Thank you! I do have an old recording of it on my other channel @NivAshkenazi

Thank you. I’m glad you found it informative.

Thanks for watching.

Thank you for watching!

That’s an interesting observation. I haven’t noticed that on the carbon fiber bows I liked but I honestly don’t care what a bow is made out of if it functions well and sounds good. Obviously carbon fiber bows are on the cheaper end of the spectrum but I’ve found decent ones for their price.

@@EyeForTechnique Maybe it is something of my specific carbon fiber bow, I am on the cheap-student spectrum. It feels overall really solid for technique but feedbackwise it is really capped (on recordings it have similar sound but you cant control it if what your hear is dull x'd)

Yeah these carbon fiber bows have a limit. It sounds to me like it is time to upgrade to a better bow. Your equipment is a factor in your improvement and inspiration and when you are outplaying your equipment or are just battling all the problems with your equipment, it’s time to upgrade.

I’m so glad you found this video. This is definitely a big step along the path to improving your sound. Another part of getting rid of the beginner sound is a combination of altering your bow speed and pressure while listening for the sound you want. Professionals are constantly making both micro adjustments as well as very drastic adjustments to create the sounds and colors they imagine.

Thank you for watching and I’m glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you for watching.

Thank you!

Glad to help and I’m doing a lot more with my professional slow motion camera so there will be more videos to come.

You’re welcome. And I’m glad you liked it.

Thanks! Happy to help.

Congratulations on that awesome progress and I’m always happy to hear about people who start learning violin at a later age. Getting a good vibrato is a long-term process. Most musicians I’ve spoken with have told me their teachers started teaching them vibrato but they had to kind of figure it out on their own. I try to get my students to get a generally correct motion first even if it doesn’t sound good, and the tweak the motion to get it more efficient while also having them imagine the sound they want and having them try to let their body get that sound (even if the vibrato technique isn’t good). It’s a process to align good technique in vibrato and a good sound and then get more efficiency and variety in the vibrato. I’d say be patient and accepting that this will take time, start with trying to getting the right general motion and ignore the fact it might sound bad, then work on imitating motion and sound and your teacher will be able to help you with tweaking the technique.

@@EyeForTechnique Thanks.

That’s a good question. I’m traveling for performances right now so I don’t have my copy handy but I believe I was using the International edition.

Thank you. Glad it can be a helpful resource to people!

The main bow I use is a modern bow by Daniel Schmidt who lives in Dresden. And my other bows are older French bows. Which Oslo based maker were you thinking of? I’m always interested in learning about other makers.

Thank you!

Absolutely and if you use slow motion on even Heifetz you can see small motions. But that’s also why we work so hard to make sure we land in tune the first time without a need to adjust so that in a performance the adjustment will be imperceptible.

@@EyeForTechnique I mean, if we could plug the ears of a violonist so that he could not hear what he plays, sure he will not be in tune at all.

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.

You’re welcome! It was a lot of work but very fun to make.

Thanks for reaching out. I can, please visit www.eyefortechnique.com and you can email me from there.

Yeah it really is all about your preference. If I’m working with a student to change how they are using their bow, for example the need to play with more bow speed in general or dig in more, I will pick out bows that will work better for them once they make those fixes so it incentivizes them towards the changes we are working on.

Thanks for your concern. My nails just appear long because of the angle and zoom of the camera. Some people’s nails are up higher on their fingers but most people will be touching with a nail at some point if they are really playing on the tips of their fingers likely they are supposed to. A small touch with the nail like that doesn’t adversely affect the sound or intonation and I’ve had reviews that specifically mentioned the beauty and richness of my vibrato so as long as you keep your nails trimmed, a little touching shouldn’t effect your playing and if you did a close up of your hand, likely your nails are touching at some point too.

