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Gavotte by Gossec
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RDP
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August 7, 2022 - 7:43 pm
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I'm DONE with Suzuki Book 1.  Even if I wasn't I would be, I am so tired of sounding like garbage when it comes to my intonation and the more I work on a piece the worse I sound until I absolutely cannot play it cleanly.

Here's the video.  It's slower than it should be and you'll hear the fingering and bowing mistakes.  I also got lost once in the middle.  No problem I've only been playing this piece for 6 weeks now so it's no big deal if I forget what line I'm on, the notes I'm supposed to play, or even how to read the blasted staff; right?

 

 

On the plus side, if you listen carefully you can hear that my intonation is much improved.  It's still sounds like dirt, but it's better than it was.  I have more ringing tones than I used to have, except on the 4th finger - that still sounds flat.

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ABitRusty
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August 7, 2022 - 11:16 pm
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way tah go @RDP !  thats a tough one especially there at the end with the 16th note runs.   congrats on the progress and making through book1!

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Mark
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August 8, 2022 - 1:15 am
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@RDP

That's a ruff one in my opinion to get to sound right.

Definitely improvement,  keep on keeping on.

 

Mark

Master the Frog and you have mastered the bow.

Albert Sammons

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Mouse
August 8, 2022 - 8:00 am
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That was really good, RDP. That is a difficult piece to play. I have tried it on my cello, viola and violin. Not easy to do, no matter what positions my arm are being used at. Your intonation was very good in it. There is just so much going on in that piece. Kudos.

Very time I hear it I think of a Bugs Bunny cartoon. If it were only that simple.

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 Thank you.

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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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stringy
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August 8, 2022 - 1:19 pm
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Getting good, definately getting better with intonation, and good tone is now coming through as well, great progress no doubt about it. Agree with everyone else hard tune to get to grips with, that one. Tackling it well though.

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RDP
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August 8, 2022 - 3:45 pm
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My biggest gripe, besides the fact that this piece frustrated the heck out of me, is that my bowing technique sucks.  I'm all over the fingerboard with the bow and the bouncing is atrocious.  There's a reason, which I'm not going to get into detail about at this time, but suffice it to say that I'm not happy with my performance in this piece.

I'm going to take a couple of weeks before beginning Book 2.  I'm just too frustrated at the moment and I'm afraid that will carry over.  Which wouldn't be good for me.

I did manage to find the name and number of a local violin instructor.  I'm going to call and see if we can arrange to chat.  Hopefully that works out and that it leads to me solving some of my issues.

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stringy
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August 8, 2022 - 4:20 pm
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Its good that you are not happy with it, if you were you would never improve.

Bowing, as you now know, is very difficult, like everything else on violin, everyone goes through the same things. I remember saying to my missus when I was in a blind temper that if I could just manage to not hit all the other strings I would be happy.

Drawing a straight bow just takes practice, but even then if you are not careful it can go everywhere, as it does with me, remember above all else though that it is supposed to be enjoyment, and as I told other people, just getting any kind of sound is a major success.

Good luck with the teacher, I myself actually had one lesson when I started, it was quite good, but then the virus struck, and it was also too expensive for me anyway.

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RDP
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August 8, 2022 - 6:25 pm
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stringy said
Its good that you are not happy with it, if you were you would never improve.

Bowing, as you now know, is very difficult, like everything else on violin, everyone goes through the same things. I remember saying to my missus when I was in a blind temper that if I could just manage to not hit all the other strings I would be happy.

Drawing a straight bow just takes practice, but even then if you are not careful it can go everywhere, as it does with me, remember above all else though that it is supposed to be enjoyment, and as I told other people, just getting any kind of sound is a major success.

Good luck with the teacher, I myself actually had one lesson when I started, it was quite good, but then the virus struck, and it was also too expensive for me anyway.

  

Like everything, there's good and bad.  In this case, in order to get good tone out of the violin I had to move my soundpost by quite a bit.  (Half it's diameter in 2 directions, N and E, when looking from above.  It was way, way, way out of position.)  I'd been unknowingly fighting that since the beginning which, when coupled with all the other issues like the tuner that went sour on me, held me back a lot in the learning department.

Once the soundpost got moved, the violin woke up from the half sleep it was in.  That and the other "obvious after the fact" realizations I posted about when it comes to intonation (like; you have to put your fingerTIPS, on EXACTLY the right spot, with ONLY the lightest possible pressure to stop the string, in order to get it) led to a lot of improvement.  I still have other hurdles I have to get over which I will post about later.  However, I will eventually get that "liquid singing sound" instead of the "hee haw" that I have now.  It'll take time, but I'll get it.  I know it.

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Mouse
August 8, 2022 - 9:48 pm
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Yes, you will get it, @RDP.

🐭

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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August 13, 2022 - 4:40 pm
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@RDP That is a tough one at the end of the book.  Your intonation has progressed a lot – great job!  Good luck with meeting with a teacher smile  

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

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AndrewH
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August 14, 2022 - 2:15 am
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One unusual thing about the Suzuki method is that, especially in the early books, it seems to put a "big challenge" piece at the end of each book that really stretches the ability of students at that level. It's not you, it's that the piece is a big jump in difficulty from everything before it. The beginning of the next book tends to be somewhat easier. I think it's because the method was designed with children and their school schedules in mind. It was originally designed so that most students would go through one book per year, and Suzuki probably assumed that most students would not practice much during summer vacation, so it picks up at a somewhat easier level in the next book.

So if the last piece in a Suzuki book is really frustrating, it might be helpful to put it aside and come back to it when you're about one-third of the way through the next book.

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RDP
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August 14, 2022 - 12:26 pm
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AndrewH said
One unusual thing about the Suzuki method is that, especially in the early books, it seems to put a "big challenge" piece at the end of each book that really stretches the ability of students at that level. It's not you, it's that the piece is a big jump in difficulty from everything before it. The beginning of the next book tends to be somewhat easier. I think it's because the method was designed with children and their school schedules in mind. It was originally designed so that most students would go through one book per year, and Suzuki probably assumed that most students would not practice much during summer vacation, so it picks up at a somewhat easier level in the next book.

So if the last piece in a Suzuki book is really frustrating, it might be helpful to put it aside and come back to it when you're about one-third of the way through the next book.

  

For me, it wasn't so much that it's difficult but that it's LOOOOOOONNNNNNG.

Even the changes in bowing weren't that problematic because I've been practicing both legato and stacato all along.  The bowing changes were just a matter of following the notations.  The fact that I just stink at playing is where things went bad.

 

Funny story:  While taking a break from Suzuki, I went back to play A Time For Us again and realized that I've been playing it wrong because I wasn't paying attention to the notations in the score.  Strangely, the score as written is more complicated, but it's easier to physically play that way than the way I was playing it.  That's kind of weird to me but it did make me realize how much my musical knowledge and ability have expanded since a few months ago.

I'm actually looking forward to Suzuki Book 2 now.

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