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Hi Everyone,
Three weeks ago a bunch of you offered up some great feedback on my first video. My takeaway was that I should use longer bow strokes where appropriate and be a little more brave with bow pressure (and rosin 
As I mentioned, this was something my teacher was also prodding me to do. Those points - and relaxing - have been my main assignments of the last 3 weeks. We even backed up and started Suzuki Book 1 from the beginning after having finished "Elements 1" to try and get the fundamentals on more solid ground.
Here's a somewhat laconic version of the Allegretto # 10 in Suzuki Book 1. Any faster and the bow strokes get tiny again :-0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?.....pf6yFzkxA4
I feel an improvement... just not sure that I SEE one when comparing the videos.
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Love the beginning of the video with the deep breath, and it’s so recognizing ? You are doing well with the long bowing. It’s quit difficult, especially by the frog. And all the way up and down with a straight bow. I play mostly short bows and should practice the long bow more often, your video reminds me of this, so thanks ?
Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about dancing in the rain!!
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@bocaholly The deep breath was great! You are doing really well, and your tone is good (pitch). In terms of comparing golf to violin, I find violin has always felt less competitive, and I drink less beer while playing violin compared to golf. (or maybe I just save it until after, not at the 9th hole). I get peace, tranquility, and positive thoughts from playing - it always helps me to feel better and de-stress, and there is always something new to explore.
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intrepidgirl said
... - it always helps me to feel better and de-stress, ...
Stress and absence thereof... such a central issue.
So far we've only mentioned the positive analogies in this thread but I'm just discovering that both with golf and with violin, it's possible to dig in, in a not-so-positive way.
Every golfer knows days on the course where a couple of shots in a row go wrong and instead of just letting go, you wind up playing 18 holes compounding your uncertainty.
Well, that just happened to me with the B major scale that my teacher insisted I learn. Every run through, I was thinking about the previous fingering mistakes and my bow felt like I had never held one before... groan. I was feeling seriously over-stretched. We agreed that we'd let the 5 sharps rest for a couple of weeks and revisit when I was ready to cut out the self-sabotage
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I also have days that it looks like every thing went wrong ? I remind myself that not everything can go perfect and that I’m learning, with the accent on learning. The most important thing is that I enjoy it. I’m not in a hurry to learn new things in a quick tempo, I do it step by step and I feel happy with it!
Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about dancing in the rain!!
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@bocaholly - You are moving forward by leaps and bounds.
I love the sigh too. LOL
Are you wanting critique for all your videos? Just asking because we have a critique corner. In the past we had players that just wanted to post and share but didn't want critique which is why we created that forum.
You get a badge (should have gotten one earlier but I didn't think of it) but I don't know which one to give you yet. Critique or performance.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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@Fiddlerman (alias Pierre)
Thanks... I am getting so much out of everyone's feedback. It's amazing what fundamental stuff you and others can notice from a short video!
The last round of feedback was all about relaxing and learning to use the whole bow. Easier said than done. In the process of trying (too hard) I antagonized a decades old cartilage crack (more like a slow leak) on my wrist near the base of my thumb. (Graphic content and TMI follows
Since there was no way I was going to stop trying to figure out how to improve my bowing, I decided that a very light bow would help. Yeah, I know... as we say in golf, "it's the fool, not the tool." Nonetheless...
... I seriously splurged on the 51g Arcus M4
https://fiddlershop.com/produc.....violin-bow
Two days and about 4 hours of practice in, I notice much less stress (and weight, obviously) on my wrist. Additional benefit is that it's so much easier for my wimpy pinky to counterbalance the bow when at the frog.
I'm also finding it easier to bow so that I can hear the difference when I try to play pianissimo and forte.
Obviously the tool is, in this case, way better than the fool. But I do promise a video update as soon as I can get my new bowing experiments in synch with my left hand
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So happy to hear that Holly. This is also something that I have heard from customers who have purchased the Arcus bows. They feel it's more relaxing since it is lighter.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Another golf-violin connection...
Here's the sometimes very funny and always talented Eddy Chen in a long youtube on bowing...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?.....nSJIUd6DrE
At about 11:20 minutes in, he talks about staying on plane (especially the upper arm and the bow being on the same plane near the frog)
Golfers are ALWAYS talking about their swing plane. More often, we talk about loosing it, LOL.
Honorary advisor
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I need something like that contraption you have in the first video. I keep hitting myself in the face. I am so hoping someone will say that's a common problem.
Nicely done, look forward to seeing an update.
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