Easy straight bow exercise. Good-bye sliding bows!

 

 

 [written version] 

When we run, we swing our arms and keep our elbows more like a square shape. 

We feel more comfortable to keep that way. 

When you just started playing the violin, a teacher would say “Keep the bow straight.” 

But at first, almost everyone struggles to move the bow in a straight line. 

The most common issue is the bow is moving in a reversed C shape. 

Because the elbow is keeping the square shape. And the bow slides over the string and you cannot make a good sound. 

In order to move the bow straight, we need to open our elbow around the middle of the bow to the tip. 

But even knowing these facts, moving the bow straight might be pretty challenging at the beginning. 

Also, in general, “straight lines” don’t feel so natural to our body. 

 So, the next exercise might help you if you’re having the issue. 

Imagine to draw a C shape, instead of the reversed C. 

And see if the bow is more straight. 

 I hope this exercise helps you. 

Happy practicing!

How to practice scales efficiently | for Beginner Violinists

 

 

[written version]

 

At every stage of violin practice, we practice scales.

Because scales are the fundamental of all the melodies and extremely beneficial.

This is a tip for the very beginning of the violin study.

Just because it’s written in your book, 

I don’t recommend  jump into playing one octave scale immediately. 

If you are still new to move the bow down and up, 

changing notes at every bow change can be challenging 

and also because the notes pass fairly quickly that 

you might not recognize when you are not playing in tune. 

This ends you up practicing the wrong intonation. 

So, here’s my suggestion.

I use this App, Cleartune.

Click the right side button and you will be able to hear a note of your choice continuously.

Ideally, put your phone connected to a speaker so that you can hear it well.

Let’s play D major scale for example.

Set the note to D. Adjust the octave.

Repeat each note, let’s say, 4 times, and move on to the next note. 

You can do it at your comfortable tempo.

When you are done with 4 times cycle up and down, 

Move on to 3 times per note.

Then, 2 times.

Then, finally, once per note.

During this set, you’re also working on your bow. Make sure the bow is parallel to the bridge.

And the bow is placed in the middle of the bridge and the edge of the fingerboard. Aim to get a beautiful tone.

 

When you complete this, you’re nicely warmed up and ready to dive into whatever you’re working on.

Happy practicing!

Winter 2020 Student Recital

Last Sunday, we did our student recital for children, winter 2020.

Everyone played their heart out!

I strongly believe performing is necessary process in learning music. It takes courage, but your learn so much from it. You will gain so much by giving.


Everyone was engaging and it was a strong and beautiful recital.

Thank you, to all the students and their dedicated parents!

The magic of playing the music you love.

Today, one of my student played the piece she wanted to play for long time. In the past, we practiced the scale she needed to know beforehand to play the piece, but it had been long time passed since she mentioned about the piece. Today, I gave her the transcription that I made for her and we finally started to learn the piece. With a big smile, she said, "I can't believe I'm playing this song now. I'd listened to it so much for long time, but never played.". I love watching my students having the sparkles in their eyes and they just can't wait to learn more. Yes, that's passion.


It is challenging to pickup the violin to practice when you are busy in general. How much time do you really have? If you're kids, you have school to attend, homework to do and playing with friends are also important. If you're adult, you have bills to pay, laundry to do, endless things to take care of. On top of that, on your free time, you have so many other pleasurable things available with one click. Especially, nowadays, YouTube, Amazon, Netflix, Facebook or any other social media, online shopping, HBO Go, etc... And they would easily take away all of your free time that you were originally planning to practice the violin.


I think the key to successfully keep playing the violin is a lot to do with one's mental discipline.
But when we say "mental discipline", somehow it feels torturous. It doesn't sound fun. But it doesn't have to be.

The first step is to keep the positive attitude towards violin. Yes, you have to have passion.

As a teacher, I cannot give students passion. I can be passionate myself and that can be inspiring to students, but students have to have their own passion.

To own this passion is actually an important part of practice. You have to have a positive feeling and have almost like a burning desire when you think about violin playing. And if you don't have the feeling right now, you can still have it, but have to make an effort and "practice" for it.

How?

We all have the music we love.
It doesn't have to be the music played on the violin. Anything you like.

Think about the music you love.

Feel the music.

Sing it with passion. (If you don't want to sing, you can do it in your head.)

Imagine yourself playing that on the violin.

And now, play it on the violin.

If you don't know how to play it yet, decide that you will someday and,

Stick with the desire.

If you can, find the easier version of it for now.
Nowadays, it's very easy to find sheet music for anything.

