Wish to delight in finding out violin more?Then stop obsessing over sounding great and begin tracking real development instead.
This one state of mind shift can change how you feel about your playing.
Want structured lessons that construct progress you can feel?
Start finding out now:
Open the START HERE PDF to access your lessons.
Click the blue-highlighted video links to follow along.
Download the resources for each lesson.
Wish to keep going?
After Lesson 10, continue through the full course using:
Tune Book 1 Tutorial Book 2 Song Book 2 Tutorial Book 3 Song Book 3
The One Mindset Shift That Will Make You a Better Violinist
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Thank you. This method can be applied to anything you are trying to improve at. ššš
This makes me feel a little bit better. I have been playing for almost 2 years and I hate the way I sound, but I’m not sure if I am as good as I think I should be or if it’s just par for the course.
I believe this is normal. I have the same questions myself.
I certainly don’t have perfect pitch and seldom tune to perfect fifth even though i do understand how to do so. I rely on my korg chromatic tuner to hear for me when I’m in tune. And I understand that this is a tempered scale and not every note will be dead on.
So True
I am focusing on getting better. I do see small improvements and that is encouraging. I have more physical endurance. I am hitting the one string I wanted to hit instead of two!
Thanks for your help
Getting better my aim every time time I pick up the violin
Hi Alison, I’ve enjoyed many of your videos. I’m waiting on a sparkly black Cecilio Silent Electric (with ebony fittings) violin that I bought, open box, for $50 on Ebay. When I saw Cecilio, I immediately thought of your trial of many of their products. My other violin is a Stradivari, really. Actually it’s a Gliga, but anyway. I like that you are somewhat less snobby than many, dare I say, influencers. The violin has provided me with hours of entertainment. Not so much with my playing, which I enjoy far more than others around me, but for the intense snobbiness of many on forums and YouTube. Behind the expert facade, there are so many that insist that they need a $1000 instrument with $100 strings, to play twinkle, twinkle in their parent’s basement. I think the fierceness of the critique varies inversely with the skill of the commenter. While it was a point of contention with my long suffering wife that I need another violin, the ability to practice with a minimum of offence justifies the modest investment. All this is to say that the means matter far less than the act. I play, I will never grace the stage, but I can play what I want, and I will get better, perhaps marginally, with the new capability to play more often. And that is what counts.
š» Free 10-lesson violin course: https://tinyurl.com/2c946az2
š Open the āSTART HEREā PDF to access your lessons.
š„ Click the blue-highlighted video links to follow along.
š Download the resources for each lesson.
āØReal progress starts when you change the question.āØWhich mindset are you stuck in?
Hi Alison, I brought your violin course and I couldnt’ find an email address on the email support sheet, so I sent it via “Contact” on your website which I realise is probably the wrong place! Anyway, the question was about how to play dotted rhythms in song book 1 without travelling up the bow.
@hw2050 are you playing them with separate bow? you cold be using too much bow – especially on the dotted (really short) notes?
@TheOnlineViolinTutor Yes. When I do a long note followed by short, the short note comes out louder if I use the same amount of bow, so I use less bow for the short note and end up travelling up the bow. I noticed in your tutorial videos for songbook 1 you sometimes use seperate bows, sometimes stop the bow and play both notes in the same direction, and sometimes you slur them.
Sounds like you have the right ‘idea’ but you’re not executing it. When you do the short note, you should not be travelling up the bow – you need to control it and only do a very short note by physically stopping the bow. Don’t worry about what i’m doing with the bow (slurring, same direction etc), id always recommend separate bows for beginners as you need to master the technique before adding on the ‘extras’.
What you could try, is starting the bow at the tip of the bow on the A string for example, then doing ALL up bows, do tiny little ones each using around 1-2″ of bow only – so like the bow is stuttering – up, up, up, up, up… and so on. That will help you figure out the amount of bow needed for the short note so you’re not travelling up.
Let me know if i’ve got that wrong – as its hard to know what the real issue is without seeing people play.
We’ll get to the bottom of it for sure. š
Im having success with my v.s.o.
Of course im focused on sounding good. Im a perfectioist. Im blessed by God that i have not given up. I have not touched the violin in close to fourty years because Of all the pressure my mother and grandfather placed on me to practice. Even my favorite instructor told my mom during parent teacher coferences that i was slow twitch and wouldnt amount to anything. My instructor told my mother i would never play in an orchestra. I was intensely angered and frustrated. The violin had beaten me. My classmates had surpassed me and were able to read music seemingly magically. I was so bewildered and overwhelmed. What right had my instructor to say I would never play orchestrally he hadnt even spent any real time with me! This was a man encharged with bringing the teaching and joy of the violin the very essence of appreciation of the renaseance and fine music to instill in small children. And yet he was my favorite teacher. I just could not fathom the educational system denegrating my early attempts at violin. Untill 40 years later one man Mr.Dennis Braun a luthier based in Spain showed me C.B.R. violin massage for relatively new or unplayed violins with thick top plates. His vidio has relaunched my enthusiasm for the violin in no uncertain terms. As far as Im concerned hes a genius! I am so greatful for hving stumbled accross his vidio.Allison! I hope you will take the time to watch it as well.Violin fixes and lutierer professional Unvailed etc. Im having a ball with my violin!
Your absolutly right Allison! I always used to hesitate. Shift! My instructor would say! Shift! Move! Slide! But get that hand moving!
Hi Allison ā What do you mean by āgetting better?ā For ten years now, although I play the violin in many keys and play many genres of music, I only play the violin in the first position, within the first two octaves, and with a so-called finger vibrato. With these self-imposed restrictions, would you consider this as not āgetting better?ā
Focused on getting better bit by bit. When I go back and play the pieces earlier on in the book, that’s when I notice how far I’ve come. š