BillyG said

  I do not really separate "playing" from "practice" - because - however good (or otherwise) I have a certain piece or a certain technique, or certain scales, or modes, or etudes ( which, to be honest, I don't do much of - well - on occasion but only to better my sight reading ) there is ALWAYS room for improvement, and to make a piece "your own" and unique to you....  there is no one "single way" to play a piece - it is ALWAYS unique to the player....  which makes music what it is really....    trust me - stick at it - you'll be fine !

   

Ah yes, same here! I do read things that say you shouldn't confuse playing with practice, but I feel that when you are beginning especially, they are one and the same. You're playing a piece but working on bowing, be it keeping your arm correct, your hand relaxed, slurring, intonation, etc etc.

10 months of my first year was learning fiddle tunes with new to me techniques, which isn't too much different than the idea behind an etude (which would have bored me to tears if I had started out playing them instead of learning songs like I did), you're just playing a tune you might be familiar with. 

That said, after the 10-ish months of doing this, my teacher and I made the switch to focusing on etudes (which considering how boring I find scales, I actually enjoy the exercise of playing them, though I tend to get bored with most after a couple days, depending on the difficulty) and shifting... While I started out learning shifting within a song, I do find it working better to practice all the boring exercises on their own without worrying about putting it into a tune.

Ah, there's cold making me ramble, lol. I'll stop now.