Practicing Slowly

When you buy your original Suzuki Book, you are also given a CD to listen to and play along. But as a beginner, you are always told to practice slowly. And one way to practice slowly is to play your piece one bar at a time, as well as playing the piece slightly slower than the real beat. The former is easier to do than the latter since CD players don't give you the freedom of slowing down the accompaniment.

One of the things I like about ViolinLab.com is that the members there are willing to help each other out, and that means recommending sheet music, apps, and programs that can really be useful in your progress as a violin player. A member shared this really awesome program that can help you slow down or speed up the beat of any song you wish to play, which is Speedshifter by ABRSM.

I downloaded the program and tried it myself. It really did slow down the tempo of the music. And, unlike other programs I've tried, Speedshifter kept the whole integrity of the song. No distortions. No false notes. Just clean, pure, whole sound and music that will really make your practice enjoyable and less boring compared to just playing without an accompaniment.  It's just like you have your own piano player right at home that you can order to speed up or slow down, depending on how you want to practice your songs.

Speedshifter is totally free. All you have to do is insert the CD and play. The downside of this is that it can only control the speed of audio CD's and MP3's. So if you wish to preserve your Suzuki CD and just play the songs in your hard drive, remember to rip the CD in MP3 format.  Windows media player and Real Player both can help you rip your CD to MP3's instantly in mere minutes. Once you're done, simply use Speedshifter to open the music file, set your desired speed, and play.

Download your Speeshifter and try it out now, see where you can go with your violin practice with it.

What do you use to help you practice slowly? Let me know and let's all exchange ideas on how you do your violin practice slowly and perfectly.