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Happy playing,

Great practice tips from D. C. Dounis

There was a great violinist and a teacher whose name was Demetrius Constantine Dounis (1886-1954).  He studied violin privately in Vienna with Frantisek Ondricek and also was a medical student at the University of Vienna. He was a touring violinist after the graduation in Europe and Russia, then after World War I, he became a professor of violin at the Salonika Conservatory in Greece. It was then he devoted all his energy to violin pedagogy and the publication of his famous violin studies.

His books are pretty challenging for beginners and it can be overwhelming even for the advanced students. But if you're a serious learner (and not an absolute beginner), I would recommend to pick a few exercise from this book everyday and spend about 15~30 minutes the most.

On his book, "The Artist's Technique of Violin Playing" op. 12, he states his philosophy about practicing as Foreword and I would like to share it here:

 ***

"TO KNOW HOW TO PRACTICE IS AN ART."

This is a well-known fact.

Most violinists believe that the 

solution of the problem of "HOW TO PRACTICE"

lies in repeating, everyday, various finger exercises,

scales, arpeggios, bow exercises, etc.

But this supposition is a fallacy.

No one will ever learn how to practice by

repeating day in, day out, finger exercises, scales, or,

in fact, 

the whole compendium of daily exercises for the violin.

The result of such monotonous and arid study

is usually worthless.

This procedure explains why after years of intensive study, 

there are few violinists, very few indeed,

who acquire an infallible technique.

The oblect of this work is to indicate a method of

solving all the problems of higher technique of both hands,

with the least possible expenditure of time and energy,

and to provide definite suggestions for

mastering all technical difficulties.

In other words,

this book aim to teach

THE TRUE METHOD OF

PRACTICING.

-D. C. Dounis

*If you would like to download his book, "The Artist's Technique of Violin Playing" op. 12, you can download from the link. You can purchase the whole book (like the photo above) online, too.

It is very inspiring to just read his words in between these exercises. I highly recommend it!

Have fun,