Thanks for your comment. All the types of vibrato can be played above the note and I’d highly recommend you try thinking about it. I tried both ways for years and have found that activity playing to above the note really improves the sound and rounds out the vibrato. Also I have yet to see anyone’s vibrato in slow motion actually look like it stops just below the note and not finish the crescent shape of the motion no matter what they are trying to do. Vibrating actively above the note also helps ensure notes don’t sound flat which can sometimes happen to students if they are only thinking downwards when focusing on their vibrato. As for the nails, this is a very close up shot so they appear longer than they are. Each person’s fingernails sit different on their finger and some are pretty high up but most people, if they are truly playing on the tips of their fingers like they are supposed to, will have a nail touching a little on one or more fingers. Try it out slowly for yourself and see if it happens for you and I hope you experiment more with your vibrato.

If you hit the note at it's natural, in tune position and want to do a above the note vibrato, you have to rotate the tip of the finger above the note making the finger nail in a close contact with the finger board. This is a very uncomfortable position. However, if you land your finger in a above the note position , and rotate the tip backward, you will have a above the note vibrato but will any player always play in a sharp position and rotate the finger tip backward to create a above the note vibrato? That is why the above the note vibrato is puzzling to me and I could not accept it. I was taught that vibrato is always BELOW the note by three Galamian students. They all said the same to me.

It sounds to me like you are still describing vibrato that goes both below and above the note. Different people think about it differently but the point is more what physically happens to make us hear the note in tune and for that we do want to go above and below as both our approaches mention. Galamian was a fantastic teacher and I had the pleasure of working closely with several of the top soloists and professionals that came out of his studio, their thoughts on vibrato were quite varied and included the exact method I mentioned.

Ha ha, yes, vibrato is a subject which haunted my life and I cannot get away from it. It is, in fact, unique to the individual and this makes one performer different from the other. Out of all major world class violinists, I admire the vibrato I heard from Gitlis. For modern violinist, I like the vibrato from Nicola Benedetti whom uses wrist but highly assisted by arm for added intensity. Just hearing her playing One long note, I could hear different color in tonal quality. Nice talking to you. Enjoy your videos.

Thank you!

Thanks for watching! Yes so much of what we do as players is often refining things we learned early on in our playing. So even in advanced pieces, there is a lot anyone can learn. I’m glad you gave it a shot and watched.

Thanks and I’m glad you found it helpful. Theoretically we are supposed to vibrate exactly the same way on our pinkies so it shouldn’t look any different, however because it is a weaker finger, there is a tendency even for professionals to compensate with some extra motions. I’ll definitely keep that in mind for a future video!

Thank you!

Thanks for the great question and sorry for the delay. I usually like to start teaching vibrato once a student’s intonation is pretty secure because often when you first start learning vibrato the intonation goes. There are tons of different vibrato exercises! I have my favorites but each student gravitates to different ones. I would recommend finding as many different exercises as you can, try them, and see which work best for you. Most exercises should work for either wrist or arm vibrato and the motion for finger vibrato is based on the same motions.

Thank you. Glad to be able to help.

Good question. Your thumb shouldn’t any other finger while playing. It’s common for the thumb to slip into the gap but you want to try to prevent that from happening and push more upwards with your thumb into the frog and stick rather than downwards which can lead the thumb to slipping into the neck.

@@EyeForTechnique thanks so much. will attempt.

Compliments! You have made an excellent video that shows neglected views of this very complicated bow hand grip and motion. I too have problems with keeping the thumb tip in place, a few colle motions and the thumb slips forward towards the tip of my middle finger and he bow slides back towards the knuckles. The bow is getting squeezed out of grip like a watermelon seed. What I have found that helps is putting the thumb tip centered in the gap between the tip of the frog and the leather ferrule. The tip of the frog provides anti slip to the bow. Evidence of getting this right is two indentations on the tip of the thumb. Also putting rosin on the tip of the thumb and pinky provides some nice sticky traction to the bow. Thanks again!

Thank you for a makers perspective. Of course material makes a huge difference and especially for a maker, what I meant is as a player, don’t be biased towards one or another because there are great examples of bows from each of the major types of materials. I have a couple carbon fiber bows I really like and most of my students up to a certain price range tend to end up with carbon fiber bows. I haven’t had a chance to try your ARCUS or MÜSING bows but I have heard of them and would love to try them when I get a chance. For octagonal vs round, as I mentioned, from my understanding it affects the strength of the stick (which obviously specifically can effect sound) but one doesn’t sound better than the other on its own, it is how it best fits with the rest of the build of the bow. So you can’t simply say octagonal bows sound better or vice versa, you still need to try out all the bows your are given to find the best one for you.

