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I've noticed that I don't keep my fingers close to the fingerboard when I play. I will try to be more aware of that while I'm playing. Please let me know if you see anymore bad habits. Thanks!

I was going to mention something about keeping the fingers closer to the fingerboard, then I read what you critiqued yourself on.
You have excellent intonation for playing such a short time. You can use more bow though. Bow stroke's are a bit short, but that will come in time.
Great job, Kim, keep it up.
Ken.








Great job on all the pieces I agree with Ken that your intonation is really good
On the Godfather theme I noticed that your palm on your left hand was starting to go flat to the neck of the violin, but since you didn't do it in the others it might be something you have worked through already.
Keep up the good work!
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Honorary advisor

Awesome job on intonation! Like Fiddlestix said, the short bowing is a problem you can overcome with time. Try to do some slow exercises, even on open strings, using the entire bow. It might feel weird because you are not used to but after some training your movements and sound will improve a lot.
Other things I noticed, your bow hand might be a bit too low, your pinky sits almost on very end of the bow screw which can cause you bow balance/control problems. Do you feel confortable with your violin position? It seems high, as in, the scroll is pointed a bit too high.
Hope I helped you
Happy practicing!

damfino Thank you for pointing out the palm. It could be because the song was longer than the other 2. I'll pay attention to see if it's something that happens on longer songs.
@ElisaDalViolin Good observation on the bow. I've noticed that I lose control when I get towards the top of the bow (using long bow strokes). As far as comfort, I had to chuckle because nothing felt normal the first couple of months. I will take note on how others hold the violin. It does feel awkward when I play notes on the G string.
I really appreciate the time you all take to critique!

















Great job, like everyone said intonation is great! Which is really hard for a lot of people. Some things that I noticed (and others mentioned):
1. Work on long bows, good exercise is just to play open strings with a metronome and start it at a slow beat (40bpm). And you hold the bow for four counts and then switch directions, then hold it for 2 counts and switch directions, and lastly hold it for 1 count and switch directions. You want to make sure that you don't have spaces in between the notes. The long smooth bows will help get rid of the scratchiness when you start and stop notes.
2. Are you reading from sheet music? Do they have slurs notated? One of the things I noticed was interesting choices in when to slur notes and not slur notes. If the music has slurs notated make sure to follow those when you practice. Choosing when to slur and when not to slur really has an effect on a lot of aspects of playing: easy of changing notes, playing fast, rhythmic effects, phrasing, etc. If it's not notated then, it's pretty tough to know where the right places to change are without some guidance ...
3. Bow angle: I noticed only a few times (scarorough fair :20) your bow leaves being perpendicular with the bridge and starts to angle towards your head. You will get much better tone if you can keep your bow perpendicular to the bridge.
Anyway you are doing great! Keep up the hard work.

Thank you, @Fiddlerman! I will pay more attention to my wrist and bowing.
Thank you @fiddlinsteudel, I will try your bow exercise. I definitely need to work on my bowing. I've noticed funny bow angles in my videos. I will look at myself more in the mirror.
Unfortunately, I'm not that great at reading notes. I don't know what a slur looks like on sheet music. Recently, I've been looking at many videos of violinists playing, trying to get an idea of when to slur. I wasn't aware that sheet music tells you when to slur. I was winging out. I truly appreciate all the comments and suggestions!!








kim-d
An example of what a slur looks like on sheet music, here in the Godfather theme, the second and third notes of the song, the C# and D have a little swoosh line above theme, looks like a little sideways parenthesis... That's a notation for a slur. So those two notes would be played on the same up bow. Slurs can cross strings, and be many more notes in a row, and when they are noted on the sheet music that swoosh will go like that across all the notes meant to be played in that bow stroke.
Hope this helps!
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I believe that notation is telling you to continue holding the note in the same bow stroke, since the note doesn't change in the second half of the slur. Looking farther on in the sheet music, where the slur is repeated, the sheet music shows the bow stroke notation reminder, the whole slurred section is a down bow, and the first note out of it is an up bow, so I'm pretty sure that is how that should be played.
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