dionysia said
You play waaayyy better than I do. I am the last one to be commenting about form [being completely suckish in that respect], but is your bowing arm comfortable? It looked a little tense, like you would be uncomfortable playing for very long.

Thanks D. You're right, my arm does look like it's at an odd angle. I've been working to try and keep the violin level on the advice of my teacher, but maybe I'm over-compensating. It's funny that I thought I was fairly upright when I was playing but in the video I look hunched over.

Fiddlestix said
Very nice job, KS…….. your bow look's a bit tight, is it ?

Keep up the good work.      

Thank you, Fiddlestix. I think you're right. I was getting a lot of bounce, so I tightened it up, which seemed to help, but maybe I tightened it too much.

Just the kind of input I was hoping for!

Thanks for all the great advice everyone!

I tried to work on all your recommendations tonight…it was a lot to remember…  but I think I was able to make some improvements.

I know my bow was too tight in the video -- it really did seem to bounce less that way -- but I was careful not to tighten too much tonight and not much bouncing (except on D on the A string, which is usually my worst note for bouncing and scratching).

I put the violin up more on my shoulder, per FM's advice, and it did sound better. In fact, I was also getting vibration of the music through my collar bone, which was weird but sort of nice, too. The downside was that my left arm got really tired, really quickly.

Regarding the stiffness…while I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I'm just stiff by nature, I appreciate the suggestions to help me limber up. I will give them a try.