Clarinet take over, perchance?

mmmmm, well maybe just a little

I tried someone else's violin. It was supposed to be a really good violin, but I hated it. I didn't like it's sound and it seemed really unresponsive compared to my violin. What have I missed?

I tried a friend of mine's violin in school once-whilst her was a beautiful violin worth £1000 and mine is a Stentor, I really didn't like hers AT ALL-I think it just comes down to your playing style and what you're used to.

I think things are finally falling into place with this violin thing yesterdays practice actually sounded like a violin, not nails being dragged down a blackboard. Notes in tune, bowing better, I'm still in shock especially as the same thing happened tonight too.

You will notice this happens every night!

I'm soooo pleased for you! It's wonderful when it happens, and it'll start happening every practice soon

That would be nice I'm just enjoying the new experience

Hi All

Still having fun playing with my violin for a few months and I will be sitting for my first Grade 1 exam in November!!

Jojo would probably remember that I asked about bowing in a straight line and after always practising open string before I do anything else, this has improved a lot. I still find my bow not being straight when I play outside my usual speed, softer/louder but I guess it'll improve over time with practice.

Now, what bugs me after a while is the bouncing bow. If I play within my 'comfort' zone, the bow rarely bounces. If I start playing outside my 'comfort' zone, i.e. when I play piece faster, louder etc, the bow starts to bounce!

I tried increasing my right arm strength by exercising (NSD Powerball) and relaxing my shoulders, the problem still seems to persists and it irritates me when the sound of a smooth note turns out to be detached!

I spoke to my teacher about this and have been told to just practice more and it will eventually go away. So I just wanted to see, does it really go away eventually?

Many thanks.

Hi Geminist glad you're having such fun! What pieces are you playing for your grade 1?

Yes, it really does go away eventually BUT this does not mean it will never come back....
with my double bass I play in an amateur orchestra, last gig we did we played the Mendelsshon violin concerto and the SOLOIST GOT ONE SHAKY BOW it was slightly shaky and just for a couple of seconds BUT IT WAS A SHAKY BOW! (which was NOT meant to be there, I know this concerto very well )
I liked him even better for it afterwards as he proved to me that we are all 'human' after all

well done on your straight bows, and GRADE 1 IN NOVEMBER???

Fran*Piano

My teacher advised me to learn all of them (gasp!) and pick the three that I like. I am playing A1 to A3 at the moment, and I'd say I like A1 (also for me is the hardest among the three pieces!).

jojo

Yes, my teacher just brought up the exam and she suggested I take the next exam. Was a bit surprised when I heard it is in November!

My current goal is to sort out my bouncing bow and my intonation! I think if I can get these two relatively right, it would sound much better!

Well done Geminist!
I think your teacher is very wise when she says to learn them all not only she thinks you can, but it will benefit you to learn a wider repertoire!
I think it will be a very high call to totally eliminate the bouncy bow, work on it by all means, but what I'd concentrate on more is to learn to 'take it on the chin' when it happens and to carry on playing the piece the best you can without 'beating yourself up' for having bounced the bow, otherwise on exam day nerves will set in (and stress) and if mentally the 'evil bouncy' bow rears its ugly head (and there's a VERY HIGH chance of that happening) then you'll be prepared to handle it!
Bouncy bows will not make you fail and on a grade 1 exam may not even take any marks off of your score, they are so common examiners almost expect to hear them (My certainly bounced on my grade 1 exam and I got a distinction)

Intonation yes, you're right, you'll impress the examiner hugely if you get this right......'brownie points' as we say

the grade 1 pieces are so lovely as well, I had a serious issue choosing them! I'd not worry too much about bouncy bows as Jojo says, mine bounced all over the place in my exam and I still managed a merit! Good luck with the exam, and let us know which pieces you pick!

Ah, I am having so much fun. I just find the bouncing bow at times spoil the music Although these are just Grade 1 piece, they are still really beautiful (when played correctly!).

My teacher asked me the other day whether would I like to do Grade 2 as she thinks Grade 1 might be a bit too easy for me. I thought I would like to give it a go as well, just to push myself to my limit.

Thanks for all the advice and the notes on bouncing bow. My teacher didn't think it was too much of an issue and we spent a bit of time experimenting about how to reduce it. I think she did mention part of the reason is because of my bow as well!

It always amazes me when my teacher play my violin and I play my violin. I am really not doing a lot of justice to it!

First violin lesson tomorrow since ............ Really excited but a bit worried, hope I haven't picked up too many bad habits

my first lesson after the summer break will be 11th of September! it will be 7 weeks of no lessons

have a great lesson tomorrow Louise

Have fun!!

Thanks jojo still two weeks to go to clari lesson, that will be 8 weeks without a lesson

Had a great lesson yesterday after getting over my complete inability to play an open A string for the 1st 5 minutes - brain freeze, head was playing A string but bow was playing E string

Managed to play the tune I've been working on with all the slurs in then sight read the next exercise really well, teach said all my notes were actually in tune and I even ended up with the correct up & down bows

I'm still over zealous with the bow pressure and not zealous enough with how hard I press my fingers down but I really felt yesterday I'd made a bit of progress, even got my 4th finger position in tune at one point!!