And while you work on the easy version, you work on the technique that you need to own to play the music.

But don't forget about the music you love during the process.

Generate the good feeling and keep the feeling.


Here is my story...
As a kid, I had a bad attitude towards violin, hated practicing. My mother was yelling at me (she was my teacher), I was not playing well and I was thinking myself as a failure of being disciplined and not talented enough and it was emotionally painful. And I was playing the music I was given and didn't really love at that time. I had a passive attitude. And I didn't even try to play the music I loved that moment. It didn't occur to my mind to do it because I was dealing with stressful feeling and also, I didn't know if it was an option. Simply, unmotivated and uninspired. I was not playing as much and almost quit.

And one day, I decided to play jazz on it. I discovered jazz a few years before and fell in love. And all of sudden, I had so much excitement and inspiration and playing the violin more than ever. It took no efforts to pick up the violin. And the inspiration never went away. I am happier than ever. I found the music I truly love.


If you haven't, you have to find the music you really love.

It can be a song, a simple melody or a fragment of a riff that you heard from a  movie that's stuck in your mind.

You can play any music on violin. And it is you who can decide to do it and make a move. Be active. Be passionate. Make practicing the violin as pleasurable as possible. You don't have to play the music you don't really like. Play the music you love.


To me, that is the key to success.

Recommended: "Basics" by Simon Fischer

I have to confess.... I'm in love with this book "Basics" by Simon Fischer.

A few months ago last year, my dear jazz violinist friend recommended me to check out this book and I am glad I did. I have been religiously reading it through and work on these great exercises along and am still keeping at it. I feel I am still discovering so many mind blowing facts about the violin playing. Last year, I posted about the great Dounis. But this book shows you how to actually practice the Dounis exercises with details. 

With all the clear scientific explanation, very simple and short exercises in specific topics, it makes my practice focused and logical with the feeling of calmness and ease.

Whenever I face technical problems, I go back to the book and find the specific topic and re-discover the facts and understand how to solve the problem. And every time I do that, these facts are ingrained deeper into my mind.

Yes, some of the exercises in the book need repetition with certain time period to get ingrained into the playing, just like any other exercises you do. But some of the facts you find here can immediately change your playing with the clear picture of the right concept in mind. 

To me, no one has ever explained to me about the violin playing as precise and clear as Simon Fischer before. All the facts here make so much sense to me. I had so many Ah-ha moments.

I found sometimes that even great classical players with great technique cannot really explain how to actually do some of the techniques while they are great at doing it naturally. And I thought that was something I had to do a lot and find out on my own somehow someday and it's not really explainable. And that is devastating. Because I never knew if "somehow someday" would ever happen to me.

When you cannot find the answer to some of the technical problem you're facing, it is extremely dissatisfying and makes you start wondering there is something wrong with you or blame that you're just not talented. But it is NOT TRUE!


To me, this book is a saver. It makes your fogs and doubts all clear.

I highly recommend this book for any violinist in any stage!

Simple fact: Optical illusion on the bow angle

Today, I want to share a simple fact about the bow angle. Have you had the experience trying to put the bow perfectly straight to the bridge, yet, the bow still seems to be crooked and sliding.

Here is a simple fact. 

From your point of view, when the bow makes perfect 90 degrees to the string, the bow will be slightly crooked to the bridge (too far out).

When the bow is perfectly parallel to the bridge, the angle of the bow and the string from your point of view is less than 90 degrees.

This illusion is so slight that some players don't notice and still plays fine.

Also, the degree varies depending on how you position your violin. Some people position the violin more to the left towards the left shoulder. More left the violin, sharper the degree gets (more illusion effect).



Here are two examples:

Above photo is when he sees 90 degrees bow angle to the string. Notice how the bow is crooked, too far out.

And the 2nd photo is when the bow angle is corrected and parallel to the bridge. But he is seeing the bow angle less than 90 degrees to the string.

So, if you are struggling with putting the bow parallel to the bridge, you can consider this simple fact.

You can put the bow less than 90 degrees to the string and watch the mirror and make sure the bow is parallel to the bridge. And remember the angle, so that you can do it without the mirror, too.

It might change your bowing dramatically!



Happy playing,



NOTE:
There are some occasion that you want to have varieties in bow angle. For example, when you want to change the sounding point, you can make the bow angled in or out so that you can go either closer or further from the bridge as you move the bow.

Season is changing. Take a good care of your violin!

Hope you're feeling good and not catching a cold. I am just getting over from a cold..

