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It's been a while since my last video, so I thought it was time for another. I'm afraid I haven't made a great deal of progress in technique (elbow!) or intonation since last time, but I've learned some songs. Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way, but at least I'm having fun doing it...
Critique – yes please, but I decided against posting this in the Critique Corner. I feel I'm not quite ready for that one! 
~ Once you've ruled out the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be true. ~
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you'll get the same response from me regardless of where you post, Im a rebel that way. In 2 seconds I can help you with your "issues" technique wise, over skype again. Seriously its that quick, why? Cause your problems aren't really problems, its so slight and so easy to fix. Let me know when ya wanna. Great Job by the way. Im sure others will point them out to you, but I think you already know what they are so I didnt feel repeating them was necessary.
"Please play some wrong notes, so that we know that you are human" - said to Jascha Heifetz.
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Two seconds on Skype sounds good. Tomorrow afternoon/evening/night (depending on the time zone...) perhaps? Thanks!
~ Once you've ruled out the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be true. ~
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just remind me when you catch me on here. 9am my time is about 2 pm your time I think you are five hours ahead of Florida.
"Please play some wrong notes, so that we know that you are human" - said to Jascha Heifetz.
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Hey Swede.
I don't think you'll be able to avoid bowing from the shoulder unless you also bend your wrist.
I think you are doing pretty well in your bowing drill at 2:15. Look at that and see that you are using both elbow and wrist, as you should, as you will have to. But you have forgotten to carry it over into the tunes. Notice how your wrist was rigid almost all the time except during your bowing drill.
I mostly overcame shoulder bowing by choosing a simple tune and bowing it with FULL strokes, LONG and loud, but in a relaxed way, and just trying to keep the bow perpendicular to the strings. I used "Drunken Sailor" and "Scarborough Fair" for that bowing practice. It could be scales or anything that you like, but probably something that is not very demanding of the left hand.
Keeping it perpendicular is naturally difficult when bowing near the tip and the arm is extended, so you probably won't be able to keep it perfectly perpendicular at those times.
Look at the mechanics of it and notice that you can't keep the bow perpendicular to the strings without bending both wrist and elbow. Maybe the best practice is to make long strokes and just look at what the bow is doing and try to keep it perpendicular. After all, I think that is the main goal. Keeping the shoulder fixed shows that you are doing it right, but isn't a goal in itself.
That is the way I think of it anyway.
Please pardon me for writing in the imperative mood. That is just how I explain things sometimes.
Keep at it, good luck, etc.
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RosinedUp said
Please pardon me for writing in the imperative mood. That is just how I explain things sometimes.
Keep at it, good luck, etc.
No worries, and you explained well. Thank you! I will continue to work on it. 
~ Once you've ruled out the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be true. ~
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"Please play some wrong notes, so that we know that you are human" - said to Jascha Heifetz.
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It's fun to see how quickly you are learning and your intonation is relatively good too. I'm impressed by your progress. Of course you will do well to correct the bowing issues early. Glad you are getting so many offers of help.
Thanks for the new post.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Thank you so much, Pierre! 
Yes, all us beginners on here are very lucky indeed to have so many nice pros and semi-pros who like to help. Totally amazing. I believe I owe a lot of my progress to this forum, and I will continue to post these vids for a long time yet!
By the way, Alexander and I had our first fiddle meet-up today. It was great fun, especially as we found we share interests besides the violin too. I also got to try his viola which was awesome! Such a strong rich sound compared to a violin – logical with the bigger resonance space. I particularly liked the C-string, since I'm not very fond of the shrill E anyway... If I weren't such a tiny person, I might take that up too!
Okay, so I'm way behind Alexander both when it comes to time spent learning the violin and to music in general. He's very musically competent, intuitively, unlike me who needs lots of processing time to figure things out. But we still had fun together teaching each other some songs and talking in between.
~ Once you've ruled out the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be true. ~
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Sounds great. I'm really happy to hear it. Learning the fiddle is much funner with others. Keep it up and you can motivate each other.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Fiddlerman said
Sounds great. I'm really happy to hear it. Learning the fiddle is much funner with others. Keep it up and you can motivate each other.
