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This is my first post here, so please don't be too harsh.
Now I know that this piece is hated among violinists for its overuse, and I'm no exception. But it is still one of the few pieces that I know (minus the fastest part), I've been playing for 4-5 years.
Still, this to me does not sound good to me at all, it's not my absolute best, but it is probably my average. What is it that is making this sound bad?
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Serotonin said
This is my first post here, so please don't be too harsh.
Now I know that this piece is hated among violinists for its overuse, and I'm no exception. But it is still one of the few pieces that I know (minus the fastest part), I've been playing for 4-5 years.
Still, this to me does not sound good to me at all, it's not my absolute best, but it is probably my average. What is it that is making this sound bad?
First of all, LOTS of great things about your playing. No apologies necessary at all.
The 2 things that I recommend you concentrate on are:
- Bowing with more elbow and less upper arm. If you look at your video you'll notice how your bow pivots instead of tracking straight. Straighter, not perfect, bowing will improve your sound dramatically.
- Intonation. Don't get me wrong, your intonation isn't bad, it's just that the slightest intonation problems affect how we perceive music. Take the (boring) time to analyze slowly each and every tone and fix the intonation. Obviously you don't want to do the slow analyzing playing too often but at least do it once before playing through your pieces every time. Also, scales in the key of the piece that you are working on or will be playing. It reinforces the correct intervals.
Thanks for the post. Look forward to more!
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Fiddlerman said
First of all, LOTS of great things about your playing. No apologies necessary at all.
The 2 things that I recommend you concentrate on are:
- Bowing with more elbow and less upper arm. If you look at your video you'll notice how your bow pivots instead of tracking straight. Straighter, not perfect, bowing will improve your sound dramatically.
- Intonation. Don't get me wrong, your intonation isn't bad, it's just that the slightest intonation problems affect how we perceive music. Take the (boring) time to analyze slowly each and every tone and fix the intonation. Obviously you don't want to do the slow analyzing playing too often but at least do it once before playing through your pieces every time. Also, scales in the key of the piece that you are working on or will be playing. It reinforces the correct intervals.
Thanks for the post. Look forward to more!
Thanks for your feedback!
What exactly is good about my playing?
Do you know of any exercises to work on my bowing?
Thanks 
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Sure, here goes:
- Your capability of vibrating on every single finger. Ask others here how difficult that is for them to learn. It will probably get smoother, more even and natural from now on.
- Your sense of rhythm is fairly good.
- Speed doesn't seem to phase you much.
- Your bow changes are coming out quite smoothly to my ears.
- You seem to have a good sense of musicality which is enabling you to achieve a lot but also leads you to be more critical.
Everything is relative. My suggestion is that we focus on your progress from now on.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Thank you! I feel like I've been getting better recently. I tend to make progress in sudden jumps, so I'm fairly motivated right now
Regulars
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Serotonin,
Good playing, The bow makes the sound, watch your self in a mirror and work on staying in the same spot on the string. Its boring practice but use ringing notes on the violin to get the sympathetic vibrations to ring, adjust your bow speed, pressure and sounding point to get the best ringing sound. Work on getting it to ring on long bows the on short bows watch the string and work on getting it to vibrate side to side as wide as you can. It really make a difference on the sound of your playing.
Mark
Master the Frog and you have mastered the bow.
Albert Sammons
Regulars
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Well done seretonin, and thanks for sharing. I am just starting to try out the slower parts of this piece, so it was great to listen to your video. Don't worry about the recording not being your absolute best - I think it's to be expected (I get performance anxiety whenever the camera is about!) 
I can't offer any advice as I am nowhere near as advanced as you, but your video has made me look forward to being able to use vibrato in songs like this one (like Fiddlerman says, I found your ability impressive!), and I've learned a lot from watching the shape of your left hand which seems to be curved over the strings nicely (not the crazy mangled claw shape I currently make!) Keep it up and I hope you'll share more videos in future! 
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RedViolin said
Well done seretonin, and thanks for sharing. I am just starting to try out the slower parts of this piece, so it was great to listen to your video. Don't worry about the recording not being your absolute best - I think it's to be expected (I get performance anxiety whenever the camera is about!)I can't offer any advice as I am nowhere near as advanced as you, but your video has made me look forward to being able to use vibrato in songs like this one (like Fiddlerman says, I found your ability impressive!), and I've learned a lot from watching the shape of your left hand which seems to be curved over the strings nicely (not the crazy mangled claw shape I currently make!) Keep it up and I hope you'll share more videos in future!
Thanks man! That's really encouraging to hear. Good luck learning this piece, I hope that it doesn't end up haunting your dreams like it has for me (the repeating bass line makes it very easy to get it stuck in your head and very hard to get out haha) still, a very good piece to know, hope to hear your progress.
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