Imagine

Imagine my progression if I continued my journey 5 years ago!

It's time to revive this endeavor - first step: replace my strings.

Next 2 Weeks

Though I'm anxious to begin playing a song, I prefer to spend the next couple of weeks correcting some handling issues I've seen. I'm also learning left hand positioning and there's a lot of minor but very important details I need to work on. ...My left hand has a mind of its own... I swear it's primitive. So I'll spend the next couple of weeks working to liberate my left hand from the right and training it. Libre mi mano!

Tune in next week for my first intonation video!

First Bow Strokes

A bit overdue... but here's a vid of my "first bow strokes". The clips are from Feb 7th to Feb 20th.

There was great amount of improvement over 2 weeks - much more than I would have anticipated. I practice about 30 minutes/day and it's actually paying off - it's nice to now see my bow hand relaxed and extension with my elbow [instead of moving my upper arm]. At times, I'd rest my left arm against my body for support, but I stopped doing that very early from what I just watched... My posture was also off a bit initially - I'd tilt my head instead of turning my neck to hold the violin. So yeah, there's been a lot of improvement and much more to come!

I've learned to bow at the frog and tip, so I'll work on whole bow strokes this week. Hopefully I'll have enough time to get to left-hand placement over the weekend.

Ah, Posture

This is my second week of actually bowing the violin and I must say I've learned loads... some by accident and some with reading n such.

My tone seems to have improved and I've gained more control of the bow, thus there's not nearly as much "bouncing" and "scrapping" when I practice. Of course there's still A LOT - just not as bad. A few major things that I've been trying to focus on this week: better control while bowing at the tip, unintentionally touching other strings, and posture... good ole posture.

While browsing the net for info on muscles involved in playing the violin I came across a book on posture: How Muscles Learn: Teaching Violin With The Body In Mind by Susan Kempter. It's a brief read (96 pgs) and it seemed pretty informative, from the few pages that I've read. I tried to change a few things in my stance and the angle of my neck - boy did that help! ...My current chinrest isn't as uncomfortable as I thought... it was me the whole time. : )

Bridge Update (late)

My bridge arrived Monday (2/07) and it was a bit of a breeze setting it up, until I realized that I was unsure how much tension to apply to the strings... I didn't know what it felt like.

Somewhere in the process I decided that tuning was a fruitless effort because I probably didn't have the strings tense enough to begin with - not tuned, but just near the correct amount of tension. Fortunately one of my local music stores "tuned" and adjusted the strings for me (2 of the strings were coiled backwards).

The first person at the music store did restring G and E, but she attempted to tune all four strings against a piano... and seemed to not pay attention at times. The second person (whom I did not watch or hear) also attempted to tune the instrument, but I assumed it'd probably still be out of tune. So mechanically, the music store associates did set the violin up, but I was left to tune it at home. Here's the corrected coiling direction:

Afterwards, I tuned with an electronic tuner and it wasn't so bad - it took about 30 minutes or so the first time (well actually the second time, lol). Today is Saturday (2/12) and it takes less than 5 minutes to make sure the strings are tuned.

This week's lessons:

1) When getting someone to help you, it's always great to have a little background knowledge in the subject.

2) Bowing the strings while tuning gives better results than plucking the strings.

3) Tuning in 5ths [and checking with an electronic tuner] is much more accurate. (<-- my choice as of yesterday)

I will post a video with my first bow strokes soon...

Tuning in Fifths

I attempted to tune in fifths today...

It took a while, but I was successful. The largest setback was holding the violin [in position] during the process... I don't quite have the skill to do that yet. Ultimately it seems much easier for me to just tune in fifths and use an electronic tuner to double check, rather than solely relying on an e-tuner... much more accurate as well. Woo hoo!

Just a Bow

What a dull week... You know when you start something new and anticipate the time you'll experience what's great about it. Like reading a well polished book or starting an exciting new class? Well, that's where I'm at and where I'll be for several months.

