Lesson I. The Hotel Room Warmup

Hotel Room Warm-Up:

• By working the "pulling" muscles of your left hand you will create stronger more precise fingers--like "core training" for your hand.
• When you add the variations you will wake up and warm up your brain, open up new connections by challenging the coordination between your left and right hands.

A Note on Warming Up

I noticed at some point that I was doing the same warm up every single day. This, I think, isn't necessarily the best way to go. I realized that some days I needed to work my bow, other days I hardly needed any warm-up at all. What's best I decided is to check yourself out, play a few quiet notes, and think, "What do I need today?" Just by asking this question and experimenting will help you discover a better, more personal approach towards warming up and to playing too.

The other thing is to try and not get too hooked into needing a lengthy warm-up in order to feel comfortable playing. It becomes more a psychological crutch than an actual physical necessity and there are going to be situations when you need to be ready to play without a lot of time for the "usual" warm-up, so try to vary the amount of time you warm-up too.