Guantanamo is. A tropical island, nobody freezes down there.

The warm ups are perfect and FM explains them well in his vids. In any area of playing the rules for improvement are 1. slow down to your playable level and gradually increase speed when you are playing perfectly. 2. Focus on the problem rather than glossing over it as "good enough" 3. find or make up your own studies that address the problem.

So yes you can say to yourself, jumping strings is a problem for me. so you fix it by taking 10 min starting slow and jump some strings. Focus on what it takes to do that correctly and when perfected, slowly speed up. You def dont need printed sheet music to solve a problem. It all comes down to bow control.

So my issue with string changes is being resolved by practicing doublestops for this bile project. I find I am hitting the D string off center of my finger to the G side. This means I can bow that A without hitting the D which means I sound faster and cleaner. I still have to be accurate with the bow but I am moving fingers less to achieve the same result. Go figure.

To work on my ear training I do turn my head so I cant see what my fingers are doing on the song Im working on. Im not uncomfortable but I find I listen more better. This is important and again 5-10 minutes a day can make a huge difference.

thanks, my version of Soldiers Joy from Mark Oconnors book has a part a and a part b. Part a is a arpeggio between the A and D strings and goes back and forth pretty quick. So I am working on resolving the tempo with accurately and cleanly crossing strings. I can do it pretty quick just not quick enough to keep up with the cd yet. its coming. Part b has two similar arpeggios using the E and A strings. So mentally its tricking me to be prepared for alternating those fingerings and keeping up. Also same issue with tempo and accuracy. This is the part where I feel like the violin slips. E, E1,E3,E1,A3,E,E2,E,A2,E3,E3,E3 kinda thing. Doesnt seem that hard on paper but 160bpm its quite peppy. Aint nothing gonna break my stride, Im fiddlin and I wont slow down, oh no, I got to keep on bowin!