It is not unusual to begin a good practice session and spend ten minutes over the same weak passage without noticeable improvement. This often happens when the practicing is done without focus. The hands are moving, the bow moves, the mind is no longer attending. Beginners often drift to start the session. When the aim is too loose, one may say: “I will practice this song.” There is more than one problem with this aim: rhythm uneven, position wrong, shoulder tense, bow off course, to name a few. When problems accumulate it is hard to discern where the problem lies, and focus on what to fix starts early. To practice with a focus you start with one specific aim in each trial.
An easy way to avoid drifting is to define an aim at the start of the next few minutes. Your goal should be small enough to hear: instead of practicing the entire line, try to make the string crossing more even, instead of fixing the tone of the whole piece, try to not let any note sound too thin, try to make the second finger in tune. This way the focus of the session will change. You no longer want the music to improve, but instead you will listen to the result of the small aim. If the bow is not staying in the straight line from frog to the tip, make that your task for a couple of minutes. If the tone falls away at the frog, remain at the frog and practice only the beginning of the bow. Small targets lead to quicker feedback and better feedback keeps the mind from drifting.
A common mistake that beginners make is mistaking repetition for practicing. One may play the problematic bar six times in a row, but if the result of each play is the same, no improvement occurred. Repeating is only valuable if one makes a conscious decision. One must slow the passage down enough to distinguish if the result of the trial differs from that of previous. If the result is the same, one must change a specific thing. Try to play less bow this time. Try to pause before the shift. Try to start the shift with your arm instead of the shoulder. Shorten the passage and play just as much. Most people do not wish to slow down, since doing so seems as if it is a sign of failure. However, to slow down is often when one is most in control of the result. By slowing down, one can identify exactly where one loses control, and once control is regained, one may increase the tempo.
Even in a short fifteen minute practice, one may still keep focus throughout each section. The goal of the entire session can be kept in mind by assigning each time frame a clear aim. For example, for four minutes try to practice open string exercises. One must keep in mind that the bow changes must not be sloppy and the quality of the sound must be as even as possible. Following this, the next five minutes may be dedicated to learning a small part of a piece, like placing two fingers on one string, lifting two fingers and placing them down again while keeping a relaxed thumb. Following this, you can spend the next four minutes on a small section from the piece you are learning; shorten it so as to keep only a single aspect in mind. This may be rhythm, pitch, or string crossing. Finally, for the last two minutes play the entire piece from this session, but at a slow enough tempo to check for improvement as a result of each of the earlier segments. It is important that the exercises are related to the piece being played, since that is the ultimate goal of each and every segment.
If you find that you are losing focus during a session, instead of continuing, stop the session, pause for a bit and state the problematic aspect out loud: “My second finger lands too high”. “The bow is skimming on the fingerboard”. “I increase tempo when I am on a new string”. One will often clear one’s head faster with verbalizing a specific issue than attempting to “squeeze more” from the instrument. Then try the task with a smaller goal. If the passage is too complex for you, attempt to play just the first two bars. If you cannot keep good pitch, try to sing the pitch before playing it. If your body starts to tense up while playing, try playing a slow stroke and releasing your shoulders and neck. It is often better to pause and reset your mindset then to continue with an irritated brain.
Effective practicing does not need inspiration. It needs a sharp focus. It can be a smooth session and sometimes it will be a stubborn one, but as long as it is focused on specific goals, progress will be made. As soon as one identifies the exact part of the passage, one can improve their result, and practicing will become useful once more. A beginner does not need more repertoire, speed or pressure. They will benefit from learning to narrow the focus enough so that they will have somewhere to place the focus after it slips away.