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Now that I can play my fiddle for more than a minute at a time without too much pain, I have decided to work on my favorite tune: Faded Love.
For post #1, I have only worked on the first couple of lines. My main worry was getting the first two notes (stacatto???? when you kinda do a takeoff-and-landing maneuver with your bow) without too much bounce. The second worry was a clean transition from the G to A string on the two B flats.
It's only 25 seconds, but here you go:
My kids did the video. Ignore their chatter!

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Pro advisor
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https://fiddlerman.com/tutoria.....old-a-bow/
Not to harp on what others have mentioned, the bow hold is sooo important.
try holding it with your thumb under the frog to get an idea of the "C" shape your hand should have. Curved thumb is very key to keeping the hand relaxed.
I would also suggest that you consider orienting your wrist in a position similar to holding a bicycle handlebar while riding. When it is level with or slightly above the bow stick you will find smoother bowing is easier and your angle of attack wont seem so difficult on the two flying staccato notes at the beginning.
I noticed this isnt in the critique corner so forgive me if Ive overstepped what sort of feedback you were expecting.
p.s. while I am at it....https://fiddlerman.com/tutoria.....-a-violin/ I would encourage you also to not collapse your lefthand wrist holding the neck. There are many advantages to playing with your fingertips and a vertical wrist such as vibrato, but also doublestops can be easier. It definately gives you more control over intonation too IMO.
Keep at it, its taken me 3 years to get close to being happy with my progress, ha ha. I may be slower than the avg bear though.
"Please play some wrong notes, so that we know that you are human" - said to Jascha Heifetz.
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OK folks, such as it is - I have another video. I apologize beforehand for the cinematography. My 7 y.o. shot the video. This was the 3rd or 4th take, and the first one that 1) showed me 2)showed the fiddle 3)wouldn't cause motion sickness and 4) got the whole song. (Sorry - couldn't get rid of the weird zombie eyes)
Just so you know, I often practice like this when I am not up to holding the fiddle in the traditional manner. I did forget my non-skid shelf liner I usually have over my shirt, so I am a little more wobbly than usual on the hold due to slippage. I wasn't squeaking before either. Ah well, I guess I get what I pay for in the way of a cameraman!
Hopefully I can post a better take soon. And yes, I do make note of the helpful advice given me regarding bow hold. It is just not what I am concentrating on at the moment.

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Hi Dionysia,
You played the first part of the song fine, but the second part you didn't go high enough, you were about one note low. I am amazed you're tackling this song in the key of B Flat! That makes it much harder to play--fiddle music is normally played in keys without flats. I tried printing out the music you gave; it turned out very dark but I was able to read it, and I played it on the piano. Your fiddle is tuned a note too low--you were playing the song starting on the A note instead of B Flat! Maybe you're doing that intentionally; if not then please retune your fiddle to A 440! I recorded the song on the piano, in the real key of B Flat, starting on B Flat and posted it as YouTube, the link is here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....e=youtu.be It has the rhythm and fingering correct (as best I could make out from the dark music....) if you want to check your playing of it (and after retuning your fiddle to A 440 pitch!). My adult beginning fiddle class that meets once a week also began learning this Faded Love tune about 6 weeks ago but we're using music by Bob Wills; the version is slightly different for the melody. I've included that here too in case you want to try the "fiddle version" that doesn't have any flats! (We've learned about 13 songs now and so far not a one of them is in a key with a flat. LOL) Good luck, you're doing fine except for the second part of the song. As before, I'm highly impressed you're playing it with two flats!

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Actually, the song is written in the key of D, I think. Here are the tab's for the song.
D0 D2 A0 A0 A1 A0 D2 D2 D1 D0 A3 A3 E0 A3 A3 A1 A0 A0 A1 A0 D2 D2 D1 D0 D1 D1 D2 D1 D0 D2 A0 A0 A1 A0 D2 D2 D1 D0 A3 A3 E0 A3 A2 A1 A0 A2 A3 E0 E1 E0 A3
Also the Bob Will's version and Jim McKillop's version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....RwmYTZtNok
Enjoy.

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Honorary tenured advisor
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@Fiddlestix: did you click on the filename faded_love.pdf inside the little box marked attachments? Not the big gray box that I believe has something to do with Quicktime and maybe says something about a plugin.
@Steve: That distracting big gray box can be deleted with no ill effect, leaving only the little link to the pdf file, if you edit your post after making your initial post.
At least I am presented with a big gray box. YMMV.

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Thanks Toni - it is good to be playing again... as long as I don't overdo it.
Someone on here was talking about posting the not-so-good practices and I think this last vid definitely falls into that category. Unfortunately, I practiced more later that night and now my shoulder is too sore to play. Maybe tomorrow if I behave myself today.
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