(And – "funner"...? That's a cute conjugation!)
~ Once you've ruled out the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be true. ~
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Good done, Alma! All i'd like to say was said by:
RosinedUp said
...I think you are doing pretty well in your bowing drill at 2:15. Look at that and see that you are using both elbow and wrist, as you should, as you will have to. But you have forgotten to carry it over into the tunes. Notice how your wrist was rigid almost all the time except during your bowing drill.
...
That's exactly my thought! =)
PS: Love your cat again! 
I couldn't stop giggling when she (he?) started to sniff the camera 
Keep up!!! It's so interesting to watch your progress!
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Thank you, Naska!
Yes, like RosinedUp said, I just need to learn to incorporate the proper bowing technique into my everyday life... harder than it sounds but hopefully not impossible...
About the cat: it's a she, even though I call her Tim (short for Timjan which is the Swedish word for thyme...) Gotta love her curiosity, right? You've got cats too, haven't you? Why are they never in your vids? And what are they called?
~ Once you've ruled out the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be true. ~
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Almandin said
Thank you, Naska!Yes, like RosinedUp said, I just need to learn to incorporate the proper bowing technique into my everyday life... harder than it sounds but hopefully not impossible...
Definitelly not impossible, LOL! Once my teacher gave me an advice for it: "Keep the bow parallel to the bridge - all the rest your body will do by itself!". It helped.. Still my wrist is too stiff. So after 1.5 years i still work on it! Though, i don't think about what my right hand is doing... Just keep it parallel and trying to get a good sound =) So You doing great in that direction! Keep practicing full bow strokes before and after the practice =)
About the cat: it's a she, even though I call her Tim (short for Timjan which is the Swedish word for thyme...) Gotta love her curiosity, right?
Yep! =) I have two: Perts (Перец - Pepper - mail cat) and Vilka (Вилка - Fork - female cat) =) They hate me playing... i can hardly blame them for that LOL!That's why they are never on the videos =)
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Mad_Wed said
Definitelly not impossible, LOL! Once my teacher gave me an advice for it: "Keep the bow parallel to the bridge - all the rest your body will do by itself!". It helped.. Still my wrist is too stiff. So after 1.5 years i still work on it!
Your wrist is not stiff! I think it's really flexible, just have a look at your Ghostbusters vid. 
Yep! =) I have two: Perts (Перец - Pepper - mail cat) and Vilka (Вилка - Fork - female cat) =) They hate me playing... i can hardly blame them for that LOL!
Haha! Seems we share a fondness for naming out cats after random nouns... I like their names, especially Vilka. That actually means "Which?" in Swedish, but as a name it's very pretty!
I thought Timjan would hate my playing too, but she doesn't. Maybe she's tone-deaf?
~ Once you've ruled out the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be true. ~
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Almandin said
Haha! Seems we share a fondness for naming out cats after random nouns...
I like their names, especially Vilka. That actually means "Which?" in Swedish, but as a name it's very pretty!
Heee-hee! Is Which means Fork in Swedish? Google translator doesn't translate it - it thinks it's like English "which"
Hee heee now i can start to learn Swedish 
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Mad_Wed said
Heee-hee! Is Which means Fork in Swedish? Google translator doesn't translate it - it thinks it's like English "which"
Haha, oops! 
No, "Vilka" is the Swedish word for "Which?", as in the sentence "Vilka katter är dina? = "Which cats are yours?" = maybe "Каковы ваши кошки?" in Russian? (Google translate is fantastic!)
Fork in Swedish is called gaffel. 
~ Once you've ruled out the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be true. ~
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Almandin said
(And – "funner"...? That's a cute conjugation!)
Not a conjugation. A nonstandard form of the comparative degree of the adjective 'fun'.
"The grammatical category associated with comparison of adjectives and adverbs is degree of comparison."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.....comparison
Besides being an occasional bowing coach, I am sometimes a grammar pedant ... 
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Ah, right, conjugation is what you do with verbs!
I'm a grammar geek too, but I ALWAYS get conjugation and comparison confused... same in Swedish...
~ Once you've ruled out the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be true. ~
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