As I've played more folk music this past year and had to pay attention to my own playing and technique vs sitting in the middle of a large group in a symphony orchestra, one of the biggest things I've done to help my tone is to RELAX!
Folk music is great for that. You need so little of your trained bowhold to sit deep in the string and get the right sound - then you realise that that is actually the case for most of your classical playing as well.
Very good presentation. And Thank you! I think the main problem is over-tightening the bow before you have learned how to control it. It's like learning to drive with the accelerator pushed all the way to the floor. We see Hilary playing in front of an Orchestra and naturally want to emulate her. Yes she has her bow tightened to the Max, But she has an excellent bow, she has to play at full volume, but has exquisite control over pressure, speed, bow position, etc. You don't start there! You really have to imagine the strings as a wave and find the sweet spot in the belly of that wave. To play louder you have to move up the face of the wave and apply more pressure, like a Surfer. To play softer you have to move closer to the bottom of the wave, where it gets squashy and play lighter. And the belly changes with each position. A beginner would do well to watch the video of Pinkas Zuckerman interviewing Nathan Milstein. They talk about Nathan playing the Paganini while holding the Violin to his "Stomach:" That is probably one of the great secrets of the "Black Sea" school: work out all your bowing at chest level before you bring the violin up to your chin. You have a bird's-eye view of the Mechanics of both the violin, your wrist and your forearm. For a beginner, the hair of the bow should only be tightened to where the hair is the distance from the wood as the width of the stick!
Thanks Jack! I haven't heard of pros tightening their bows more before. Many fine bows are very soft even when tightened and still produce a massive sound. For me, it's all about getting maximum friction and resonance while touching the bow as little as possible! I will definitely check out the Zukerman/Milstein interview. Sounds interesting!
This is the best explanation I've ever seen! The way you present things is so straightforward and logically organized, it makes so much sense. I've seen all your videos on the bowing hand. Will you please do a video on vibrato? It's something I struggle with so much.
Thanks Cody! Hmm vibrato is a tricky one. I don't have a one-size-fits-all approach ...every student is different. Might be a while before I get to that video so I'll give you my two best hacks. 1. Focus on the last joint of the finger. If the finger tip is not moving you have no vibrato. A lot of students move the arm and the wrist in opposite directions resulting in zero movement. 2. Focus on the base of the first finger polishing the side of the neck. If this is happening, the hand is moving freely AND in the right direction. This applies for both arm and wrist/hand vibrato. Once this is going well the finger rolling should be soon to follow.
Very good comments. It's important to know that if your fingers on your left hand are playing the right note that you better support it with the bow or else you will lose what you've got. Thanks for putting this out there.
All of this is super relevant to me right now, and I wasn't thinking about any of this before watching this video, so thanks! I tend to play close to the fingerboard because I'm trying to not annoy people while I practice, didn't realise I might actually be doing more damage to peoples ears this way
Haha yes, I'm sure they would prefer in tune and beautiful sound! Playing next to the fingerboard is ok for a certain type of fluffy tone - just add very light and fast bow and it will still sound beautiful. It's a bad habit to ONLY play like this though - even your violin stops resonating properly! Try some heavy, slow bows as close to the bridge as you can every time there's no one around to annoy!
Definitely sounds like you need to experiment closer to the bridge. With a heavy bow you can literally touch the bridge on the E string. Or even the G string if your instrument is good. Start with a slow bow close to bridge and work backwards from there.
Yes. There is much more upper arm movement than most realise and it’s tricky to do it without tension. Bow speed is an important factors as I have emphasised in this video.
Haha I went to a woodwork class and the teachers thought I’d learned woodwork before. Because I applied bowing technique. As you mentioned, constancy of speed, angle and weight, all in a straight line, but with an arm that naturally wants to curve to the left.
As I've played more folk music this past year and had to pay attention to my own playing and technique vs sitting in the middle of a large group in a symphony orchestra, one of the biggest things I've done to help my tone is to RELAX!
Folk music is great for that. You need so little of your trained bowhold to sit deep in the string and get the right sound - then you realise that that is actually the case for most of your classical playing as well.
I'm relearning the violin after a 25 year break and this is one of the things I've been struggling with. So this was very useful!
Glad it helped!
Very good presentation. And Thank you!
I think the main problem is over-tightening the bow before you have learned how to control it. It's like learning to drive with the accelerator pushed all the way to the floor.
