12 Checks to Improve your Violin Sound Quality in 10 Minutes | Violin Lounge TV #403
How to get rid of your beginner sound and to keep improving your sound (forever!) as an intermediate and advanced violinist:
#1 Clean your strings
#2 Don’t use too much rosin
#3 Clean your bow hair
Watch this video to learn how you can clean your bow stick and hair yourself. It might save you a rehair!
Balance proportions on every level:
#4 Bow Speed
Don’t make classic mistakes like shooting your bolt (high bow speed) and belly bowing (inconsistent bow speed).
Stiff bowing without finger action will affect the consistency of the bow speed and the weight used mainly at the bow change. Learn how to bow smoothly in this video lesson.
#5 Weight
Keep an eye on the amount of weight, consistency , that you’re using weight and not pressure, relax your right arm and maybe hold your elbow a bit lower to transfer weight.
#6 Finger action
Bowing smoothly with the right fluent movements in the wrist and fingers is crucial for a good sound on the violin. Watch this video to learn more.
Learning a lot? Support my work by sharing it on Twitter:
Improve your violin bowing technique
Enjoy my FREE mini Masterclass 5 Bowing Secrets to Create a Professional Sound on the Violin
Hi! I'm Zlata
Classical violinist helping you overcome technical struggles and play with feeling by improving your bow technique.
#7 Contact point
Crooked bowing will affect contact point, so make sure you’re bowing straight and be conscious about where between the bridge and the fingerboard you bow. Each spot has it’s own sound.
#8 Hair
To pivot or not to pivot your bow. In the video I show you a hack to pivot at the extreme frog for a consistent sound without scratching.
#9 Place on the bow
Connected to this is bow division.
#10 String, positions and choice of fingering
Watch this video to learn when to shift positions on the violin.
#11 Intonation
Check constantly if you’re in tune and never blindly trust your intonation. Watch all my videos on intonation right here.
#12 Vibrato
Watch all my videos on vibrato right here.
Let me know in the comments below which tip was most helpful to you:
10 Comments
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
- Different CONTACT POINTS on the Violin | Bow Technique | Violin Lounge TV #424 - Violin Lounge - […] Looking for more ways to get a better tone quality on the violin? Watch this video with 12 ways…
Such an amazing video but I want to ask, what is the name of the song you played as the soft song when doing the vibrato.
Thank you, it was a snippet from Meditation from Thaïs by Massenet. I’ve got a tutorial on that piece right here.
Thank you for another excellent video. I keep learning more and more as we go along.
Thank you also for the Bach video you sent last week. I also enjoy playing Bach. In fact, I committed several pieces to memory. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you which pieces do they were because I only have sheet music which my teacher gave me several years ago that has no mention of their name.
I also purchased another chin rest which I hope will be more comfortable.
One question I have is that you speak of holding the violin on your collar bone rather than shoulder. I tried experimenting with that but find that putting the shoulder rest on my shoulder is more comfortable. I’ll keep working on that especially with the new chin rest. So far, I’ve experimented with about five different chin rests. The latest is a Stuber.
Again, thank you for your latest email.
Fritz
Glad it’s helpful, Fritz, violin holds can be very different.
I loved this video (actually I love all your video) but as a beginner, I was overwhelmed by all of the information. I decided that I need to review this video more than once to absorb all the important information you shared. I guess my biggest issue right now is my intonation. It needs a lot of work.
As a beginner, it would be a good idea to take my free step by step beginner course to not get overwhelmed and work through things in the right order. Here it is!
Thank you Zlata. As always, your tutorials are extremely helpful and informative. The bowing techniques are difficult to master, but as a beginner I have found how important they are so that’s where I’m concentrating at the moment. Also the vibrato is very difficult. I can do it on my guitar easily, but not on my violin. I think it’s just learning the correct positioning of my hand and letting my fingers and thumb do what they’re supposed to do. You make it look so easy! I know the key is practice and repetition. Thank you again. :).
You’re welcome, Charles!
Thanks Zlata. I am blown away by the ‘don’t use too much rosin’ tip. I have always wondered where my scratchy sound came from and worked hard at softening my bow hold and keeping my strings clean. But today I didn’t put any new rosin on my bow before playing and wow. The bow seems to grip the string better and the sound is so much cleaner. Thanks! Next step – clean my bow hairs…
That’s great, John!