I'm bad Oliver,

I keep switching from my Andrea rosin and the "Magic Rosin". Therefor hard to give a correct evaluation at this time. On one hand, it is comparable to a 30+ dollar rosin and that isn't bad at all. I remember trying all kinds of rosins about 10 years ago cause mine was getting extremely thin and I wanted to make a great choice for the rosin that I was going to be using for perhaps 20 more years.

I was blown away by Andrea. "Magic Rosin", is absolutely a good rosin but I have to be disciplined and stick to it for at least a week of intensive playing to make sure that I am not still on my Andrea. I don't want to put masking tape or sandpaper on my bow hair.

As far as too much rosin is concerned, don't worry about it causing a bad sound, just a mess to clean off the belly of your violin. Too little can keep the strings from vibrating and can give you a bad sound if you must press too hard to compensate.

Oliver's point about bowing straight is a very good one.
Try to analyze what you are doing when you get a scratchy sound and what you are doing when the sound is good to pinpoint the difference. When you hear that the sound is scratchy try a few different things.

• Move the bow away from the bridge to see if it gets better and closer for the same comparison.
• Apply less pressure to the bow, more pressure.
• Play with flatter hair on the strings and not angled too much and vise versa to experiment.
• Speed up the bow, slow the bow down.
• Check if the open strings are sounding better than the fingered ones and if so, apply more left hand finger pressure. Also try playing more on the tips of your left hand fingers and adversely with the flat of your fingers.

As far as being tense and tired. Do everything that you can to be relaxed. Focus on each and every body part that may be tense. Use only the minimal force for the task at hand. If you are sitting in a chair, sit up right as one can get more tired from slouching. If you sit try standing to see if it is better. If you are standing, try sitting. Alternate between the two if it helps.

Feel free to give us a report of your discoveries. Good luck and happy fiddling.

Another, less likely possibility that I didn't mention earlier is bad equipment or adjustments needed. Loose, tight, or improperly fitted soundpost - bad or old strings - bad or crooked bridge - unglued back or belly - loose basebar........ etc.

Yoga sounds like a good idea. I guess being stiff doesn't help anyone.

I tried yoga a few times and determined that I am the least tense person that I know.  

Franike said:

I'm enjoying every minute I spend with the violin.

That's what I like to hear. Good for you!!!