We see Hilary playing in front of an Orchestra and naturally want to emulate her. Yes she has her bow tightened to the Max, But she has an excellent bow, she has to play at full volume, but has exquisite control over pressure, speed, bow position, etc. You don't start there!
You really have to imagine the strings as a wave and find the sweet spot in the belly of that wave. To play louder you have to move up the face of the wave and apply more pressure, like a Surfer. To play softer you have to move closer to the bottom of the wave, where it gets squashy and play lighter. And the belly changes with each position.
A beginner would do well to watch the video of Pinkas Zuckerman interviewing Nathan Milstein. They talk about Nathan playing the Paganini while holding the Violin to his "Stomach:" That is probably one of the great secrets of the "Black Sea" school: work out all your bowing at chest level before you bring the violin up to your chin. You have a bird's-eye view of the Mechanics of both the violin, your wrist and your forearm. For a beginner, the hair of the bow should only be tightened to where the hair is the distance from the wood as the width of the stick!
Thanks Jack! I haven't heard of pros tightening their bows more before. Many fine bows are very soft even when tightened and still produce a massive sound. For me, it's all about getting maximum friction and resonance while touching the bow as little as possible!
I will definitely check out the Zukerman/Milstein interview. Sounds interesting!
This is the best explanation I've ever seen! The way you present things is so straightforward and logically organized, it makes so much sense. I've seen all your videos on the bowing hand. Will you please do a video on vibrato? It's something I struggle with so much.
Thanks Cody! Hmm vibrato is a tricky one. I don't have a one-size-fits-all approach ...every student is different. Might be a while before I get to that video so I'll give you my two best hacks. 1. Focus on the last joint of the finger. If the finger tip is not moving you have no vibrato. A lot of students move the arm and the wrist in opposite directions resulting in zero movement. 2. Focus on the base of the first finger polishing the side of the neck. If this is happening, the hand is moving freely AND in the right direction. This applies for both arm and wrist/hand vibrato. Once this is going well the finger rolling should be soon to follow.
@@jtannernz Thank you so much! I really appreciate this advice. I will definitely work on that in practice
After 30 years of playing and 12 years of teaching (bass), I'm teaching myself to play the violin so I can teach my kid. This is very helpful. Thanks!
So cool! Best of luck.
This is really good teaching. I didn’t know this stuff and I’ve been learning fiddle for 11 months.
Glad it was helpful! Thank you.
Very good comments. It's important to know that if your fingers on your left hand are playing the right note that you better support it with the bow or else you will lose what you've got. Thanks for putting this out there.
No worries! Glad you enjoyed.
Thank you so much for drawing attention to the bowing in your demo. I have improved thanks to your teaching. Best wishes, Sheila ❤😊
Glad to hear it! All the best.
Oh wow. That was good!! Thanks!
Thanks! Good luck.
All of this is super relevant to me right now, and I wasn't thinking about any of this before watching this video, so thanks! I tend to play close to the fingerboard because I'm trying to not annoy people while I practice, didn't realise I might actually be doing more damage to peoples ears this way
Haha yes, I'm sure they would prefer in tune and beautiful sound! Playing next to the fingerboard is ok for a certain type of fluffy tone - just add very light and fast bow and it will still sound beautiful. It's a bad habit to ONLY play like this though - even your violin stops resonating properly! Try some heavy, slow bows as close to the bridge as you can every time there's no one around to annoy!
@@jtannernz brilliant, I appreciate the tips, thanks!
Helpful, thanks!
You're welcome!
Valuable info, thank you!
You're welcome!
i see... matur suksma😊
I've always felt that high notes are always lacking, I can't get them to the power that I want, easy to squash and my that my bow is not long enough.
Definitely sounds like you need to experiment closer to the bridge. With a heavy bow you can literally touch the bridge on the E string. Or even the G string if your instrument is good. Start with a slow bow close to bridge and work backwards from there.
😮teaching bow contact with string starts with the upper arm balance. Think " from thecgeneral tob to particular" and where is bow speed mentioned?
Yes. There is much more upper arm movement than most realise and it’s tricky to do it without tension. Bow speed is an important factors as I have emphasised in this video.
Which is that app?
It’s called Tunable. Also great for drones.
Teaching bowing is better learned away from the instrument by woodwork. Speed, reciprocal movement friction ,angle .
I can see how that could work. Not my skill area though!
Haha I went to a woodwork class and the teachers thought I’d learned woodwork before. Because I applied bowing technique. As you mentioned, constancy of speed, angle and weight, all in a straight line, but with an arm that naturally wants to curve to the left.