Reddit mentions of The Musician's Way: A Guide to Practice, Performance, and Wellness

The Musicians Way.
Goes in depth about how to practice, memorize, improve, create practice routines, how to stay healthy. And a lot more.

All good to follow a book and learn. But, only you, and maybe your instructor, know your weakness. Good know how to spot them, and create a practice schedule around that.

Edit: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0195343131/ref=pd_aw_fbt_b_img_2?refRID=0M5P4Y51J8CNC5JBCSGB

Dont know how to do the fancy link stuff on mobile

Books, books and more books
http://www.amazon.com/Musicians-Way-Practice-Performance-Wellness/dp/0195343131/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418943223&sr=1-7&keywords=music+theory

http://www.amazon.com/Chord-Wheel-Ultimate-Tool-Musicians/dp/0634021427/ref=sr_1_14?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418943269&sr=1-14&keywords=music+theory

http://www.amazon.com/Study-Counterpoint-Johann-Joseph-Parnassum/dp/0393002772/ref=sr_1_15?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418943285&sr=1-15&keywords=music+theory

If you want to learn piano, go to amazon and get these 4 books:

1.The Musician’s Way

2.First Lessons in Bach

3. Two and Three Part Inventions

And finally

4. The Well-Tempered Clavier

These books will teach you all you need to know about music. This is how I personally started playing piano. Work through the books in order, as each one builds on top of the other. Once you can play counterpoint excellently you can play pretty much anything else.

In the words of Brahms: “Study Bach. There you will find everything.”

As far as a keyboard goes, I have a Yamaha P-60 and it gets the job done. Just make sure you have weighted keys and 88 and you’re good. Bach’s music doesn’t require a pedal, so you don’t even really need that.

Good luck on your musical journey! To work through all these books will take a life time.

You shouldn't have major technique issues if you are taking lessons and your teacher believes you are ready for that piece. It could be something subtle that your teacher won't see unless you say something, so I wouldn't rule it out completely, but I wouldn't call it the most likely suspect. How do you cross strings? Do you use your whole arm, from the shoulder, so that each string has its own hand and elbow level, and keep your elbow on the same plane that the wrist passes through when its in a neutral position? Does your wrist move with your bow strokes? Is your hand relaxed, with no death grip on the bow? Are your fingers close together on the stick and not wrapped around it in a claw hold? Are your pinkie and thumb bent? If all of that is true and your teacher has not corrected anything, and you are not tired after an hour of practice and do not experience pain or new mistakes that would point to you stumbling over yourself due to exhaustion, then my gut is that it has nothing to do with kinesthetic aspects of your technique but rather with your lungs.

We don't talk about breathing much when learning to play the violin because, unlike vocalists and wind and brass musicians, our lungs don't directly power our instruments. However, especially when we play something high energy with fast string crossings, our bodies need more oxygen. Otherwise, you default to a metabolic process called lactic acid fermentation, a form of anaerobic respiration (feeding your cells without oxygen). As a very short-term solution, lactic acid fermentation is a good way for your body to get emergency energy. However, if you use it for longer periods of physical activity, the byproducts of that process build up in your muscles, and it will result in pain until your body can break it down.

Weight lifters typically do not lift weights seven days a week. They have rest days, or they will focus on different parts of their body on different days, to allow themselves recovery and prevent pain and injury. They also have to know how to breathe and work in activities that are naturally more aerobic, like running or swimming or yoga, to compensate.

Violinists could actually learn a lot from weight lifters and other athletes. We need to learn to breathe, perhaps by building something that encourages it into our exercise routines. We need to learn to breathe while we play, give ourselves a slow warmup, and take breaks if we are tired or experience pain. Since ideally we do practice everyday, we need to learn to have a different focus each day, vary our routine so we don't end up with repetitive strain injuries.

Here are some books that cover these ideas, if you are interested:

https://www.amazon.com/Musicians-Yoga-Practice-Performance-Inspiration/dp/0876390955/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479054081&sr=8-1&keywords=musician%27s+yoga

https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Less-Hurt-Prevention-Musicians/dp/1423488466/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479054162&sr=8-1&keywords=playing+less+hurt

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0810833565/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_3?ie=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0810833565&pd_rd_r=RWHBKW02B6M7TF94YYKR&pd_rd_w=46ibZ&pd_rd_wg=u4M4j&psc=1&refRID=RWHBKW02B6M7TF94YYKR

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195343131/ref=pd_sim_14_3?ie=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0195343131&pd_rd_r=E19SZTNCKQQDJQ6RBHGM&pd_rd_w=xqfGw&pd_rd_wg=92fpR&psc=1&refRID=E19SZTNCKQQDJQ6RBHGM

For some people it's a matter of tricks like leaving music and instrument out on the stand (which i strongly recommend you not do with a string instrument), others (math and software dev types) seem to congregate in San Francisco startups that have MIDI keyboards and guitars laying around so they can take practice breaks.

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Some people write out schedules in advance and/or journals on their progress (the latter is pretty important) like: http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2011/10/10/intentional-practice/

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i recommend a few books about what playing music means to you:

http://artofpracticing.com/book/

http://www.amazon.com/The-Musicians-Way-Practice-Performance/dp/0195343131

also Kenny Werner's "Effortless Mastery" (pls overlook the hype-seeming title)

That was one of the first books I picked up when I started learning. Really helps with being in the right mindset.

Also recommend The Musicians Way and The Practice of Practice.

FWIW, while I am very much not a successful or confident musician (I am an older hobbyist), I have noted people here whose opinions seem usually balanced and sound recommend The Musician's Way found at http://www.amazon.com/The-Musicians-Way-Practice-Performance/dp/0195343131, which seems to me to directly speak to what you are saying.