As always:

• Check that you have proper posture
• Know your notes
• Play in tune
• No hesitation
• Excellent rhythm

Always work with a metronome and be able to play without hesitation. Become a technique inspector and investigate if you have any hesitation what is causing that hesitation…ask yourself is it a reading issue or a left or right hand issue?

Understand the structure or architecture of the piece. What is the road map? Are there repeated sections?

Mark your music and know where all the written dynamics are located. You may highlight them different colors so they pop from the page.

Phrases are musical sentences. Understand where those sentences are in the music. Add crescendos and decrescendos where fitting within the phrases. Just because a dynamic is not marked doesn’t mean that nothing is going on.

Rests are extremely important and more often than not underestimated. It is very important to not run over the rests and to allow them to breathe. They are the breath in music.

Are there any accents found within the music? Do you have any sighs where the beginning of the bow stroke is more and the end is less? Is the stress or accent created by the left hand with vibrato, right hand with weight or speed or a combination of techniques?

Know your tempo. Are there any ritardandos or fermatas written in the music? How does the rhythmic flow effect the piece? Are there more or less active sections?

Are there phrases that can benefit from varying bow speeds? Perhaps a stress or a fast bow stroke on a single note for emphasis. Perhaps you need to be in a different part of the bow for a specific technique and dynamics allowing, you can achieve this with bow speed. Every crescendo and decrescendo is created with bow speed.

Always know what part of the bow you need to be in. Musical playing does not consist of straight bows all at the same speed. Know every part of your bow and be comfortable to play in every part of the bow.

Discover the dots in the music. Are there any staccato dots to be aware of? Be sure not to confuse your dots. Dots above or below the notes are for articulation. Are the bow strokes connected or separated?

Ask yourself how can vibrato impact this phrase or the notes within the phrase. Does the etude call for a wider vibrato or narrow vibrato? Fast or slow vibrato? Arm or wrist vibrato? Combination of matching the vibrato and the bow speed can create more of an effect. Where can this be helpful within the Etude or piece?