Violinists, Learn How To Look After Your Sound Every Time You Play!

[@marybrunart]

What wonderful exercises, Thanks Mary 💚

[@violinstudiowithmaryv]

Dear Mary, I'm so glad you like the exercises! It's great to go to the heart of our violin playing, simple open strings and a lovely smooth bow! Our violin loves being played so clearly too and responds with all its heart...Take care and enjoy your playing! Mary❤

[@chrisgleeson2443]

Thankyou Mary, your videos are a great help at my stage of learning, it's frustrated me for a while now how I can't hold a nice sound for the whole note, so I've gone back a few steps and just trying to perfect my bowing rather than just doing it without much thought. Thankyou your videos are greatly appreciated over here in Australia🙏🙂

[@violinstudiowithmaryv]

Hello Chris! Thank you very much for your very interesting comments. I'm glad your frustration led you to do something about your sound. Dissatisfaction is actually a huge part of improvement on the violin if it leads to awareness and insight. No need to get frustrated - just follow your awareness and do something about it, like you have done. Most violin playing is experimental. Positively taking charge of something you become aware of on the violin is a wonderful thing and something we repeat over and over again as our awareness increases. I congratulate you - very well done indeed!! Salutations from Scotland! Mary❤

[@lolamas3042]

Hola Mary! Este vídeo me ayuda muchísimo a ser consciente de la importancia de conseguir un buen sonido y no conformarme con un sonido razonablemente bueno. A veces los primeros minutos con el violín son un desastre...el arco no va paralelo al puente, el sonido silba o chirría...pero poco a poco va mejorando... Me gustan mucho tus ejercicios con cuerdas abiertas... experimentaré con ellos!👏👏👏👏👏 Mil gracias Mary y buen fin de semana!💚🎶💛🎻

[@violinstudiowithmaryv]

Hello Lola! What naughty sounds you describe in those first minutes - hisses and squeaks! We try to be fully aware when we play, but sometimes we're not really awake! Thank goodness things improves as we focus in and our violin can breathe a sigh of relief when we finally tune in. What our violins have to put up with!🙂😉🎻 I hope you really enjoy the beautiful sound your open strings want to make Lola! Mary❤

[@willy_wombat]

Thanks for sharing ❤!

[@violinstudiowithmaryv]

Thanks willy! Mary❤

[@sm9846]

Thank you very much 🌹

[@violinstudiowithmaryv]

Thank you! Mary❤

[@aliceackerman7451]

Thank you so much Mary to explain, this is always my frustration, why my sound is lousy and scratches sometimes my bow is vibrated, and my sound frumply , I will work on it

[@violinstudiowithmaryv]

Hello Alice, If you know what to look out for and how to practice bowing you really can clear up your sound and let your violin sing out clearly. To spend time doing this on open strings is gold in the bank and all violinists who devote time to their sound are rewarded by feeling incredibly encouraged! We can often feel a bit discouraged about our scratchy sound so it's really important to develop a mindset of patience, determination and enjoyment of experimenting. You can do this! Mary❤

[@violinstudiowithmaryv]

By the way, I love your word 'frumply'☺ Mary❤

[@hannahschneyder6651]

Hello Mary, that's great that you uploaded this video now, I have been trying to make sense of what to do with the bow again. Sometimes it feels like sitting in a boat with a lot of holes, and once you've stuffed one of them, you notice another one that has been there the whole time or that you even stuffed before but had opened again... But yes, I guess that how progress happens when you're learning a complex thing. Maybe one day, I'll be quick enough to understand and shift my attention and fix stuff before it sounds weird. My last lesson, I did loosen up in the right shoulder, and it felt like a miraculous breakthrough, even if intonation went completely out of the window for concentrating on maintaining this. I don't know why I love doing this very hard thing so much when I could have easier first successes on a lot of other instruments. But none of them sound as beautiful to me (except from maybe the cello, but I guess it's not easier). Well, the next few days will be choir weekend, but then I'll come back and try to find that loose but controlled place again and maybe even have some braincells deal with my left hand/ear connection at the same time 😊 I don't think I've paid much productive attention to how I start or end a bow stroke, so I'll keep that in mind and start on the open strings like you suggest.

[@violinstudiowithmaryv]

Hello Hannah, Yes, your little boat is your violin and you're on a journey together. But you don't need a quick mind to 'catch' the holes that keep appearing, rather just take care of yourself and your violin by doing some very fundamental things that will calm the waters and let you see further ahead... We need to touch base very often on the violin and come back again and again to these fundamental things; being comfortable, our sound, the open strings, simple scales, intonation and our bowing action. Everything else is built on those vital elements and we do ourselves an enormous favour by taking care of them lovingly over and over. 'Lovingly' is the chosen word because included in the fundamentals is determination and enjoyment. That mindset is just as vital as all the others and perhaps the most vital of all. Hannah, I wish you all the best! Mary❤

[@hannahschneyder6651]

@@violinstudiowithmaryv oh, you're so right. I know how much easier practice is when I start with some fundamental things, open strings, scales, and recently I've felt a bit stressed and like I didn't have enough time for that. And, surprise, skipping it hasn't had me make the best of the time that I had. My teacher once told me the violin is my friend and wants to do what I want, but that "she" (in German, violins are female) is also very sensitive. It's fine, I'm usually also a sensitive person who likes subtle things, but being stressed makes it less so. I will come back to being more careful and intentional.

[@violinstudiowithmaryv]

@@hannahschneyder6651 Good for you Hannah! You're quite right, being stressed certainly comes out on the sensitive violin for sure! As for us, many of the effects of stress are not so easy to spot. Please take great care of yourself! Mary❤

[@chrisgleeson2443]

Your not alone Hannah, I've been playing this magical instrument 18 months now and have trouble getting a good sound, I've taken a few steps back and am working on perfecting the basics rather than just doing the basics before I move on, I've also gone back to nearly the start of suzuki book 1and just trying to perfect all the easy songs, where as I raced through them before, where I live there aren't any violin teachers unfortunately so with people like Mary it's a great help, good luck with your learning, best wishes from Australia

[@martatessi]

❤. I'm doing that. I have problems when the notes are long and slow as in the Bach Air. The first F# 😢.

[@violinstudiowithmaryv]

Hello Marta! The more long slow beautiful bows on open strings you can do the better your sound will be and the easier it is to play long slow notes in your piece. Do you have the patience?😅 Enjoy your experiments! Mary❤

[@martatessi]

@@violinstudiowithmaryv 🤣

[@melovenour]

Thanks a lot Marry ❤

[@violinstudiowithmaryv]

Thank you! Mary❤