Does any one have advice to play violin better.?

Question

anything, from mistakes you have made?

it would be nice to know, i think it would make me a better player to know your mistakes.

i know to practice. but have any of you made any mistakes? done something wrong? you cant not be perfect. any life experiences? please do tell.

i mean you cant be perfect. pardon my typing errors.

i mean you cant be perfect. pardon my typing errors.

Answer 1

I have been playing violin for five years now. I am still in middle school.

First thing is that you can't stop practicing. You should practice every day, no matter what. If you can't practice for one day, practice one fifth of the minutes you usually practice more the next day.

Next, it doesn't matter if you practice for 24 hours. The quality of your practice is the biggest factor in your improvement. You will improve a lot more if you do top-quality practicing for thirty minutes than if you just play your songs quickly for two hours. So if you mess up once, then go over and over one measure {bar} before and after the problem spot.

Third, your position is the most important. Hold your violin high up on your shoulder. Also, a shoulder rest is much more sturdy than sponges. If your stand is too low, then rise it so the top of it is the height of your forehead.

Since I can't explain everything in words, here is a picture of a proper violin position.
http://www.violinonline.com/holdviolinspin.htm
But if that doesn't work, go to ask.com and type in violin position for Images. The most helpful image is the first one. Also, here is a little hint: make sure your violin is always in tune before you play! Get an electric tuner and fine tune it too. Good luck!

Answer 2

There is a wonderful old text called "How I Teach Violing Playing" By Leopold Auer. Even though the book is over 100 years old, virtually everything in it is practical, well thought out, well written, and very usable right now. Human anatomy hasn't changed in the last 100 years and the violin (with the exception that A is higher now than in Auer's day) hasn't changed either. Virtuoso pieces demand more, but Auer's book provides a great basis for master so- called "advanced techniques"

Answer 3

Use a tape recorder when you practice, then listen to your recordings. That can help. Also, listen to a master violinist play the same piece you're practising, and see the difference. If you're timing is off, use a metronome. Be prepared to practice every day, however boring your exercises might be. Listen to your teacher always and be prepared to feel crushed if you have criticism. It's only constructive criticism and if you want to be good, if playing the violin is really important to you, then you won't want people to flatter you and soft soap you, you'll want the truth and you'll work hard. Good luck;-)

Answer 4

hello! i am a professional violin player myself, and i can help with your question. first, like other people said, you must practice. 2-3 hours a day is good, but if you want to major in it 3-5 is the minium time. HOWEVER, practicing is more than just taking the piece and playing it. you must practice slow - to get the intonation correct, and to get the rhythms straight. fast- to keep tempo. also, RHYTHMS can help getting notes even. 16th notes are fast, and some of my students can't exactly get them even. i have them play long-short, long-short notes, [if you have a C and then a D, you play it like this:

you stretch the C longer than the D . make the C a quater note, and the D an eight note. then do it vice versa [other way around]

another good way is to record your playing. like someone else mentioned, recording your playing is a good way to improve your sound. HOWEVER, when i was younger, i really hated being recorded, so i didn't choose that way to practice.

another way is to improve is by listening to multiple performances of the piece. when my students begin a new piece, and they can't get the rhythms,
intonation and etc correct, i have them pick up many different recordings.
i have them get :
sarah chang
itzhak perlman
joshua bell
these performers are wonderful to listen to.

i also read someone else's answer to get to vibrato more. SOUND & QUALITY is very important in a string instrument. if you didn't have those two, then what would you sound like? CRAP. you need to practice vibrato, [[there are many excersize books on it]] and you need to practice scales. [[it also helps with intonation]]

finally, &
honestly, the best way to practice & improve [[in my 13 years of teaching]] is to get a biography of the composer. it sounds lame- yes i know it does, but it is
a VERY VERY good way to get to know how to play the piece. for example, BACH'S solos for violin has absolutely no dynamics written, so the performer must use their own feeling and comprehension of it.

mahler's pieces [if you do a research on him] are all almost dramatic because his daughter died.

mozart's pieces are almost all joyful, because the man was recongnized for a short period of time.

all these bio's can help you identify what kind of "feeling" you need to play the piece with.


itzhak perlman taught me that practice skill [[he was my teacher when i attended juilliard]]
hope i helped.

Answer 5

practice, there is no way around practice. i know practice is not my favorite thing to do, but it helps a lot in progress. my advice is take work on the section that you have a little bit of trouble on work on it and go back and play the song over. and listen to recordings and ask your instructor too.

Answer 6

when playing, dont rest your elbow on your side, like dont lean and rest your arm if you get tired, try to stand up straight...... dont keep your hand flat against the bottom of the key board........ try to get the vibrato early, it really helps playing in the long run....... get a -good- bow, if you dont have a good bow it can make the music sound crappy........ if you have any other ?'s, e-mail me...... [e-mail]

Answer 7

HEY GUYS. ITS ME VIOLIN1 I GOT A NEW ACCOUNT. THIS IS GREAT ADVICE. BUT, HAVE YOU MADE ANY MISTAKES AT ALL? BROKEN ANYTHING? BY DOING SOMETHING WRONG?
thats what i wanna know!

Answer 8

Take lessons and practice wen ever you possibly can.

Answer 9

practice practice practice
If u have technique questions, probably have to ask ur teacher.