Welcome to our forum. A Message To Our New and Prospective Members . Check out our Forum Rules. Lets keep this forum an enjoyable place to visit.
Private messaging is working again.

AAA
Avatar
Please consider registering
guest
sp_LogInOut Log Insp_Registration Register
Register | Lost password?
Advanced Search
Forum Scope




Match



Forum Options



Minimum search word length is 3 characters - maximum search word length is 84 characters
sp_Feed Topic RSSsp_TopicIcon
Make it bearable
Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 (1 votes) 
Avatar
HP
Trondheim, Norway
Members

Regulars
October 12, 2012 - 3:30 pm
Member Since: October 11, 2012
Forum Posts: 404
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

You just got started, very enthusiastic and ready to practice. Then you can't because you are too bad. That's like it is right now. Even my cat don't like the awful sound. She hides. (LOL.) I'm trying to practice when they are out of home, but one of them is at home all the time. Trying to do most silent exercises, but it's restricted how much you can improve with just that. I don't want to disturb them, but I want to become a good fiddler.

I'm picking up a mute tomorrow at the local store, maybe that will help to make it bearable. Maybe I just should move into the doll's house or the garage. dunno

 

How did you survive the start? Have long will the tunes stay that bad? Is there any exercises for making a cleaner sound?

'Armed with theory, practice becomes meaningful. Through practice, theory becomes fulfilled.' - Egon von Neindorff.

Avatar
DanielB
Regulars

Members
October 12, 2012 - 4:07 pm
Member Since: May 4, 2012
Forum Posts: 2379
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

I started with playing electric, so it was very quiet at first.

I most often play the acoustic in a hallway/stairwell that closes off from the rest of the house by doors.  That way it isn't quite so loud for the other people in my household.  Before the autumn chill got into the air, I used to play outdoors in the backyard, and still do occasionally when it is a warm evening.   I make it a point to restrict my playing time on the acoustic to when people aren't trying to sleep.

I have never tried mutes, but from what I understand they make quite a difference in the volume. 

I think pretty much everyone's playing sounds a bit rough and awful at first.  I know mine did!  LOL  I can still make the cats wince if I happen to hit a very sour or shrill note. 

Not having heard what it is sounding like when you play, it will be hard for anyone here to give you much advice.  Does it sound ok when you just bow the open strings?

"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman

Avatar
HP
Trondheim, Norway
Members

Regulars
October 12, 2012 - 4:11 pm
Member Since: October 11, 2012
Forum Posts: 404
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

DanielB said 
Not having heard what it is sounding like when you play, it will be hard for anyone here to give you much advice.  Does it sound ok when you just bow the open strings?

No, it does not. Or, I think it's not that bad, but they other thinks it's awful as hell, even with open strings. 

'Armed with theory, practice becomes meaningful. Through practice, theory becomes fulfilled.' - Egon von Neindorff.

Avatar
Almandin
Stockholm, Sweden

Honorary advisor
Members

Regulars
October 12, 2012 - 4:26 pm
Member Since: August 22, 2012
Forum Posts: 302
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

I know how you feel! After a month and a half, I still mess up a lot of the time. :D The best advice I can give you for now is to really work on drawing the bow straight across the strings. It's when it goes all over the place that the really horrible screeching occurs... Start painfully slow and make sure the bow stays over the middle of the "bowing area". It will get better really soon, as long as you persevere! cheerleader

By the way, I didn't welcome you here in your introduction post. So velkommen from a fellow Scandinavian! I've been to Trondheim once ages ago on a lovely car trip across the Norwegian fjell. smile

~ Once you've ruled out the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be true. ~

Avatar
HP
Trondheim, Norway
Members

Regulars
October 12, 2012 - 4:37 pm
Member Since: October 11, 2012
Forum Posts: 404
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Almandin said
I know how you feel! After a month and a half, I still mess up a lot of the time. :D The best advice I can give you for now is to really work on drawing the bow straight across the strings. It's when it goes all over the place that the really horrible screeching occurs... Start painfully slow and make sure the bow stays over the middle of the "bowing area". It will get better really soon, as long as you persevere! cheerleader

By the way, I didn't welcome you here in your introduction post. So velkommen from a fellow Scandinavian! I've been to Trondheim once ages ago on a lovely car trip across the Norwegian fjell. smile

I working on that for like an hour today. Slow and painful. Hopefully it will get better soon. crossedfingers

 

So fun to see some other from Scandinavia. :) I have been in Stockholm some times. Not in the past two-three years. Lovely city and country. 

'Armed with theory, practice becomes meaningful. Through practice, theory becomes fulfilled.' - Egon von Neindorff.

Avatar
DanielB
Regulars

Members
October 12, 2012 - 4:41 pm
Member Since: May 4, 2012
Forum Posts: 2379
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Are the others musicians as well?   If they are, it is sad to think that other musicians or artists would be so discouraging to one who is starting.

If they are not, then they may not understand that music, like any art, usually starts out pretty rough.   

"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman

Avatar
HP
Trondheim, Norway
Members

Regulars
October 12, 2012 - 4:44 pm
Member Since: October 11, 2012
Forum Posts: 404
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

They are not musicians. And they don't listen to much violin play other then my bad playing. 

'Armed with theory, practice becomes meaningful. Through practice, theory becomes fulfilled.' - Egon von Neindorff.

Avatar
DanielB
Regulars

Members
October 12, 2012 - 4:51 pm
Member Since: May 4, 2012
Forum Posts: 2379
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Well, then they can't know much about it.  How would someone who does not listen to much violin at all know what a beginner violinist should sound like?

