We had a pretty free Sunday, so I made sure we practiced before dinner. It made for a more-relaxed practice and (I think) a more attentive M. We did:
- M sang and conducted Lightly Row
- G scale on the G string (saying note names, whole and half-steps, and fret numbers)
- Perpetual Motion on the G string
- All the Twinkle variations, with a focus on a strong and steady right hand
- Song of the Wind with the metronome
- The Fuhrman Tanz
Everything went pretty well, but most notable (for me) was M’s work on the Twinkles. I decided to follow a violin teacher’s suggestion from one of the SAA videos. He recommends starting a practice session with a 3- to 5- minute “workout” focused on your technical issue, beginning with the Twinkles and working forward. So I told M to really concentrate on keeping her right hand steady and getting good downward pressure. And she responded better than I expected — I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her in such a state of sustained concentration for that long.