Mark your music more effectively!
This post has helpful things to mark in your music PLUS a free fully-compatible Thanksgiving duet for violin, viola or cello!
The one accessory we all have when we sit down to practice our instruments is a pencil!
We write reminders to ourselves, circle tricky sections, and work out fingerings.
But it’s a delicate balance. Without enough markings, we’re relying only on our memory. Put too many markings in, and we can hardly read the notes through the distracting jumble of arrows, circles, and accidentals.
Let’s talk about solutions for what to write in your music for the most efficient practice. And if it all seems a bit much? Enter the Practice Edition!
Here are some of the most helpful things to mark in your music:
- Clarify with extra bowings and fingerings, beat marks, or define terms
- Remind yourself to lift your bow, look at the conductor, or play an F sharp
- Alert yourself to key and tempo changes, or circle dynamics
- Inspire expressive playing with a word or phrase that captures your imagination
- Plan for future practice by making a note of any sections that need extra work, or any mistake you make more than two times
This is an excerpt from Vivaldi’s Concerto in G Major, Op 3 No 3, for violin and piano.
I use this piece with my students, and here are some of the notations I find the most helpful when teaching!
- slanted vertical lines to mark beats in rhythmic sections
- up and down arrows to indicate stretching, or high and low fingers
- adding some extra fingerings, accidentals or bowings just for reminders
- circling p and f and other dynamics to make them more noticeable
- upside-down V brackets to indicate half and whole steps between notes
From Cassia:
“When I think about how to mark your music more effectively, I recommend using markings as a sort of personal short-hand. I put a lot of my own special markings in my parts when I’m practicing. Here is a page of Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, arranged by Myanna Harvey, that I was using to prepare for the Grace and Peace recording…
I use these symbols the most:
- I circle out of tune notes. If the notes start to be more in tune, I erase the circles. If they’re still dangerous, I leave the circle around the notes.
- I put a line over a note that squeaks. This tells me to pay special attention to how my fingers press the string down and how the bow hits the string.
- If there are a number of notes that are the same, I will sometimes put long vertical lines on the barlines between the measures so that my eye doesn’t get confused. I used this technique in the Squire Tarantella practice edition, at the bottom of p. 57.
- Tog. means together; I really need to listen to the other part becauase we are playing the same rhythm.
- Vib. means that I need to make sure I have (good) vibrato on that note.
- A squiggly line over the music tells me to take time or play a bit slower.
Don’t Know What to Write in Your Music?
Or is your lesson time limited? (30 minutes can go by really quickly!)
Check out Practice Editions! These books are designed to help students practice — and designed to make teaching easier!
What’s Included in Practice Editions?
- A “practice” version of the piece with study notes
- Exercises that target difficult passages
- A “clean” performance version of the piece with minimal notations
- Piano accompaniment
- Instrumental duet accompaniment (to replace piano)
- Practice suggestions and helpful tips
How does a Practice Edition help?
- Provides the piece in an easy-to-read format, with important notations already marked in for you
- Shows clearly where to shift
- Cues and beat marks provided to help with tricky rhythms
- Leaves plenty of room for you to add ideas of your own
- Provides a second version of the piece without any visual clutter for once you’ve learned it
Here are some sample pages from one of the Cello Practice Editions
This book teaches students how to practice and perfect W. H. Squire’s Tarantella. Exercises show how to break the difficulties down and study notes help to explain the different positions and techniques in the piece.
If you still struggle with what to mark in your own music, then check out the whole set of Practice Editions: study guides for well-known violin and cello pieces!
Get more out of each practice session with targeted exercises, study notes editions, and helpful practice tips. Prepare for performance with the performance edition and piano or instrumental accompaniment. These books take the guesswork out of learning and practicing the pieces, but they also leave room for your own interpretation and imagination!
And now for the Free Thanksgiving Sheet Music for Violin, Viola, and Cello!
Yes, these duets are compatible between instruments!
Which markings can you write in to help you learn?
Violinists might benefit from writing these markings in the top part:
- beat marks, especially over measures 8 and 16; make sure you hold the tied notes long enough!
- an “up” arrow over high 3rd fingers, especially the G-sharp in measures 21 & 25.
- circle dynamics to make them more noticeable.
- a “down” arrow over the F natural in measure 31 and the A sharp in measure 65.
Violists might benefit from writing these markings in the top part:
- beat marks, especially over measures 8 and 16; make sure you hold the tied notes long enough!
- an “up” arrow over high 3rd fingers, especially the G sharp in measures 21 and 25.
- circle dynamics to make them more noticeable.
- a “down” arrow over the A sharp in measure 65.
Cellists might benefit from writing these markings in the top part:
- beat marks, especially over measures 8 and 16: make sure you hold the tied notes long enough!
- an “up” arrow over the high 4th finger G-sharp in measure 21.
- an “up” arrow over the extended 2nd finger B in measure 55.
- a 3rd finger over the 5th note in measure 56, to remind you not to keep extending.
