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Hi all!

Here's a summary video of my first four months of learning the violin.
I used violinlab.com as my main resource for videos and lessons, so I wanted to share this with you and say thank you! This website and its community has helped me a lot so far.

Of course I still have so much more to learn, and when I watch myself playing I can see so many errors that sometimes it's a bit discouraging (but that's why I started filming me once per month after all... just to spot these problems I mean). Overall is such a fun instrument to play that I really hope I will never quit practicing and getting better at it.

9 Responses
Posted: May 14, 2016
Last Comment: June 15, 2016

Replies

Posted: June 15, 2016

Thanks so much to all of you, for all your feedback and precious suggestions!

Thanks also for all your encouragement, I though I did not improve too much in the last month so I was in need of some encouragement :)

...back to do some bow hand exercises now!

Beth Blackerby
Posted: June 14, 2016

Hello Andrea, lots of improvement! What has improved the most is the quality of your tone. You are doing an excellent job of sustaining a good, consistent, healthy tone on your detaché stroke. You are getting that "scrubby" quality, especially noticeable in your Perpetual Motion because you are maintaining good connection by keeping pressure on the strings with your index finger..

Yes, the issue of the stiff fingers is creating problems mainly when you lift the bow off the string and then place it down again. It is also noticeable in slow pieces like "the old castle" where you have smooth, legato bow changes. The improvement in tone is huge though. So great work! I would advise incorporating the Daily Flexibility Exercises into your practice to start working the muscles of your right hand. If you are able to get those fingers working and bending at the right time in the bow stroke, you will have a wickedly awesome tone!

Posted: June 11, 2016

This discussion includes members-only video content

5th month video

Hi all,

Here's an update on my progress... 5th month video :)

A few quick notes after having watched the video myself:

Looks like I still have to fix my two main problems: left hand angle/position and bow hold. I hoped I was doing better now compared to what shows in the video (and sometimes hopefully I do... recording a video is always a challenging task that makes me more nervous :) ). Anyway, looks a bit better than the 4th month at least.
About the bow hold: the last two fingers still look a bit stiff and not bent/curved. Strange enough since I don't have the sensation of having a rigid bow hold. It's just that those fingers are not really bent, so now I am trying to keep the bow closer to the palm of the hand a bit more, so to get a more curved shape of the fingers (hopefully still keeping a relaxed hand)
During the first exercise (very slow open strings with full bow), which by the way I think it's a very useful exercise for warming up even after 5 months, my elbow goes up in an awful way when playing at the frog, instead of compensating flexing the wrist. Even in this case I did not realise I was doing so until having seen the video. It's happening less often when I play a song (and so when I am using less bow of course), but still it's a problem I am now trying to fix during my daily practice after the recording (and hopefully it's already not happening anymore!)
Playing more on the D string (ie: Allegretto) I realised I am often accidentally hitting other strings (A and G). This never happens to me while playing on the other strings, so I wonder if it has to do with my "inexperience" in playing on that particular string (compared for example with the A string) or if I am doing something wrong. I am now really careful in not moving my elbow too much, and so in keeping my right arm at the same level for a certain string, but still that problem happens quite often, especially on full bow strokes. Seems to be slowly getting better with practice though, so I hope it's just a matter of time.

Thanks!

Posted: May 17, 2016

Thank you everyone for all your great feedback, it has already helped me a lot!
(amazing to have received a tailored video to address my issues... thank you so much Beth :) )

Hopefully I'll post another video in a month or so.

Beth Blackerby
Posted: May 16, 2016

This discussion includes members-only video content

Elke Meier
Posted: May 16, 2016

Haha, Gammaw - that is exactly one point why I love this video so much: it does not feel like an exercise, it is just balm to the soul with the beautiful music :)

Beth Blackerby
Posted: May 15, 2016

That was interesting and very informative to see your time lapsed record of progress. I enjoyed it. I love how you've used all available tools and resources to maximize progress. I'll be making response videos on Monday. All the new "posters" will receive a video response, so stay tuned.

Elke Meier
Posted: May 15, 2016

Congratulation, Andrea, to a great first 4 months! I would echo some of what Dianne said. But I would also add another comment: don't wait another four months to post the next video. To me it was interesting to see improvement in the first weeks/months - but then came the point where the wrist angle of your left hand started to become rather unhealthy (like it is in the end). It should be a straight line from the elbow to the knuckles. Anything else will eventually cause you pain. As I was watching, I kept thinking: oh no, he still practices with this unhealthy angle. If only he had posted a video earlier! It is much easier to correct something before it has become ingrained and a habit.
And about bowing: do you practice open string bowing with looong bow strokes - meaning from the frog to the tip? I think that would help your bow hand a lot. At the moment you play rather forcefully - which I think is better than too cautiously. You get a strong tone. But when you listen to your tone you will hear that while it has a clear beginning, it does not seem to have a clear ending (I am talking about some of your Suzuki pieces toward the end, e.g. Allegro). Rather it seems like you pull the bow down forcefully (I could say: with a sudden jerk, but that would be exaggerated) and at the sudden stop there is a kind of a rebound before the upbow. I do not know exactly why that is (I am not a very experienced player myself), but I somehow have a hunch that it has to do with the bow grip. Your index finger looked loose, but the other fingers look rather stiff. Video #81 really, really helped me in the beginning to get a feel for what the fingers of the bow hand do. I started all my practice with that one. Also check out Professor V's third video on the bow hand. He has some exercises also.

Posted: May 15, 2016

Thanks Dianne for all your amazing feedback, much appreciated!

You have been very encouraging and I will try to apply for sure all of your suggestions.

About the left hand, on the fourth month I changed its grip/position almost completely since I tried to apply all the "don't squeeze" methods of videos like #85 and #86 (I was really resting the violin neck on my left hand "cradle" before... much more comfortable somehow but wrong).

From the video it looks like that since then I have an odd angle between the arm and the wrist. Not sure if it's the camera angle or if I am doing something wrong, but I am quite sure that some of your suggestions are addressing that as well.