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RDP
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March 24, 2022 - 6:12 pm
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I have a list for various pieces I want to learn how to play.  Everything from Beethoven Virus to Margaret's Waltz, Halleujah, and a few others are on the list.

The problem is that nothing on the list excites me right now.  Well, maybe Ailein Duinn does but I can't find the sheet music for it except on the pay sites.

 

On top of that, you guys know how poorly I play right now.  Given that, what would be a good next piece to learn alongside my Suzuki lessons?

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stringy
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March 24, 2022 - 6:20 pm
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Ode to joy, is good for intonation, is quite beautiful, is fairly simple, if anything on violin can be classed as that, and when learned with each note intonated perfectly, is very impressive.

Dont know if its on the list you mention, I learned it from the Applebaum book 1, in the series he made. All the other books are excellent as well.

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ELCBK
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Pick anything you can memorize - that way you can focus on bowing & intonation, instead of the sheet music. 

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Mouse
March 24, 2022 - 7:30 pm
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First, @stringy Don't be so hard on yourself. Violin, viola and cello are all very difficult to learn. I have to tell myself that quite often. You, friend, are doing great.

I have tried Hallelujah a few times. It sounds like it would be simple. Timing, making it not sound like one note - even though the one note is repeated a lot are both difficult. Fiddlerman has a video and downloadable sheet music in his tune of the week series. I have decided to wait until I have more bow control, better intonation, better timing, and can do better with expression.

If I were you, I would do Ode to Joy, There is a lot to learn from that song to prepare for more involved songs. You can play with it to make it sound any way you want after you learn it the way it was written. That is what I would do. I hope this is of some help to you.

The Bumblebee Flies!

Please ignore any typos. My typing ability on a real typewriter did not transfer to these device key pads.

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SharonC
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March 24, 2022 - 7:35 pm
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There are several on Fiddlerman’s listing:

*Go Tell Aunt Rhody: https://fiddlerman.com/wp-cont.....-Rhody.pdf

*Long Long Ago:  https://fiddlerman.com/wp-cont.....ng-Ago.pdf

*Ode to Joy for violin – beginner: https://fiddlerman.com/wp-cont.....to-Joy.pdf

*When I started playing violin on my own with The ABCs of Violin for the Absolute Beginner series, these were all in that first book I used.   

There’s also some good things on Violinsheetmusic.org as well; some examples:

Alouette: https://violinsheetmusic.org/t...../alouette/

Camptown Races:  https://violinsheetmusic.org/t.....own-races/

On Top of Old Smokey: https://violinsheetmusic.org/t.....ld-smokey/

Simple Gifts: https://violinsheetmusic.org/t.....ple-gifts/

Yankee Doodle: https://violinsheetmusic.org/t.....ee-doodle/

I’d also recommend working on scales.  It is helpful to play the scale of the key that you are playing a tune in.  So, if you are playing the above Ode to Joy, which is in D major, practice playing a D major scale, listening to your intonation.

Characterize people by their actions and you will never be fooled by their words.

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stringy
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March 24, 2022 - 8:21 pm
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Mouse, think you got me mixed up with the original poster who is RDP ;)

I mentioned ode to joy because it was one of the first tunes I learned, and is quite simple to play, but sounds great.

I agree with Sharon on scales, before moving on to anything else I would practice scales till my fingers bled, along with arpeggios and dominant 7ths, which bring in the llittle finger if played correctly.

Ears have to be developed before anything else and this is done by playing scales and checking each note.

just learning lots of tunes in my own opinion is pointless.

I myself am guilty of this which takes a long time to correct eventually.

 I would if I started again, learn to play every tune perfectly in tune or as close as I could get with undeveloped hearing.

I  have now started to learn new stuff very, very slowly making sure each note is perfectly in tune, I intend posting a vid very soon in the hope of Andrew H and fiddlerman telling me if my intonation is ok and if it isnt how to improve it, I will be playing at very slow speed so all faults can be seen.

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Mouse
March 24, 2022 - 9:02 pm
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@stringy You are right. I did not scroll up all the way, although, I thought I was at the top. 

@RDP You need to be not so hard on yourself, too. What song or lesson are you on in your Suzuki? I would try to keep the additional song at the same level as your Suzuki. Something that uses what is covered in that lesson. What lesson and songs in the lesson are you working with? Which Suzuki book level?

Do you feel the songs you have been using with previous lessons added to the lesson or do you feel they were a little too ahead of the lesson? If you feel like they were a little too advanced for the lesson you were on, try to find one that goes a long with the lesson a little more. 

If you are not interested in keeping added material close to what the lesson is teaching,  and just want another song, I would still do the Ode to Joy, for the reasons given in my post where I mistook you for Stringy. 😂😂😂 That was so me!

🐭

The Bumblebee Flies!

Please ignore any typos. My typing ability on a real typewriter did not transfer to these device key pads.

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ABitRusty
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March 24, 2022 - 10:06 pm
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RDP said
"..........

On top of that, you guys know how poorly I play right now.  Given that, what would be a good next piece to learn alongside my Suzuki lessons?"

