Listen to the music you’re learning
Make a playlist and listen to it as background music
Follow part through with recording
Watch a performance if it’s ballet/ opera etc
Visualise a performance
Vividly imagine your fingers are great big sausages or brightly coloured crayons
Imagine the whole performance – guided meditations can be found…
Sing it in your head
Look through music, singing in your head and imaging the ease you’ll feel in your body
Practise ‘reading’ the music as note names, rhythms or finger numbers
Play ‘air viola’
Notice the changes – fingers close vs spaced in a run, bowing directions on each beat.
LH exercises
Great for warming up in orchestral settings where you can’t hear yourself/ don’t want to be heard.
Lifting and placing
Sliding
Vibrating
Make a plan
Long, medium or short term
Could be what you need to learn when to meet deadlines, could be specifically this week for an upcoming lesson
Patches from a previous rehearsal that you want to prioritse. Having them ready to go will save you time and effort next time you’re at your stand.