Lois

That sounds great, Louise, well done you

Well....may try yet again to get going on the violin. This would be attempt number 4billion.

I think you mean Lois , I have yet to post on my lesson but well done Lois

however, mine did go very well too scales, couple of studies, a lovely duet (swapping from bottom line to top line and back again to avoid a rather nasty looking high note), a couple of other bits and pieces, and some work on one of the grade 1 pieces. I was worked very hard yesterday but that's how I like it, my teacher is fab

Excellent Louise and Lois!

Thank you b-c

Did I not tell you I'm psychic?? I merely predicted that you'd have a good lesson, that's all well done to both though

Can you predict when my next good lesson will be please? I'll give the others a miss then

I'll certainly try for you, Louise!


I actually had a good lesson today-we worked predominantly on third position, and whilst granted, it wasn't shifting, I was actually largely in tune!!

sounds great Fran*Piano the 'shifting' word was mentioned in my lesson too

It's scary isn't it?? My teacher makes it look sooo easy! Ahh well-I guess the sooner I start with it, hopefully the sooner I'll be able to do it

Challenging I think is the word we're supposed to use actually, it's a bit more positive than scary

I am having 'fun' with 3rd position too

I thought this quote was a good one:

I like that but yep it's so true

I like this quote, at least there's nothing physical preventing shifting correctly, it's merely a case of good hard practice-that's okay!!

Well, I just went for my first violin lesson (3rd time for 1st lesson lol. Had one around november, one around jan/feb, and never worked out so started again!)

Done much better, and much happier with it. My sight reading is better now than it was before which I think has helped!

well done aesir22

Think my left hand needs chopping off though lol the tendons ache

I've just enjoyed quite a good practice More notes in tune that not

I know the feeling!!

Hi All,
I'm really enjoying my violin lessons with a great teacher, and looking into buying a violin, but fretting about a few things. Having played piano for 15 years the word 'intonation' was unknown to me, and I'm struggling with how to approach improving it. My teacher says to slide to correct position, but surely one should practise placing finger in correct or near enough correct position at 1st attempt??!! I know my teacher's very experienced and was a professional violinist.... How does eveyone else approach intonation?

Louise

I tend approach intonation badly what your teacher possibly meant was that when you're playing, the idea is to try to get the note as in tune as possible, but if it's not in tune, you should then slide the finger into the correct place on the string...could that have been what your teacher meant? Glad to hear you've been enjoying your lessons

well, actually, the correct thing to do IS to drop your finger in the correct place not to drop then to slide it to correct the pitch....when you learn shifting you will learn at one point to move from one note to another with 'harmonic pressure' then to drop your finger when you get to the right pitch, then you will train yourself to make that harmonic slide lighter and lighter until you do not hear it anymore...
when you play in just first position and you drop a finger you should drop it in the right place if it's not don't slide it in the right place, lift and drop again.
it is hard I know but one should aim to learn just this, you may get it wrong 20 times then on 21 when you get it right don't put the violin down, repeat it right again minimum 4 times, 10 would be even better, to cement in your muscle memory the 'right thing to do'. If you do 20 wrong and one right then stop you will have cemented the incorrect movements in your muscle memory!

Might as well not have bothered practicing tonight. The sounds coming from my violin tonight truly were frightening. I gave up after half an hour and sat at the piano for an hour instead

I'm having one of those nights too, aesir-chin up, it'll get better!! (or so I keep telling myself, as yet another out of tune "note" comes screeching out of my beautiful violin...)

Hi, not been around for a little while, and dare I say not practised for a couple of weeks now! I've been so busy lately. I enroll again next week for the next year of lessons, so will be back up to speed again soon I'm sure.

Think I get what you're both saying (apart from the bit about harmonic pressure Jojo!...I'm not looking past 1st position). If I'm performing obviously sliding is a neccessity. In practise I've started sliding to correct position then lifting and dropping my finger a few times... still cant imagine a day when I'll just know intuitively where to place my fingers...I can dream

Awful, awful practice session I did half an hour sitting at the piano to really nail my intonation, I think I was out of tune about 90% of the time, and to top it all off, when I stopped to go upstairs to get a different book, my mother exclaimed "Halleujah! That dreadful instrument's stopped!" to my dad, obviously thinking I couldn't hear but I did bit demotivating really.

I know the feeling, a comment like that if very hurtful, but it's easy for people who dont play an instrument to make such comments. I practise piano at my parents house, as I've only a keyboard at my flat. My family complain about my playing, but I try to remember that although I know my playing isnt perfect, my family- like most people- are used to listening to polished performances or recordings of music!! And they cant play an instrument to any standard

That's very true just been having abit of a bad week so normally I'd take no notice and just carry on regardless, but it just knocked my confidence a bit. My lesson was okay today, so I'm not upset now

glad to hear that your lesson went well Fran*Piano. If it helps, my practice yesterday wasn't particularly good - tuning issues too!