  

well I actually thought you were doing pretty well.. 

Find the music or style of music that motivates you to play the violin in the first place.  i thought inisheer was a great choice for where you are.   

Margarets waltz a little more challenging but a great tune thats doable.  depends on how technical youre expecting your results to be.   Im coming from the folky side so apologies if this isnt what you were asking..  look at tombigbee waltz , autumn child is another one.  star of the county down THE WALTZ not the march ..ashokan farewell,  any of those can be basic or really hard depending on how its played and are similar to margarets waltz in my mind.  so why i listed those.

any tune you find yourself humming alot 🙂  hum and try and find it on the violin.  

dont forget about dynamics and ryhthm.   you can clap happy birthday and most people will know what it is.  did you clap all the notes with the correct pitch in tune?  🤔  

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RDP
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March 25, 2022 - 12:35 am
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ABitRusty said

RDP said

"..........

On top of that, you guys know how poorly I play right now.  Given that, what would be a good next piece to learn alongside my Suzuki lessons?"

  

well I actually thought you were doing pretty well.. 

Find the music or style of music that motivates you to play the violin in the first place.  i thought inisheer was a great choice for where you are.   

Margarets waltz a little more challenging but a great tune thats doable.  depends on how technical youre expecting your results to be.   Im coming from the folky side so apologies if this isnt what you were asking..  look at tombigbee waltz , autumn child is another one.  star of the county down THE WALTZ not the march ..ashokan farewell,  any of those can be basic or really hard depending on how its played and are similar to margarets waltz in my mind.  so why i listed those.

any tune you find yourself humming alot 🙂  hum and try and find it on the violin.  

dont forget about dynamics and ryhthm.   you can clap happy birthday and most people will know what it is.  did you clap all the notes with the correct pitch in tune?  🤔  

  

Right now the only piece in my repertoire list that I really would like to learn is Ailein Duinn.  The problem is that someone at some point thought it'd be a great idea to turn a Scottish lament into an Irish jig and that's about all the music you can find under the title.  I did manage to find a sheet (1 of 4) with the correct score on it but (obviously) it's incomplete.  I think I can use that sheet to add in the missing notes because the piece is basically a repeat 3 more times after the first run-through.

However, that's a lot of work that will take my eye off of focusing on learning how to play well.  Which is what I really think I need to be learning at this point.

 

Usually, most of the music I have in my head is a mix of hard and soft rock.  There's no way I'm going to try and learn some of that while going through my Suzuki lessons, they're just to different to mesh well.

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RDP
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March 25, 2022 - 12:50 am
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Mouse said
@stringy You are right. I did not scroll up all the way, although, I thought I was at the top. 

@RDP You need to be not so hard on yourself, too. What song or lesson are you on in your Suzuki? I would try to keep the additional song at the same level as your Suzuki. Something that uses what is covered in that lesson. What lesson and songs in the lesson are you working with? Which Suzuki book level?

Do you feel the songs you have been using with previous lessons added to the lesson or do you feel they were a little too ahead of the lesson? If you feel like they were a little too advanced for the lesson you were on, try to find one that goes a long with the lesson a little more. 

If you are not interested in keeping added material close to what the lesson is teaching,  and just want another song, I would still do the Ode to Joy, for the reasons given in my post where I mistook you for Stringy. 😂😂😂 That was so me!

🐭

  

I'm currently in Suzuki Book 1.  I have Minuet #'s 2 and 3 plus Gavotte and The Happy Farmer yet to do before I finish this book and move into Book 2.  This week's lesson is a review of earlier pieces to work on technique but after that, it's the 4 above that I'll be working on.  I think I'll be ready for Book 2 sometime in May or June depending on how well I do on Gavotte and Happy Farmer (they look tough to me).

 

Inisheer and A Time For Us both stretched my ability to play beyond where I was at the time.  Inisheer taught me slurs and a bunch of bowing techniques.  A Time For Us let me learn the D string better.  The help you guys game me on that one also let me understand more about bowing techniques than I knew or was being taught in my tutorial.  So both of those were "ahead" of where I was but not by too much and they helped me with my lessons and weren't a distraction.  Rather, they were more like a rest break during my practice sessions when I was struggling with the Minuet and the Etude before that.  I'd work on the lesson for about 15-20 minutes then break for a minute or 2, then play one of the other 2 pieces once or twice, take another short break then go back to the lesson.  It's why it took months for me to learn them while my lessons at most have only taken maybe 3 weeks before moving on to the next lesson.

 

Ode to Joy fits with that same program and it sounds like it will mesh well with my lessons very nicely, so that suggestion is a great one and I thank everyone who mentioned it.  I downloaded the sheet music that was linked above and will see how much damage I can do to it under the guise of "trying to learn."

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RDP
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March 25, 2022 - 1:05 am
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@ABitRusty 

I added Ashokan Farewell to my list.  It's absolutely beautiful but well beyond what I can do right now.  There's no way I'm going to even try to do double stops at this stage of the game.

 

Although the Toronto Asian orchestra managed to play it like it was a classical piece it's still way too complex for me right now.

