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Dear fellow violonists,
First a few words about me: I am 35 and started teaching myself the violin 9 months ago. I used to play some piano and some guitar, but now I have discovered myself a passion for the violin. I usually train about 45 min a day, starting with some scales and different exercises and I mostly use the Suzuki material.
Here is a video of me playing the minuet 1 of JS. Bach. I am looking forward to any advice, critique you all can make. Do not be shy!
Thanks,
Audrey
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I don't see a video.
With violins there is no fretting over the music.
Regulars
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Hi Audrey, welcome to the forum! It looks like your video didn't attach to your post.
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World's Okayest Fiddler
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Hello and welcome to the forum.
Eager to see and hear you.
Enjoy.
Toni
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
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Welcome to the forum. We look forward to hearing and getting to know you 
How did you attempt to attach the video. The easiest is to upload it to youtube and just paste the link.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Welcome to the forum @audreyvdm ! I enjoyed hearing your performance of Minuet 1. I'm working on the Suzuki minuets now too so I am not qualified to give detailed comments. But I can say that your tone and intonation sound good. Sometimes your rhythm is off as some notes are held too long. Listening to the recordings over and over will help with this.
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Welcome to the forum, @audreyvdm ! I enjoyed your video. Keep up the good work!
When the work's all done and the sun's settin' low,
I pull out my fiddle and I rosin up the bow.
King
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audreyvdm:, I like it. You seem to have good posture and very good use of your bow, although you do have the culprit, "fly away pinky", which is very very common in the beginning. Your intonation is good and your timing will come in time.
Great job and welcome to the forum.
Keep up the great work.
@Pierre, I think she deserves a badge.
Ken.
Honorary tenured advisor
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Very nicely done. Watch that pinky finger. The less distance your fingers have to travel to get to a note the faster they can play
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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Watching the video made me aware of that pinky! I never noticed it before!
Member
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There's a bit of too much tension on the left hand, and not just the pinky, see thumb and knuckles. I think the hand may be a bit too high above the fingerboard. Try to play the piece with a more relaxed left hand.
I suppose you are using the Suzuki score? Try to pay attention to the bowings, it doesn't look like you're playing the dotted slurs, and you're playing everything with the very same volume - notice the mezzo forte and piano in the score.
That's about it. It's fine aside of that.
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One source I've found very helpful for great play-along recordings is the German Suzuki association. Their recordings for most of the Suzuki pieces (at least the ones I've used so far) come in three different tempos, making it easy to play with the recording even when you are still practicing at getting the piece up to speed. The recordings that come with the Suzuki book are wonderful, but I find them too fast when I am first learning the piece. The slow and medium tempos on the German recordings are just the right speed for learning.
The German recordings come along with the Step by Step books (on the CD that comes with each book), or you can download the recordings from their website. They are not free to download, but they are very helpful for beginners. The link for the second half of book 1 is
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I listened to the recordings again and I am afraid I cannot figure out how to play the dotted slurs. Maybe you could explain it to me, Gabriel999?
Also I practiced the piano sections by playing closer to the fingerboard and by not applying to much pressure on the bow. Is this the right way to do it?
Thanks
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audreyvdm said
I listened to the recordings again and I am afraid I cannot figure out how to play the dotted slurs. Maybe you could explain it to me, Gabriel999?
First, I'm sorry, since I don't think 'dotted' is the proper word in English - which may refer to the othet dot that makes a note longer (adding half of its value).
Minuet 1 starts D, do you see the point above it? You should play that note with a slight pressure at the beginning and release immediatly - see Fiddlerman's video about stacatto .
Then you have two D's connected by a slur, with dots above both of them. You are supposed to play D-D with a single bow (up bow in this case), but since there are dots above the notes, you 'break' your up bow and you go up-stop-up applying the bowing that Fiddlerman shows in the video above.
You have another soon after, but you go D-stop-C.
If you see Fiddlerman's video you can see that bowing around 1:13. Set the video at 0.25 speed if needed to see it in slow motion.
audreyvdm said
I listened to the recordings again and I am afraid I cannot figure out how to play the dotted slurs. Maybe you could explain it to me, Gabriel999?
Yes. I didn't hear the difference that much but that may be a problem with my speakers.
I think you should also watch
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