I've greatly improved my ability to ID written notes just by using the Violin Fingering Drill on eMusic Theory (check my resources page) and gradually working on my timing using a metronome. On the other end, bow handling progress was a little uncomfortable initially

Naturally, I don't regularly exert the muscles needed to bow soooo it seemed as though I couldn't "make them work" when I wanted too - particularly muscles of the little finger. Ha, I don't even type with my little fingers... they're like "accessory fingers" to me. Anyway, I've posted a short clip below that shows bow handling progression through-out the week (Mon, Wed, & Fri).

Scratches or Gauges? Whatever... It's Damage!

While inspecting my violin after it arrived I found scratches on the body under the tailpiece. Here's a picture showing the scratches after the tailpiece was removed.

These scratches are the result of the previous owner and myself over using the fine tuners on the tailpiece. The important thing to note is that while fine tuners are very useful you have to be conscious of their proximity to the body of the violin. These scratches would have been prevented if the pegs were used [more] in conjunction with the fine tuners. You can easily over tighten one of the tuners and split the body of the violin! Don't ever tune your strings to a pitch higher than what they're designed for - use an electronic tuner or tuning fork.

Now here's my confession: I think I caused the deeper scratch on the right (in the location of the A string)... remember I said I popped the A string? Well in hindsight, I think I may have tightened the fine tuner too much. In short... I was toying with the pegs and the A peg seemed too loose, so I attempted to retighten the string using the fine tuner. I really lucked out because if the A string hadn't popped, I would have destroyed the body of my violin before even playing it! I took it to a local shop and the damage is cosmetic (whew... lol). He also showed me a different type of fine tuner that attaches to the strings themselves instead of the tailpiece:

I currently use this type of fine tuner:

There'll be a day when I won't use a fine tuner for G, D, and A until then I'll use the pegs more and take extra care when tuning.

No Strings, No Bridge, No Music

In my previous post I mentioned that I popped my A string and needed to purchase a bridge. Local music store prices are inflated compared to internet storefronts, so my bridge and strings were purchased online. This leaves me with nothing to do except work on bow handling, violin positioning, and reading music. I found a good series of basic music theory that I'll probably purchase, but lately I've used a violin fingering drill by EMusicTheory; a free, yet great online resource.

Though I can't wait to start bowing it's probably better I have a few basics down to produce a good tone when I begin to play. : )

Equipment & Instruction

Ever wondered about the costs? Well, here's a list of the equipment and instructional material that I've purchased. I decided not to reveal the cost of my violin because I don't want to influence you while choosing a violin to purchase.

Rosin - $2.79

Replacement Strings - $22.47

Shoulder Rest - $9.09

Replacement Bridge - $19.19

Mutes - $2.20

Metronome w/ Tuner - $15.86

Instruction - $42.97 (for 6 months)

Essentials 2000 Book 1 - $5.10

A chin rest, bow, rosin and hard case were included with my violin... I was unaware that I'd get rosin, so I bought another small block prematurely. I'm sure I'll buy more (better quality) in a few months; I should notice the difference by then.

www.stringsmagazine.com/issues/strings115/yourinstrument.html

Given I purchased a used instrument (manufactured in 2001) I didn't know the condition of the strings and decided to replace them - not to mention I popped the original A string. I'll be using the D'Addario Pro Arte strings. They have a synthetic perlon core and great reviews for students (or the "serious amateur" lol).

www.stringsmagazine.com/issues/Strings95/coverstory.shtml

www.vivaceviolin.com/mcp/Strings.html

The shoulder rest is better than what I expected for ten bucks! The feet don't scratch the violin and the legs are adjustable to fit other violin sizes along with adjustable height and a tilting pad - good buy overall. Now take a look at the bridge that arrived, haha really? (I actually wasn't laughing about the bridge - initially a bit annoyed by it.) I bought a replacement that's kinda "ready-2-go". It has adjustable feet, so it should conform to the body and there shouldn't be much additional adjustment needed. I've found 2 brands with adjustable feet: Glaesal and Aubert a Mirecourt. One day, I'll have a bridge actually fitted for my violin.

My university offers private lessons for a very affordable price ($34.50/hr per week), but I've decided not to utilize them. So I'll be using Beth Blackerby's ViolinLab. It's a great site with excellent AV quality, though I imagine that I'll still seek some live instruction to make sure my technique is correct.

www.violinlab.com