 

After sleeping on this, I think that Ashokan Farewell might be do-able later this year depending on what I'm learning at the time.

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LinDee
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March 25, 2022 - 4:46 pm
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this looks like a simple version of Ashokan Farewell:

http://www.tradartsteam.co.uk/.....rewell.jpg

I couldn't get the link to copy on here but I typed it out.  I saved it to my computer to try myself one day. 

LinDee

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LinDee
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March 25, 2022 - 4:48 pm
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oh cool, looks like it saved as a link, which I tried and it worked, yay!

LinDee

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ABitRusty
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RDP said
I added Ashokan Farewell to my list.  It's absolutely beautiful but well beyond what I can do right now.  There's no way I'm going to even try to do double stops at this stage of the game.

 

Although the Toronto Asian orchestra managed to play it like it was a classical piece it's still way too complex for me right now.

 

After sleeping on this, I think that Ashokan Farewell might be do-able later this year depending on what I'm learning at the time.

  

@RDP if youre playing inisheer you can ashokan.  The C natural in the B part is something to watch/listen for.  I dont ever feel like I do either one of those tunes justice but thats part of what we're doing...learning and making what weve learned better.  forgot to mention crested hens as a tune.  Its a bit more difficult but still one to give a go if you like.

 

"...Usually, most of the music I have in my head is a mix of hard and soft rock."

Yeah i was too UNTIL. lol.   I debated saying try and play what is in your head for that reason.   the trick is to get the stuff you want to play folk wise in your head too.  it seriously helps.. wont be a cure all obviously but it sure helps.

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ELCBK
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MANY easy, "Ode To Joy" & "Ashokan Farewell" video tutorials for violin on YouTube - none have double stops.  Different styles of teaching, in some of them - you're bound to find at least one that helps you learn. 

You CAN play along with your favorite ROCK tunes - there may not be free violin sheet music, but search - might be a free piano score available that you can get the basic melody from.

OR, help your ear training along - hum the tune, then try to find the notes to the basic melody on your fingerboard.  I had to do this for many Popular, Rock & Movie themes because no sheet music was available - shouldn't stop you from playing what you like right now. 😊

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RDP
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March 25, 2022 - 9:39 pm
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ABitRusty said

RDP said

I added Ashokan Farewell to my list.  It's absolutely beautiful but well beyond what I can do right now.  There's no way I'm going to even try to do double stops at this stage of the game.

 

Although the Toronto Asian orchestra managed to play it like it was a classical piece it's still way too complex for me right now.

 

After sleeping on this, I think that Ashokan Farewell might be do-able later this year depending on what I'm learning at the time.

  

@RDP if youre playing inisheer you can ashokan.  The C natural in the B part is something to watch/listen for.  I dont ever feel like I do either one of those tunes justice but thats part of what we're doing...learning and making what weve learned better.

  

I'm probably going to go with Ode to Joy first, then we'll see if it's Ashokan or Ailein Duinn next.

 

I did find out today that the tuner that came with my violin is lying to me.  According to TWO tuner apps I downloaded, the one that came with my violin is a half step high on D and constantly wandering around on C to the point that eventually it says that C is right next to the nut on the A string.  It's no wonder I can't find the right notes, I can't get my violin in tune.

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Mark
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RDP

Food for thoughtv is the clip on tuner set to A=440?

I have seen some set different and that will drive you crazy until you realize what the issue is. Don't ask me how I know.

Mark

Master the Frog and you have mastered the bow.

Albert Sammons

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RDP
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Mark said
RDP

Food for thoughtv is the clip on tuner set to A=440?

I have seen some set different and that will drive you crazy until you realize what the issue is. Don't ask me how I know.

Mark

  

Yeah, I double checked that, 440.  I just find it funny that eventually the tuner tells me that to hit the correct notes of C and D on the A string I have to cross my middle 2 fingers as I go up the scale.

Basically, it's junk.  The tuner has already launched the little spring between the jaws once and I had to superglue it back in place.  Next it froze and wouldn't display anything except a blank orange screen.  I did a hard restart (R&R the battery cover) and it wouldn't even start up afterward.  No matter what I did it wouldn't turn on afterward.  I messed around with it and eventually got it to start and do its thing, but that didn't last very long before it froze again.  I no longer trust it because it is verifiably wrong and obviously failure prone.

 

A very strange thing happened when I tuned by using the tuning App, I suddenly have good solid intonation if I play moderately slowly to be positive that I'm hitting the right spots on the fingerboard.  That alone leads me to believe that the tuner has been hurting my progress for a long time.

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ABitRusty
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@RDP it sounds like you have your tuner situation resolved.  In case you decide to look again @elcbk turned me onto this stroboson .   I use it mainly for guitar and banjo now but it works really well clipped onto music stand if your close.  It will pick up sound and has a huge display.

this is my goto tuner daddario micro tuner for violin and viola.  It clips onto the body and is small enough to not be in the way.   stays put ..handy.

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stringy
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I always use a tuning fork  for the A, and tune the other strings from that.

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