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queenspb t1_j7wlfjq wrote

Hi Ray, It is so generous of you to provide such great opportunity to ask a world class violinist a question that puzzled me since I started learning to play.

Did you have to cover LOTS of etudes when you were a child learner, like Wohlfahrt, Kayser, Mazas, Dont and Kreutzer?

Thank you and hope to see you in England sometime in the future!

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raychenviolin OP t1_j7xrwxf wrote

For the first 9 years of learning the violin, I didn't play any scales or etudes. None of my teachers at the time told me to - I think they probably thought I was doing just fine playing concertos like Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, and Bruch. However, it soon became apparent that I was hitting a plateau in my technique. My intonation was not consistent and not improving.

I decided to switch teachers and that's when I was told that in order to improve, I had to play only scales & etudes for 6 months without touching a single piece. Peter Zhang in Sydney was the guy who fixed my technique. Thanks Professor.

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queenspb t1_j80bv7u wrote

Thank you so much for the insight, definitely something to think about...

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