, ask yourself if your technique supports the dynamic scheme. For instance, you might ask if you are in the correct part of the bow for the dynamic, or if you need to increase or decrease the amount of bow you’re using. Are you sustaining tone throughout the bow stroke?
6. Build difficulty back up gradually.
Once a simplified version felt solid, that is, once they could play their expert successfully and consistently, they added complexity back in. More notes. A faster tempo. The original articulation. Each addition was made only to the degree that still allowed for a high percentage of successful attempts.
This is certainly the nuanced part of the Central Practice Strategy loop. The goal isn’t to practice perfectly, in fact the study showed that learning from mistakes is a crucial part of skill building. The goal then is to practice successfully most of the time, while working just at the edge of your current ability.
What does this mean for you?
This step is often skipped even from the best practicers. Re-contextualizing a passage you just gave the last 30 minutes of your life to is daunting. We all fear the disappointment of having spent 15 minutes repeating a passage, pulling out every practice trick we can, to then play the spot in context of the rest of the piece only to flub it up again.
Remember that it is normal and everyone experiences improvement over time. Fixing a problem immediately and expecting it never to return is unrealistic. Playing at the edge of our ability means unsuccessful attempts are just around the corner, and practicing is about the continuous intention to maximize success.
- Gradually expand the perimeters of the passage, i.e. first, add the note prior and the note following your excerpt. Then proceed to two notes prior, two notes following. Continue to widen the parameters until you can play a whole section.
- Trust your practice process and enjoy every micro-improvement you make. Now is the time to focus on musicality and relaxation.
- Get good at flipping on the “performance mode” switch. After you have played many iterations of your passage, put it back into context, but be in performance mode. In other words, not only give it your all with expression, but imagine you are performing. Show it in your stance, facial expressions, and gestures. I noticed Hillary Hahn did this while practicing. She isolated a spot to rehearse, then when she put it back into the context of the music that came before, she was in full performance mode.
A Word for Adult Learners
If you came to the violin as an adult — whether you’re brand new or returning after years away — you may bring something to the practice room that younger students often don’t: an enjoyment for problem solving. Yet adult learners tend to be hard on themselves. Mistakes can feel like evidence of something deeper than a missed shift or a scratchy bow change.
Here’s what the research quietly confirms: even world-class musicians make mistakes in practice. Mistakes are the launching point for learning. They don’t mean personal short comings. They tell you exactly where your attention needs to go next. The experts in this study weren’t distressed by errors; they were responsive to them. Each imperfect attempt was just data that shaped the next one.
If you can start to see your own practice that way, not as a series of performances to be judged, but as a cycle of attempts and adjustments, the whole experience starts to feel different. Less defeating, more like a puzzle you’re actively solving.
Try It in Your Next Practice Session
The next time you sit down to practice, pick one difficult passage — just one — and try this:
- Before you play it, listen to a recording, then sing it through in your head..
- Play it, and stop the moment something goes wrong.
- Compare what you played with what you intended to play.
- Make it doable: slow down, shorten it, simplify one element.
- Play the simplified version until you can do it successfully two or three times in a row.
- Then add one layer of difficulty back in.
- Play the passage in context with the music surrounding it.
Happy practicing.
— Beth Blackerby
ViolinLab.com