 

Perhaps you should consider.. Playing louder.  devil-violin

"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman

Avatar
HP
Trondheim, Norway
Members

Regulars
October 12, 2012 - 4:58 pm
Member Since: October 11, 2012
Forum Posts: 404
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Hehe, that's too mean. I don't want to make them dislike violin more then they already do. tongue

'Armed with theory, practice becomes meaningful. Through practice, theory becomes fulfilled.' - Egon von Neindorff.

Avatar
DanielB
Regulars

Members
October 12, 2012 - 5:08 pm
Member Since: May 4, 2012
Forum Posts: 2379
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
10sp_Permalink sp_Print
0

HatefulPain, it is also mean for someone to speak badly of a beginner because they do not yet sound like an expert. 

Besides, if they don't usually listen to violin, they might not like it even when you play very well someday. 

Actually, though, if you are trying to play very lightly with the bow and very quiet, I find that harder to get a good sound with than when I play a bit louder.  You can get more squeeks and hisses in your sound if you try to play too lightly.  With my first acoustic, I didn't actually know it could sound good until I heard someone else play it quite a bit louder and enthusiastically than I had been trying to play it.  So there is at least some chance that you might get clearer sounds if you play a bit louder, by drawing the bow faster and pressing down a little harder with it.

"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman

Avatar
HP
Trondheim, Norway
Members

Regulars
October 12, 2012 - 5:19 pm
Member Since: October 11, 2012
Forum Posts: 404
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
11sp_Permalink sp_Print
0

That's probably right. I'm trying to not to play "softer," consciously, but it may be that I do it anyway. I wish I did live alone, it would have been so much easier. 

'Armed with theory, practice becomes meaningful. Through practice, theory becomes fulfilled.' - Egon von Neindorff.

Avatar
Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
October 12, 2012 - 8:47 pm
Member Since: September 26, 2010
Forum Posts: 16537
12sp_Permalink sp_Print
0

Welcome to the forum HatefulPain,

Just keep working and you will get better. It's always tough in the beginning but it's kind of nice to see the progress and look forward to the future and accomplishing your goals. smile

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

Avatar
cdennyb
King for a Day, Peasant for many
Members

Regulars
October 12, 2012 - 10:23 pm
Member Since: February 13, 2012
Forum Posts: 1818
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
13sp_Permalink sp_Print
5

The best thing you can do to overcome the hesitant desire to be quiet is go someplace far away from people and anyone talking bad about your practice.

Play it like you want someone on the next block to hear you.

You'll be shocked at how good it sounds and you will quickly develop better control of the bow and make the right notes because of the timing involved when you work the bow quicker and with more pressure.

thumbs-up

"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein

Avatar
Guest
Guests
October 12, 2012 - 11:14 pm

Actually, I think the speed of the bow drawn across the string's is the deciding factor on whether you get squeek's or not. The faster your bow speed the less annoying squeeking you'll get. It also has to do with how firm you press down on the string's. Of course there's alway's the rosin factor.

Avatar
Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
October 13, 2012 - 8:30 am
Member Since: September 26, 2010
Forum Posts: 16537
15sp_Permalink sp_Print
0

Bow speed plays a big part as do bow pressure and contact point. However it is possible to draw the bow super slow without any bad sounds. It is good practice to do your own analysis while practicing. If the sound is bad try something else, slower, faster, more or less pressure, closer or further to the fingerboard with your bow to string contact. Since we spend most practice time by ourselves, one of the best things we can learn to do is to be our own teachers as much as possible.

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

Avatar
HP
Trondheim, Norway
Members

Regulars
October 13, 2012 - 10:28 am
Member Since: October 11, 2012
Forum Posts: 404
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
16sp_Permalink sp_Print
0

Thank you guys for the advice's. :)  

I have no idea what kind of rosin it is. It's from the maker, so it's probably something he have made (It's a light one.). I also have a Alice rosin, but I have heard that's not a good rosin. 

'Armed with theory, practice becomes meaningful. Through practice, theory becomes fulfilled.' - Egon von Neindorff.

Forum Timezone: America/New_York
Most Users Ever Online: 696
Currently Online:
Guest(s) 102
Currently Browsing this Page:
1 Guest(s)
Members Birthdays
sp_BirthdayIcon
Today celeigh87
Upcoming fryserisnon8, Picklefish, Tammy, Shell, Schaick, GlassTownCur, Violinista Italiano, Ogre, marcnaz, VirginViolinist, Cearbhael, eugenephilip572
Top Posters:
ELCBK: 8834
ABitRusty: 4303
Mad_Wed: 2849
Gordon Shumway: 2735
Barry: 2690
Fiddlestix: 2647
Oliver: 2439
DanielB: 2379
stringy: 2373
Mark: 2273
Member Stats:
Guest Posters: 3
Members: 31781
Moderators: 0
Admins: 8
Forum Stats:
Groups: 16
Forums: 84
Topics: 10862
Posts: 138013
Newest Members:
jeni2024, Goldenbow, joanie, hunmari01, lydia.vertu SP, Thavence SP, tcaron21, Ustiana SP, DennisRathbone SP, Dan
Administrators: Fiddlerman: 16537, KindaScratchy: 1760, coolpinkone: 4180, BillyG: 3746, JoakimSimplePress: 0, MrsFiddlerman: 2, Jimmie Bjorling: 0, Mouse: 6097