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Honorary tenured advisor
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(cont. This morning from last night's post)
I've been watching and rewatching the "how to hold a bow" video this morning and am convinced my bow-hold still needs fine-tuning for finger placement, and that I need to get a mirror on the wall to see my bowing.
When on strings 3 & 4, I can keep the bow reasonably straight. However, it tends to have more of an arc on 2, and requires constant attention on string 1 not to start wandering towards the fingerboard. Mirror-time? Or are there some other tips to help?
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Actually that is a very good question.
Practice using angles when drawing the bow. Part of your practice should be about checking yourself in the mirror when you are a beginner but the angles will send the bow closer or further from the bridge. For example, if you are pulling a down bow and angle the tip towards your body you'll be forcing the bow closer to the bridge. If you angle the tip away from your body on a down bow it will go away from the bridge. The exact opposite when bowing up bows. Up bow tip away will bring it close to the bridge, tip toward the body up bow forces the contact point away from the bridge.
Experiment by exaggerating to get the idea about what I am saying. Find the angle that guides your bow as straight as possible for now and this is how to do it without the mirror. You can be thinking about this when practicing scales and back and forth bowings. Practice playing 2 or 4 quarters, eighths or sixteenths to each note on the scale. Take one section of the bow at a time if necessary. Use just the top half, then middle half and finally (also the toughest) the bottom half.
Good luck
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Thanks, Fiddlerman. I'll try to work on that this evening.
Trying to learn this instrument is like trying to learn to juggle while balancing on a ball. There're just so many variables to take into account.
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I came across this video. The Practice bow. (Open in a new tab)
If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it ..(William Shakespeare in Twelfth Night)
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thats pretty cool. would've been useful when i was starting out 
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There's a device with a similar intent that allows you to actually play while keeping your bow in the right spot. I think it's called "Bow-Right" or something similar. It's like guide rails that attach to the top of your instrument.
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Cool device, and maybe you guys could stand doing something that boring...???
However, try my suggestion about finding the angles that guide your bow straight first. 
Thanks for the post suresh
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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The professor has spoken!
Not that I'm that surprised actually, given your views on putting guide-tapes on the fingerboard.
I figured other "crutches" would get a similar opinion...
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suresh said:
I came across this video. The Practice bow. (Open in a new tab)
My daughter's teacher suggested a lower-tech practice tool. She has the class put an empty toilet paper tube on their shoulder, holding it in place with the left hand. Then the students bow a few strokes through the tube before getting out their instruments and bowing on the strings. I can't imagine doing it for long periods, but it seems to do the trick.
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Interesting. The only problem I see with that is that the contact point on the violin isn't that high. Maybe it doesn't matter. Will have to give it a try someday.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
Awesome, HeadCheese! 
About your left hand: avoid falling in habit to bend the wrist. Keeping it straight will allow you be better at changing positions and arm vibrato later. Of course the wrist shouldn't be straight all the time - it must be flexible. Just don't bend it without necessary. Especially when you play open strings. 
Like your right arm- it seems quite relaxed to me, wrist already works.. 
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Get ready to lower the bar. Here's a video of my latest attempt at "O Little Town of Bethlehem" for your dissection. I think my bow-hold has improved since the last video, but my intonation really suffers on this one.
In any case, have a look and let me know what you think.
If that link doesn't work, try this one.
Sigh…
What am I doing wrong with the video uploads?
Here's a different take:
Try again?
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What the heck are you doing with your recordings, How is it possible? LOL
One thing at a time, you know you have intonation problems and so does everyone else on this planet. You can begin by marking them yourself since you do hear what is going on. Secondly, your left wrist is not really straight enough. Try to keep it straighter and not bend it so much to the left. Good work!
Thanks for the posts.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Fiddlerman said:
What the heck are you doing with your recordings, How is it possible? LOL
One thing at a time, you know you have intonation problems and so does everyone else on this planet. You can begin by marking them yourself since you do hear what is going on. Secondly, your left wrist is not really straight enough. Try to keep it straighter and not bend it so much to the left. Good work!
Thanks for the posts.
What do you mean when you say "marking them yourself?" Not literally marking, like with tapes, right?
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How are you uploading your files to youtube. I have issues like this too.... apparently it's caused by uploading .mov files. Try converting it to .avi? or some other format? I usually have to open up imovie and export it directly to youtube so if you're using a mac, try that. Good luck! 
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HeadCheese said:
What do you mean when you say "marking them yourself?" Not literally marking, like with tapes, right?
I meant that you could mark the sheet-music with arrows up or down while listening to your recording. People tend to make the same intonation problems over and over. If a person marks an arrow up to indicate that they should play high, they usually play much better the next times around and vise versa of course.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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I would just say HC is don't rush anything. Listen to scales and play along with audio so you know where to put your fingers then you will know you're not on the right note and you can slide your finger a little bit to hit the right note as long as you can hear the note in your head. You are doing great though. Don't worry about jumping in and playing songs. Take your time so you can hear those notes in your head. Fiddlerman made a comment on another post that he doesn't even need a tuner to play on key and I'm the same way with a guitar, but that takes time and a whole lot of practice. The rewards will come down the road when you focus on ear training. You are doing really well for such a short time. 
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Fiddlerman said:
HeadCheese said:
What do you mean when you say "marking them yourself?" Not literally marking, like with tapes, right?
I meant that you could mark the sheet-music with arrows up or down while listening to your recording. People tend to make the same intonation problems over and over. If a person marks an arrow up to indicate that they should play high, they usually play much better the next times around and vise versa of course.
Ah... Gotcha. Thanks!
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I'm not sure how well you can hear it in this video, but there is a funky, almost harmonics-like sound I get when I play sometimes. Now, I'm not talking about the funky, atonal, cringe-inducing lack of proper intonation here. This is something over and above all that. 
It's most prevalent on my C string. At first I thought that it might be an issue with my inexpensive Cecilio Viola, but I make the same noise with my son's high-dollar rental.
In short – it's me – but how and why?
(And while I've got my dunce-cap on, what the heck am I doing wrong with embedded video here?)
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You may need more rosin and a little more pressure. In other words play into the string a little more. Turn your right hand counter-clockwise without stiffening up.
The 4th finger G is consistently low. The Eb is consistently high.
Keep up the good work. Should be perfect by the time we need it.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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