How to play fast on the Violin - Basic Practicing Tips

[@Lamadesbois]

*01.* _Détaché_ vs _legato_ (bow sync and string crossings 1:10 *02.* lifting as precise as dropping 1:43 *03.* Slow practice *but* fast-allowing (short bow strokes + low fingers) 2:20 *04.* …but fast practice too. 3:40 *05.* Slow practice; big chunks. Fast practice; small chunks 4:10 *06.* Importance of repetitions 5:09 *07.* Dotted rhythms 5:35 *08.* Also practice _détaché_ with _legato_ strokes and _vice-versa_ 6:34 *09.* Accenting some notes for synchronization 7:23 *10.* Anticipate/prepare the next movements 8:49 *10a.* Check finger anticipation with double-stops 10:45 *10b.* Anticipate string-crossings by minimizing the angle 11:37 *11.* Improve finger-timing with steady repeated fast bow-strokes 12:05 *12.* Metronome in slow practice 13:58 *13.* Metronome increments and variations 14:40

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

Very useful comment! Thank you! I will pin that!

[@Lamadesbois]

@@SimonStreuffViolinEducation you are welcome. Thanks for the content. If you are interested in dividing your videos in chapters, I think KZbin allows it for video uploads. It might by time consuming though. I enjoyed the dense and in-depth overview.

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

@@Lamadesbois Yes, I have seen it in many other KZbin videos and wanted to implement that already. I will learn that right now! Thak you for the suggestion!

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

@@Lamadesbois Hey, I just used your timestamps in this video as a test and it seems to work. I hope that is ok, I link your channel in the description too. One question: what does "fast-allowing" mean ?

[@Lamadesbois]

@@SimonStreuffViolinEducation Great! By “fast-allowing”, I meant “not hindering once you play at tempo”. Feel free to replace it 🙂

[@sheilaclarke3692]

Thank you for your wonderful advice. Greatly appreciated! Best wishes, Sheila❤x❤

[@tullochgorum6323]

I really like your metronome idea of speeding up 2 steps and then 1 step back. Simon Fischer tells a story of a student of DeLay who was about to give up the instrument as he simply couldn't get up to tempo. Then he heard one of his housemates practising crazy-fast and gave it a try. He found that the very attempt to play faster than he could somehow prepared his brain for when he returned to tempo. This insight saved his career! Outstanding video - deserves far more views.

[@seanhughes1923]

This is the best lesson on playing fast I've seen .you explained it so well .Great

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

Thank you! I am happy to hear that! :)

[@andreas3039]

I only watched a section of this because I am in a time crunch, but I will definitely come back to watch all of this. Thank you for this, it is great.

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

Thank you for your comment, especially since you were in a time crunch!

[@jamesphillipdeguzman6495]

Very informative and packed with good violin technique lessons. You earned my sub Simon. Keep it up!

[@坤榮-e8h]

very wonderful helping me to practices,thank you very much! Maestro Simon

[@CoeBooks]

EXCELLENT!! This is the best lesson I’ve seen on playing faster. You did a great job. Plan to replay and use your different methods and practice suggestion. (I’ve been playing three years)

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

I always had to work hard on playing fast in my violinistic career! Playing fast did not come natural to me, but when I practice things thoroughly with these methods, the sky is the limit! Glad you can benefit from it too. This video was important for me to get out there. Your appreciation feels great!

[@Lamadesbois]

For those who are looking for more information about this topic, you might want to check Suzanna Klein's practice blitzs, Eddy Chen's video on playing fast, some videos of Nathan Cole and many podcasts of the Bulletproof Musician.

[@excellencecheberurjoie6452]

❤

[@ViolinWithKids]

Ah thank you, it’s been over 20 years since I picked up a violin so these tips are extremely helpful!

[@isabel5066]

very nice tips ! great that you showed examples! :)

[@thomasf5234]

Great tips for practicing. Really well explained. Thanks!

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

Thank you man! Keep practicing! :)

[@Jeff034]

Valuable stuff. Thanks.

[@kamrin2501]

Fascinating about efficient practice now more than anything.

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

efficiency is everything! The amount comes into play, when efficiency is maxed out!

[@chavaambuehl7605]

You are amazing at explaining and playing! It helps me so much I could even learn harmonics because you made it easier to understand and my teacher was impressed! :) Great videos you make. Thank you this was helpful. I subscribed because I think you deserve more subscribers and likes.

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

Thank you so much! Great to hear that! Send greetings to your teacher :)

[@chavaambuehl7605]

@@SimonStreuffViolinEducation ok I will! :)

[@Haley-hz9gj]

Brilliant! Great tips

[@kamrin2501]

One word. Amazing video Simon. Thanks for sharing 🙏

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

Thank you so much!

