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Been working on reading different things on sheet music after getting the breakdown of how it works from my teacher on Monday.
My bowing drives me nuts in this video... For some reason I kept going crooked today. So it was annoying me.
Anyways, here I am at day 20:
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You're sounding good!
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@damfino you sound fine, especially for 20 days.
On the bow thing, that's how mine was going for the last few weeks until yesterday, I tended to poke myself in the head even.
What I finally figured is that my violin was sliding down, because my shoulder-rest gave out, so the angle changed and that's what caused it for me at least partially.
Have you been picking up your violin the same every time?
It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself. Johann S.Bach
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I've been trying to place my violin the same every time. My teacher told me that when I place it under my chin, however the neck hangs without my hand on it, is how the violin should stay. I'm sure I'm not describing it exactly right, but basically I try not to lift the violin too much with my left hand, though I think I still do. But I'll try to pay attention to how I place it during my next practice to be sure I'm not starting to do something different.
After watching the video again, I saw my wrist is pretty stiff in my bow hand, I think I was concentrating too much on my fingering, and not enough on my bowing. I've only been practicing this short piece today, so was concentrating pretty hard on remembering my fingering.
I made myself stop practicing playing the sheet music and did some open string bowing and simple scales before I finished my practice up for the night.
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Excellent work (especially for the time you've been playing!).
I think the bowing problem might be down to too much shoulder movement as oppose to using the elbow. It seems a very common thing that all of us do until someone points it out.
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I'll take a look at that, Jim, thanks. I need to get a full length mirror in a place I can practice in front of it. I only have one in my bathroom, and the space isn't big enough for practicing in front of it (low ceilings in an already small room, lol).
I know when I start concentrating on my fingering I start making more mistakes with bowing, and if I pay too much attention to my bowing if I don't know the fingering well enough, I start messing up my fingering, lol.
My teacher has me working on reading rhythm this week, so I think my brain was getting over-loaded during this practice session. But that overloading is part of why I love learning the violin 
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@AnnyJ I compared it to my last video, and it does look like I was holding the neck a little lower. I might have set my shoulder rest a little differently (I have to take one of the feet off to get it to fit in my case). I'll have to check on that when I practice tonight. That, on top of my stiff wrist, looks like it might be what made my bow go crooked.
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Good job. The problem with your bowing can be solved by moving your elbow back a little. You're not the only one that's ever had that problem. Here's the young Joshua Bell, being tutored by one of the most famous violin teachers of all time, Ivan Galamian.
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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Very very good job!! Keep up the excellent work!
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
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@Uzi
awesome video.... Hard to see the student so uncomfortable.... But look at him now. It would be so cool to hear what he has to say now about that class.
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
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@Uzi Very interesting video
@coolpinkone Thanks
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damfino, you are progressing great. It's fantastic that you film yourself like this. Everything becomes visible and makes it way easier to analyze. Try to keep in mind how your bow is flowing and fix it for a while and film yourself again after a few days (not for our sake, no need to post) to analyze once again.
Make sure you play at an angle that you can see clearly what is going on as you did in this last video.
IMAO, you need to use a little less shoulder and pull your arm back a bit.
Taking the time to get things right as you are now, is the best way to progress. You won't have to work so hard on fixing them later.
Your journey is going great IMAO!!!
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Thanks for the tips!
I usually record myself at some point during my practices so I can step back and hear the notes I'm hitting, and watch my bowing. I've noticed that until I memorize my fingering, my bowing goes all wonky like this, and once I memorize it, my bowing goes back to normal. So I've been working on how I split my concentration, so that I'm not ignoring my bowing and teaching myself bad habits.
My posture looks awful all around in this video, lol.
I've just about got Old McDonald down, so maybe after class tomorrow I'll do a new video to see how my bowing is going with that one. That was my homework song this week, to get used to playing with a metronome. This thing was me skipping ahead to what she said we are doing this week, working on eighth notes.
But I'm enjoying the journey so far. It is a challenge that I really like.
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damfino said
...........But I'm enjoying the journey so far. It is a challenge that I really like.
Glad to hear it.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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