‘Practice,’ so the saying goes, ‘makes perfect’. If only it was that simple. Yes, to master almost any skill, repetition is key, but the journey doesn’t end when the skill has beenI don’t mind admitting that, as a violin student, I disliked practising – and it was that continual maintenance that seemed such a chore. It felt grossly unfair that if I stopped playing my scales and études, my facility would gradually fade – especially when I had worked so hard to achieve it in the first place. Yet the fault was not with practice, but with my attitude towards it. As we see from two articles this month, for the best musicians practice is an endlessly fascinating act of discovery. On page 34, violinist Rachel Barton Pine describes her love of the violin, forged through hours of self-motivated practice in childhood. And on page 46, amateur violinist Ariane Todes embraces the routine by taking on Hilary Hahn’s #100daysofpractice Instagram challenge.
