What are the ways to improve techniques for Violin? I still can't get the correct pitch and it really sounds awful.

If you can't seem to get the right sound, etc, have a look at your bowing to make sure that it is correct. Sometimes that can give a really awful sound. If you can't get the right pitch, check where your fingers are. If it helps, put a small strip where your first, second and third finger go. Once you learn the right sound you can take the strip off.

Hope that helps a little bit.

hate to say but slow scales will help, so you can hear each note, check and adjust finger position. if you play the 'd' scale you can check against the g-string when you reach g, then at the octave d, check against the d-string. you shouldn't try to speed up until your intonation is secure at a slow speed.

Of all the exercises I've played, No.3 of of Sevcik's School of Bowing Technique Op.2 Part 1 has been of the most fundamental value (this was in the arrangement for cello). It is really simple in principle, but it is amazingly good for developing tone. It comes in 58 different permutations, so will keep you busy for a while. Obviously, you should perfect Nos.1-2 first, but they are fairly simple.

Double-stopped scales are also good
edit: I mean double stopped against a neighbouring open string, or that would be quite a mean thing to suggest!

i'll try it out and hopefully i'm able to play with beautiful tone.

Apart from intonation, for a beautiful tone your bow arm will also need working on.

Any tenseness in the right hand, arm or shoulder will transfer to the bow itself. The result is the tone sounding harsh and rigid.

when i'm playing, my bow always seem to go side way, & overlapping other strings.

In which case you aren't using the bend of your elbow or wrist, you are bowing from the shoulder. Apart from making bowing difficult, if the bow arm action is coming from the shoulder then the contact of the hair with the strings is also unlikely to be consistent.

Sort this out as soon as possible, because the longer it is left unattended the more difficult the habit will become to break.


Once again this is linked to the height of the arm and the angle of the bow. String crossing exercises will help, but it is mainly down to developing a good bow arm and practice.

I've seen in some music shops a sponge thing you slip under the strings to guide your bow into playing straight. It's not expensive and could be worth a try to keep your bow straight. It is crucial you sort this early on before it becomes a habit.

Playing more than one string at a time is just one of those things that happens when you are learning. With practice you will learn to bow on one string at once. (Trouble is then when you WANT to do double stops it seems impossible to do c'est la vie)

The other thing you could do, is come to one of Amanda's workshops...hopefully there'll be more???? (Soz for the advertising!)

Bit weird but you could try videoing yourself. Then you can see from another perspective what your bow is doing, because sometimes I find that I THINK I'm doing something right, but in fact I'm not, but I can only really tell when looking from an audience point of view.

Our girl has found practising bowing parallel to bridge right in front of a mirror at all times to be most helpful! This prevents her bow from skating sideways. How abt practising in front of a mirror, czaire?

I am afrad I don't know anything abt playing violin but from day one, the teacher nagged her from raising her shoulder (creating tension) and thus wrist-wise pushing up the bow as this pushing from the wrist messes up the tone terribly! Instead she had to raise her elbow really high and pull up the bow, not push it up from the wrist! Hope that bit makes sense / helps!

We have also been advised to use a video. Maybe you can find a friend to help?

my teacher also asked me to practise infront of the mirror, but at first i can concentrate but later when i was looking at the notes, finger position etc.. can't really concentrate in all aspects.

You are right there, czaire but you could try again, differently? How? Well, you CAN do it if you choose an easy and very short piece/3 liner that you have already memorised. You need to concentrate on improving ONE thing at a time.

If it's bowing this week/month you wish to improve, then you need to spend much time playing this easy piece with the correct bowing over and over again in front of the mirror till parallel bowing becomes a "natural" ingrained habit? Keep bowing parallel to bridge AND keep your elbow really high and pointing out like a grand and elegant albatross (NOT elbow pointing down like a hunched-up tense mouse) whenever you pull up your bow but keep shoulders nicely low and relaxed all the time. THAT was how an RCM professor cum adjudicator put it.

Remember - concentrate on improving ONE thing at a time. All the best!

Tess

There will be, if I get enough people interested.

If people have problems that they would like help with, I will gladly offer assistance, but it can't be done over the internet alone. It's far easier for people to actually let me see what the problem is and take it from there. I have to be very generalistic and make far too many assumptions on things when posting advice here - often one problem is not caused by one thing, there can be other bugs in the system that need sorting out first.

Trying bowing open strings, czaire, then you will not need to worry about what your left hand is doing! and you need maybe to use your ears more than your eyes to know your fingers are in the right place...?

Great idea.