I've just had a three week 'lay-off' from violin playing (and life really!) because I'm working for an exhibition just now.

But yesterday I took a day off and spent a couple of hours with Martha and my new bow. We played Shostakovitch, Mazas, Nardini, Bach, Kinsey and had a wonderful time until my shoulder and arm ached and my fingers gave up completely

But, the amazing thing was that although my stamina was weak, my shifting was smooth, my tone was clear and my fingers were agile (to begin with anyway). My vibrato was quite good too although I need to work on it and relax my hand a bit more. The downside was my E-string seemed to be a bit rough

Perhaps I ought to take more 'holidays' if it actually improves my playing !!! But it was wonderful to be playing again

That's great news, Lottie! I often find that continuous work on the fiddle leaves me unable to see the wood for the trees, as it were, so a break of a week or so actually improves playing - perhaps it gives us time to assimilate new things we were working on?

Enjoy Martha!

Allan

(Hamish is crabbit this morning because I made him wear a shoulder rest for some stuff that had acrobatic shifting going on - he didn't like it at all, so I've promised to play jigs and reels all afternoon!)

Yayy!
I do the same thing - after being on holiday and coming back and playing i suddenly sound so much better Not that i'm complaining!