Welcome to our forum. A Message To Our New and Prospective Members . Check out our Forum Rules. Lets keep this forum an enjoyable place to visit.
Private messaging is working again.
Log In
Register
Home
Topic RSS
(7 votes) 
Offline
I've been learning to play over the last year and I did an experiment with three different bows. One is the Fiddlerman carbon fiber bow, two is the Cecilio bow that came with one of my older violins, and three is the two star Holstein silver mounted bow. The violin is a GCV Cremona Kreisler replica. I've only been learning for about a year so any suggestions on holding the bow or violin or general technique improvement are welcome. Thanks for watching.
Regulars
Offline
Hey there and welcome.
the video wouldn't play so I downloaded it 210mb is a little big. you might want to convert it to mp4 instead.
The only critique I can suggest ( and this is just my opinion ) is to use more of the bow and increase you bow speed. NOT the tempo. As I'm not a teacher and like most here I'm still learning. Someone else my have a better idea.
Have a great day and keep up the good work.
With violins there is no fretting over the music.
Regulars
Offline
I'm afraid I can't view the video, it just says "error" by the play button. It might be easier for people to view if you upload to youtube.. It's free and you can set the privacy so people can only view from your shared link 
☆•*¨*•¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆•*¨*•¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆•*¨*•.¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆
World's Okayest Fiddler
☆•*¨*•.¸¸¸.•*¨* •☆•*¨*¨*•¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆
Honorary tenured advisor
Regulars
Offline
Hi @chrisram03. You can tell from the video that the bows do indeed have some effect on the sound. However, with the violin and bows that you already have, it is possible to achieve a wonderful tone. Therefore, your equipment is not a limiting factor in the quality of the tone you can produce. From here on out, improvement in tone will come only with improvement in technique. Improvement in technique will come from:
1. Studying bowing technique
2. Practicing bowing technique
3. Filming yourself to analyze your bowing technique
4. Continually correcting improper bowing technique
This website contains a huge number of helpful videos on technique and Youtube has thousands more on every aspect of bowing.
I've been playing for 3 years now and I have learned a couple of things of importance.
1. If any note didn't sound good, it's not the equipment -- it's me.
2. If anything in my technique looks ugly, it will sound ugly.
Conceptually it is easy to understand what constitutes good bowing technique.
1. Contact point (distance between the neck and the bridge where the bow touches the strings)
2. Pressure. The amount of force directed downward by the bow.
3. Speed. How quickly the bow is moving across the strings.
Those are the only things that determine the quality of the tone produced. Mastering those 3 things apparently takes a long time and a lot of practice.
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. ~Herm Albright
Regulars
Offline
Not a problem, the video uploads to WordPress are hit and miss. Sometimes they are easy to watch, sometimes they won't play.
I didn't see much for you to work on
You're doing good
One more thing is to keep your left hand wrist straighter, don't let your palm flatten on the neck. I know plenty of very good youtube fiddlers play with a collapsed wrist, but it can cause you pain in the long run, and can mess with other techniques you'll want to learn down the road, like vibrato. It didn't look like you played that way the whole time, you started out with a straight wrist, and then by the last run through and then your hand looked flat on the neck.
But I think you're doing good
*edited because apparently I can't type, haha
☆•*¨*•¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆•*¨*•¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆•*¨*•.¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆
World's Okayest Fiddler
☆•*¨*•.¸¸¸.•*¨* •☆•*¨*¨*•¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆
Offline
Just a student myself, but i'll echo what my instructor reminds me EVERY SINGLE LESSON... use your full bow. He's constantly pushing me to use every possible inch. Otherwise, your sound seems pretty solid and consistent.
My 2c.
Offline
Thanks! I've been trying to that. I notice I revert back to short bows when I learn a new song.
Offline
Thanks for the post, I actually had to change your first post to play through your Vimeo link. Works much better that way. I was having an issue playing it since I am using a Mac.
Youtube is also perfect. Most of us use youtube.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
1 Guest(s)
ELCBK
Mouse
Fiddlerman
Jols