[@kaustubhnayak883]

Thank you

[@shirleytsim4775]

This is a great video! I really like all of your videos actually

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

Thank You :)

[@jacqueskongololwela8386]

Thank you for the tip i missed your tips so much very helpful and excellente vidéo as usually

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

Thank you so much, I will post much more during summer!

[@tasilachoonya1854]

Great explanation Simon ... very helpful

[@maryamar5404]

That was really helpful. Thanks😍❤

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

thank you so much!

[@deanniasiegmund3636]

Very helpful. What is the metro nome you are using please

[@hellinast.louis-bicar4954]

Thank you so much! Great tips!!

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

Thank you for your comment :)

[@kamrin2501]

My teacher always say practice slow but I keep on playing slow and slow which help but now I also realise it many other issues u mentioned here in ur video. Thanks Simon. Btw... Ur Intonation course is Amazing. 🙏🙏🙏 I think I'm gonna go Online than going to attend to my teacher for now lol

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

Thank you so much! I am glad you like my Intonation Course! I am looking forward to cover more topics in depth. About slow practicing: It should serve us only to eliminate faults and to organize our bowings, dynamics and articulation, after that speeding up while maintaining the quality is an important step which should be taken with a good plan in mind.

[@Myself-jk2mi]

So good. 👍👍

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

Thank you :)

[@roxanamusic385]

Very nice vidéo! Thank you!

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

Thank you for your comment :)

[@roxanamusic385]

@@SimonStreuffViolinEducation it' s a plasure 😚❤

[@vilegacy]

Thanks ❤

[@zhengyuan4906]

Thanks so much for posting this video! I am currently working on a music that has a fast part, consecutive groups of 16th notes, tempo = 140, 4/4, no slur. To play these notes, for the bow arm, should I use wrist or forearm to change bow directions? Feels like it's easier if I keep wrist fixed and move forearm quickly. Not sure if it's the correct way to do it.

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

Do what sounds and works the best! 140 is quick though a minimal movement can make things easier. If you can play from the wrist or at least with a lot of wrist involved it could be easier in the long run. But changing the movement is hard, if you prefer the forearm movement. Using the forearm is also totally fine... if you can keep up with the tempo... :)

[@AmandaViolinGirl]

Hi Simon, can I ask you please to do a video about overtones because I often hear a different note on the string, different to the actual note I am playing with my bow and where my fingers are in the left hand.

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

I think I answered you on facebook already. I think the overtones you are experiencing are from a too high bow speed for the contact point. Also you should add a little more weight to the bow, if the string "whistles"

[@AmandaViolinGirl]

@@SimonStreuffViolinEducation thanks. Yes you did answer me on Facebook thanks. About adding weight to the bow. That also makes the music forte when you want to be playing pianissimo.

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

@@AmandaViolinGirl If you want to play pianissimo and your strings whistle, you have to adjust your contact point to the edge of the fingerboard.

[@AmandaViolinGirl]

Thank you.

[@ellendegreef9772]

Thank you, this will be helpful! In general, do you think it is more difficult to learn to play faster as an adult beginner? I’m about 16-17 months into learning the violin and this is one thing I’m having difficulty with (I’m 44)

