Perpetual Motion
Every Suzuki student plays a piece called Perpetual Motion — an unbroken stream of even notes, no rests, nothing to hide behind. It's the tune that proves you can hold a pulse through everything. Here's a short one of our own, in G major, on the D and A strings.
The whole point: the eighth notes stay dead even from the first note to the last. Count "1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &" out loud the whole way through.
Line 1
How to play it
Short, even strokes near the middle of the bow — one small down-bow, one small up-bow, the same size every time. Bar 1: up the scale G–A–B–C–D and back down. Bar 2: a broken G-major chord (G–B–D–B), then start climbing again. The bow arm never stops; the fingers drop in time under it.
Line 2
How to play it
Keep exactly the same stroke going. Bar 1: down from D, then a little turn around G. Bar 2: a dip to F♯ and back, then land on A — a quarter note this time, held two beats, then a two-beat rest. That first rest in the whole piece is where you finally stop the bow and breathe. Don't rush the last few eighths to get there.
The one thing this tune is for
Keeping the pulse through everything. No rests to reset on, no long notes to relax into — just an even eighth-note stream, so the only way through is a steady bow and a steady count. If it speeds up, you'll hear it. Slow it right down until every eighth is the same length, then bring the tempo up a notch at a time.