@@EyeForTechnique Regarding octagonal vs round - there is actually no difference in the stiffness to weight ratio, which means that if you use identical pieces of wood and work them down to the same mass (weight) the total stiffness (elasticity) will be equal - but - in case of the octagonal stick it varies slightly with the orientation of the load. And this gives the octagonal stick a somewhat different behaviour, especially in bouncing bows. It is very recognisable in our sticks (which we can make almost identical in weight and stiffness) but it is quite hard to determine in wooden bows as you rarely have the chance to play near identical bows from near identical wood. If you'd ever fancy giving some Arcus or Müsing bows a try, you can find a list of dealers on our website. Should none be near you, there are several who would be happy to ship some for a home trial.

I have a buch of bows and must attest my bow of choice landed on a short permabuco bow 1/8 bow 36 grams, very much like the one in the video but without any wrapping, and only 49 cm long.

I can believe that and that is why you have to try out as many bows as you can. I’m not sure who you are referring to, however their preference can also depend on where they are playing (inside or outside), how much amplified music they are playing, solo vs chamber music playing, and how dangerous it can be to travel with some of the more expensive bows because they have parts (ivory, tortoise shell, etc) that have become illegal to bring into certain countries and can be confiscated and destroyed at customs without warning. Also I do know plenty of soloists who prefer playing on less expensive modern bows than older expensive ones in concerts. It all depends what you are looking for and what will serve you best. In very broad generality though, I’ve found that carbon fiber bows are more direct and get a bigger sound but lack the extra refined colors a great violinist can make while the expensive major-league pernambuco wood bows as you called them tend to have more musical colors and options to be creative with.

You are welcome. Happy this video helped.

Haha thanks. I just hope to help anyone who is interested

I was taught to vibrate every single note including 16 notes and faster. The style of playing has changed over the years and most violinists I’ve worked with, talked to, heard, or seen tend not to vibrate every note. Hopefully it is because of a thoughtful musical choice and isn’t out of laziness as most of our teachers growing up would have probably claimed 😂. However, from working with intermediate students, some of the best students studying in the US, and professionals using slow motion technology, I’ve found that most people aren’t very aware of their vibrato choices and tend to get more out of their musical phrases when they include slow motion as part of their practice and musical decisions making.

Thank you I appreciate that.

I hope it helped!!

You are welcome. So much of our violin playing from a technique perspective comes down to some basic scientific principles and once we understand the principles, we can fix the problem forever.

You are very welcome. My private teaching studio is in the LA area.

You are welcome. Thanks for watching

That’s a good question. I wouldn’t be able to fully answer that without seeing your playing. However my guess is you might be gripping the bow with the pad of your index finger instead of having it not touch at all. Instead you want to put pressure purely through your index finger between your first and second joint.

So glad to hear that!

Thank you!

Thank you. I haven’t had a chance to try Métis fiddle but I’d be curious to check it out.

@@EyeForTechnique I've been following both of your channels. I saw you were a student of Itzhak Perlman. I'm a big fan. I've always loved classical music. If I can make a few suggestions, check out Jean Carignan (Hangmans Reel is one of my favorites), he was close friends with Yehudi Menuhin), or Andy De Jarlis, John Arcand, Calvin Vollrath. Just a few of my favorites.

@@KenneyCmusic Hi and what is the other youtube channel please, I would also like to watch more videos.

@@MatyCZ429 Hello! Ah it’s been a year already! The other channel is under his name Niv Ashkenazi!

@@KenneyCmusic Thanks a lot for the information. I'm going to watch :)

Thank you! I appreciate the feedback.

Thank you! Thumbs always seem to get neglected in my experience until the problem can’t be diagnosed in a different way. I don’t know if you feel the same.