That "use the weight of your arm" tip has helped me immensely. On different days I was playing noticably 'smoother' just depending on how I was feeling, like I felt 'free-er', I couldn't quite figure out why that was. Now I know : D
I started trying to learn to play the violin at the beginning of Covid and spared no expense. I have several bows. I picked up my re-haired CodaBow Prodigy from the luthiers on the same day that I received a new Pernambuco Bow which said it came with the finest quality soloist Siberian horsehair. I paid for the most expensive rehair from a top luthier in Atlanta for the Codabow. The bowhair on the Pernambuco bow is so superior it is shocking. I wonder if luthiers think student players won't know the difference and give us crappy bow rehairs no matter how much we pay.
A very helpful video. I've been playing for a couple of years and everything you say makes perfect sense to me. My playing and tone is not what anyone would call nice to listen to but I love playing, so as long as I enjoy it and am learning and improving all the time I'm happy!
why so few likes. This video is very informative, helpful, and complete. Thanks very much! Actually today I tried playing amplified, I shouyld have watrched you video earlier 🙂
Thanks for this video. I'm a beginner student playing for almost 2 months now (stentor student II) and honestly I think I might have a bit of talent for it. My first song was your swallowtail jig. I've been practicing for at least half an hour a day but this is one of my biggest problems. Some strings sound great (okay, a bit off sometimes lol) while others sound 'dull'. I hope I can improve with your tips. Thanks a lot!
I love your tutorials. I think you make it seem a lot less daunting learning violin. I am currently playing a Stentor student 1 that i bought for 30 pounds and restored! Previous owner had somehow got glue on the fingerboard! I'll work on the bowing you talked about here to try to improve my tone. My current equipment isn't going to do it for me!
An excellent tutorial, thank you! You confirmed some of what I am working on and challenged me to think different about other ideas. A great job, most appreciated!
Thanks to you Katy for sharing this other great video, very clear and complete. You are very precise in structuring the topics and it is very easy to follow you even in slightly advanced concepts.
Hi Katy. Great class. Thanks. You explain everything very clearly and with great patience. Katy if you make a tutorial of vibrato it would be genial. OK katy be fine.
Thank you for what you do it's awesome just wanted to tell you. The vif on Amazon is nice I bought the vif 200 played it turned right around a bought the vif 250 very affordable and professional sound good stuff.
Thank you for these excellent explanations. It really helps me improve my sound and your advice is wise. In addition, your pedagogy is excellent. Using this video I understood what to do and what not to do correctly. I'm in my fifth year of learning the violin and I thought that this year I wanted to increase the quality of my playing. I wanted to have the right tone. I understood that it was going through the arch, but I didn't know how to do it properly yet. After listening to your video, I see that I am not doing everything wrong, but I have now understood what I need to change, improve or modify to get the right tone. Thank you for this excellent video, which I will watch again to properly apply your excellent advice. I wish you and your family a happy holiday season.
Playing slow is sooo hard, because you can hear everything that is wrong with your play. A good advice from my violin teacher is to record yourself. I was shocked what a difference it made, when I heard myself the first time from the "outside". It's like a reality check!
"How do I make my violin sound more professional?" Answer: Practice. 👍 With practice one can play with just as much "feeling, phrasing, vibrato and all that good stuff" in the first position. 😊🎻 You know when you have reached a significant level of achievement when you can make a cheap $40 violin (including case, bow, rosin, an extra set of steel strings and digital electronic tuner) purchased on Amazon, and impress your audience by playing it so it sounds like one that sells for 20 times that amount. 👌 😉 ♫
One of the reasons for not noticing a difference between student and professional violin tone is the comparatively poor quality of basic sound systems on laptops etc.