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

That is hard to say, I would say there are factors, that make it easier for young people to learn the coordination, other factors could be easier as an adult. I think that when we are young and our body is developing and we are learning so much every day it is easier to establish natural movement pattern that work especially well for us from just the feeling. When we are older our nerves are already very much programmed in a certain way. How we use our hands in this case. Holding a steering wheel for example is something most of us are pretty natural at because we got used to it and we do it regularly. But when it comes to violin specific movements, which can be quite unnatural feeling at first, we have to reprogram our nerves and develope muscles, which we may have never used in that way before. That being said in my opinion the art of learning to play fast on an instrument is determined mainly by the time and dedication we give to it. I can not naturally play fast on the violin and I can say that I have never seen someone with "quick fingers", who just can play and sound like a professional from the beginning. It is the same as expecting a newborn to be a chess master, it just doesn't happen. So what I want to say with this is that everybody has to train certain things and everybody has his or her own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to learn to play quickly. For example you could have less flexible and less agile fingers when you are above 40 or 50, but you are very much likely much better in finding out efficient ways to train your body and hopefully more disciplined than a 6 year old. ;) In the end it is all about exercise. Nobody can really tell you how far you will go exactly other than if you just find it out yourself. Back in the day I had moments where I doubted my ability to play fast, because I struggled with it often times. My teachers told me to practice certain ways to increase my "top speed" and the exercises worked for me with a good potion of effort though. I lose my ability to play at my "top speed" when I don't practive for a few days and I need another few days of good practice to earn that back. To raise the bar so to say can take weeks, months and years! As in weightlifting or sports in generall sometimes you improve, sometimes you plateau and sometimes you get worse in that regard. After this philosophical answer I want to give you practical advice too: Do the exercises in the video and apply the practicing techniques in your repertoire regularly (in the best case: daily!). Small doses at first (5-10 minutes a practice session) and if you practice longer sessions make it 10%-20% of your practice time dedicated to articulation, independency and velocity of the left hand as well as the interplay with the bow and different bowing techniques. Good news is you can basically not not improve then. In my opinion you can learn how to play fast with Schradieck and scales (with rhythms and variations) only. It just works! But because that would be boring I love to integrate rhythms and techniques like accents in my repertoire practice as well. Sometimes it can even be all that is needed, because our music is full of scales anyways, which can be taken out of context for exercise purposes. One last tip for fast detache: let your bow lead the tempo: play faster as you are used to with your bow on only the open string and then try to catch the same speed with some fingered notes. That way we can often times raise the bar quickly. But reliable fast fingers can in my opinion only be achieved by very regular training over years. Have fun practicing! :)

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

Playing fast is in my opinion only one small part of the journey of learning to play an instrument. The key in the end is to have something to say or also just to enjoy playing the instrument and make music. I like to have some agility training in my warm up routine on the violin as a daily habit as well as some basic bow exercises. This prevents me from having to practice fast passages until I can't hear them anymore since my fingers and brain are used to the challenge due to the daily training. I like to switch up routines from time to time though, but I always come back to scales in my case 3 or even 4 octaves, but also sometimes scales in one position or Schradieck like exercises just to activate the muscles of the fingers and to engrave different movement pattern and pattern combinations which accur in music in some way or form regularly. I hope that helps!

[@miramanasarah683]

Hello, so I'm getting a violin soon and I really want to learn how to play it. But I kind of have doubts about not being able to understand everything I need at home. Is it possible if you upload a video teaching us from the very beginning about everything we need to know, It would really help me. And I had a question, is it hard to learn the violin?

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

I just in summer started this series! I will put out some videos very soon about the beginning on the violin!

[@nancyharris7020]

I am a beginner, do you have a course for me? Thx for your videos!

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

I plan on doing a full beginner course! Join my newsletter on violin-education.com and you will for sure get notified early! In summer I will record the videos!

[@nancyharris7020]

Yes Mr. Streuff: I am signed up for the newsletter. I was interested in your intonation course, and the material is of interest but clearly too advanced for me at this point. I will watch for a beginners course. You already taught me how to hold the bow, so we have a good start. Thank you!

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

@@nancyharris7020 In the Intonation Guide for Violinists I cover many basic technical things, which can be beneficial for a beginner too! Only the things about shifting and some advanced note reading exercises will maybe be too complicated at first. But in every advanced lesson I usually have a easy example as well. I always try to teach my students from the get go a technique that will serve them later on. I will hurry up with the beginner course, since I see the demand and I can bring all my experience in it from teaching beginners for over 15 Years and also beginner string classes. I just have to wait for my summer holidays to dive into the video making :)

[@nancyharris7020]

Thanks for encouraging me to take your Intonation course. I found the concepts to be invaluable. I have much more stability and confidence on the fingerboard. My frustration with intonation has been replaced with enthusiasm to keep practicing and learning. Thank you, Simon!

[@nancyharris7020]

Simon Streuff Violin-Education thank you Simon, please see my note below

[@chavaambuehl7605]

I wish I could give this video more likes

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

Thank you for your like! Very much appreciated!

[@desigunda6956]

Hi Simon give me scales of double stop

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

I can't give you scales. What do you mean?

[@desigunda6956]

@@SimonStreuffViolinEducation means

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

@@desigunda6956 haha

[@kamrin2501]

Oooo why my teacher never share share this. Or explain so well.

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

That's what I am here for! :) Show your teacher, maybe he can learn. It should be common knowledge in my opinion hence this video

[@Kenneth-mj1hk]

“If you can play it slow, you can play it fast.”

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

:D Kinda!

[@AmandaViolinGirl]

Ha ha twosetviolin fan.

[@yuliastone9704]

Quickly :)

[@cautiouslyhopeful]

There's always one. Lol

[@tomforsythe7024]

You can't learn to run by increasing your walking speed.

[@SimonStreuffViolinEducation]

Exactly!