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ADK-Mark
Adirondacks, NY
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February 21, 2017 - 1:37 pm
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For your feedback...  Should I keep bending my right wrist like this?    I assume the more wrist bend, the better - for developing lifetime skills.  I don't want to be limited down the line by learning things one way and then having to un-learn it later.  I don't paint with a paintbrush stiff armed, instead I paint by dragging or pulling the paintbrush in each direction - so my wrist bent upwards for the right to left movement (up bow?) and the opposite for L to R (downbow?).  Hope to hear back from you.violin-student

https://www.youtube.com/watch?.....qZqS4-qkMc

 

ADK-Mark

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damfino
my own little world
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February 22, 2017 - 8:28 am
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I watched this last night, but will have to watch it again. I did think you were doing very well :)  

You've got the idea down to use your fingers and wrist as little shock absorbers. 
 
I will rewatch either at lunch or after work so I can take a better look based on your question about your wrist, but I think overall you're doing great :)  

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OldOgre
OhiO
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February 22, 2017 - 2:52 pm
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Hey Mark

hello and welcome to the site.

As a beginner myself I'm not sure what to say. But the one thing I noticed that on your down bow you are bouncing a lot. I'm sure that someone can tell you why that is happening..

Happy Playing..

With violins there is no fretting over the music.

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Uzi
Georgia

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February 22, 2017 - 3:13 pm
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Nicely done Mark.   I'll start by saying that based upon your set up, I'm going to guess that you are already a musician of some sort. You exhibit great finger flexibility, wrist movement and a good bow stroke in general.  Very impressive for a beginner. There are a couple of issues that I notice that you can work on.  First, your little finger is straight and does not maintain contact with the bow.  This is a not a huge problem, but each finger has it's job to perform.  The little finger is used to press downward on the bow to reduce the amount of pressure that the bow is exerting on the strings -- when required.  Secondly, your contact point (the point where the bow touches the strings) wanders around quite a bit.  This is due to a bow stroke that is not kept perpendicular to the strings. To get the best possible tone, the combination of bow speed, bow pressure and contact point much be purposely adjusted to achieve the best sound. I would suggest spending some time experimenting with bow pressure, speed and sounding point to perfect your bow stroke by bowing on open strings.

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. ~Herm Albright

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ADK-Mark
Adirondacks, NY
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February 22, 2017 - 3:37 pm
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Uzi said
Nicely done Mark.   I'll start by saying that based upon your set up, I'm going to guess that you are already a musician of some sort. You exhibit great finger flexibility, wrist movement and a good bow stroke in general.  Very impressive for a beginner. There are a couple of issues that I notice that you can work on.  First, your little finger is straight and does not maintain contact with the bow.  This is a not a huge problem, but each finger has it's job to perform.  The little finger is used to press downward on the bow to reduce the amount of pressure that the bow is exerting on the strings -- when required.  Secondly, your contact point (the point where the bow touches the strings) wanders around quite a bit.  This is due to a bow stroke that is not kept perpendicular to the strings. To get the best possible tone, the combination of bow speed, bow pressure and contact point much be purposely adjusted to achieve the best sound. I would suggest spending some time experimenting with bow pressure, speed and sounding point to perfect your bow stroke by bowing on open strings.  

This is incredibly helpful, Uzi.  I will pay attention to this concept.  One of my main barriers to improvement has been - I admit it - my resistance to doing things the right way.  I've played other instruments, yes, but I'm taking the violin as an experiment to see what happens when I "follow the instructions".  I guess as I'm getting older, I'm realizing that better outcomes depend on the quality of each individual step.  For example anybody can take sugar, flour, eggs and water and make something that resembles a cake, but it takes a different process and a lot more patience to make "good cake".  

Thanks for helping me with these ingredients!!

 

ADK-Mark

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ADK-Mark
Adirondacks, NY
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February 22, 2017 - 3:44 pm
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OldOgre said
Hey Mark

hello and welcome to the site.

As a beginner myself I'm not sure what to say. But the one thing I noticed that on your down bow you are bouncing a lot. I'm sure that someone can tell you why that is happening..

Happy Playing..  

Thank you very much, OldOgre. Perhaps you are a beginner at the violin, but not a beginner with many other things.   I also noticed my bow bounce and once piece of advice from you that I heard loud and clear - "happy playing".  I think that's easier said than done.   If you don't mind me asking - what's one of the things you've found helpful for keeping your playing on the happy side?

 

ADK-Mark

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ADK-Mark
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February 22, 2017 - 3:49 pm
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damfino said
I watched this last night, but will have to watch it again. I did think you were doing very well :)  

You've got the idea down to use your fingers and wrist as little shock absorbers. 
 
I will rewatch either at lunch or after work so I can take a better look based on your question about your wrist, but I think overall you're doing great :)    

That means a lot to me Damfino.  I think there's a certain hopefulness and ease-of-playing that I've seen in your playing.   I watch my own video and I see more "seriousness" than I was aware of, both in the strings and in my overall presentation.  That's a good tip about taking things a bit lighter and using fingers as shock absorbers.  Excellent feedback!

ADK-Mark

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OldOgre
OhiO
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February 22, 2017 - 4:12 pm
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- what's one of the things you've found helpful for keeping your playing on the happy side?

Waking up each day and finding that I can play. Not that I have too. that I can.

Again Mark Happy  Playing

With violins there is no fretting over the music.

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mickmeloche

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February 22, 2017 - 10:46 pm
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I love to get up about 6 and play through a routine of songs with a big mute on all the strings.  I play Shindlers List, Secret Garden, Danny Boy, Lovers Waltz, over the Rainbow, Congress Reel, Rubber Dolly Rag, Over The Waves, then when my husband wakes up, I take off the mute, and let er rip. I'm trying to learn Czardas but am struggling with the fast parts. It would help if I could figure out the fingering. I think that's the hardest thing about the violin, only 4 strings, but so many patterns and fingering. And then to get the bow to follow the fast fingering. But it all makes me happy. I'm 70 this year so not much time left to learn all this.

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ADK-Mark
Adirondacks, NY
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February 27, 2017 - 5:42 pm
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Thanks for the post, @mickmeloche!

When you said "not much time left to learn all this", I started thinking that all we have is today anyway,  and we might as well make the most of it.   I did find this version of Schindler's List on Youtube, by a fellow with a few years under his belt, 90 of them... what do you think?  He doesn't seem that old...

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
March 8, 2017 - 8:40 pm
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@ADK-Mark - I couldn't watch the bent wrist video you referred to above.

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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