Yes, it's getting chilly outside. Your heater is on. The air is getting drier. 
Your body is adjusting to the season change and so is your violin.

It's the time of a year to watch carefully how your violin is doing. Especially, the proper humidity is important to your instrument. Dryness can make damage to your violin and the result would be cracking or the seams of your violin to open. When this happen, you have to go to a professional luthier to fix it and it can be expensive.

So, let's try to avoid that to happen!

What you can do:

1. Use a room humidifier.  Keep the humidity in between 40 to 60%. It doesn't have to be fancy. I have this one. If you don't have one, just hang a wet towel or place a pot filled with water on your radiator.
   
   
2. Use "dampit". The green tube has yellow sponge inside that can hold the water, and you insert it into your violin's f hole. Make sure that the outside of the dampit is dry when you insert it.
   
   
3.  Use case humidifier. Some violin case comes with this. Or you can put one inside your case.
   
4.  If the pegs are slipping, use this.  It's a peg compound. You can put it onto your pegs.
   
   
5.  Keep your violin in your case when not playing. With a dampit or case humidifier would be better.
6.  Keep your violin away from your heater! This is a must.

And the good news is that it doesn't cost much to do these things. Let's keep your violin happy!

Enjoy the colorful autumn,

Great practice tips from D. C. Dounis

There was a great violinist and a teacher whose name was Demetrius Constantine Dounis (1886-1954).  He studied violin privately in Vienna with Frantisek Ondricek and also was a medical student at the University of Vienna. He was a touring violinist after the graduation in Europe and Russia, then after World War I, he became a professor of violin at the Salonika Conservatory in Greece. It was then he devoted all his energy to violin pedagogy and the publication of his famous violin studies.

His books are pretty challenging for beginners and it can be overwhelming even for the advanced students. But if you're a serious learner (and not an absolute beginner), I would recommend to pick a few exercise from this book everyday and spend about 15~30 minutes the most.

On his book, "The Artist's Technique of Violin Playing" op. 12, he states his philosophy about practicing as Foreword and I would like to share it here:

 ***

"TO KNOW HOW TO PRACTICE IS AN ART."

This is a well-known fact.

Most violinists believe that the 

solution of the problem of "HOW TO PRACTICE"

lies in repeating, everyday, various finger exercises,

scales, arpeggios, bow exercises, etc.

But this supposition is a fallacy.

No one will ever learn how to practice by

repeating day in, day out, finger exercises, scales, or,

in fact, 

the whole compendium of daily exercises for the violin.

The result of such monotonous and arid study

is usually worthless.

This procedure explains why after years of intensive study, 

there are few violinists, very few indeed,

who acquire an infallible technique.

The oblect of this work is to indicate a method of

solving all the problems of higher technique of both hands,

with the least possible expenditure of time and energy,

and to provide definite suggestions for

mastering all technical difficulties.

In other words,

this book aim to teach

THE TRUE METHOD OF

PRACTICING.

-D. C. Dounis

*If you would like to download his book, "The Artist's Technique of Violin Playing" op. 12, you can download from the link. You can purchase the whole book (like the photo above) online, too.

It is very inspiring to just read his words in between these exercises. I highly recommend it!

Have fun,

How to properly choose the right size violin for kids

This is one of the most frequent questions that I get.

 Which size should I get for my child?

Here is a chart that helps you to find right size violin for your child.
When you measure the arm length, follow these steps.

1. Spread the left arm parallel to the floor with palm facing up to the ceiling

2. Bring the arm very slightly to the front (About or less than 45 degrees, 
    just like the pose of playing violin with arm extended.

3. Measure from the bottom of the neck to the middle of the palm. 

4. Write down the length.

Hope this helps finding the right size for your child. Kids grow so fast, so it's good to check the size once in a while.

Happy playing,

New "SHEET MUSIC" section launched!

Hello, violinists!

I lauched a new section "SHEET MUSIC" in this page (you can find it in the tabs). You can download my edition of sheet music. The music is mostly from the requests I often get from my students and the most famous/popular songs. I will keep on adding more and make bigger collection, so stay tuned!

In the mean time, some feedback/requests are welcome!

Happy playing!

Boxing throw movement for smooth bowing

I recently discover the common practice in bowing and the boxing throw. So, I wanted to share it with you today.

Not so interested in boxing? Well, I'm not so much, either and am not going to suggest you to practice boxing..! But I found that very fascinating to see how similar the movements are.
So, keep on reading!


First of all, both the bowing in violin playing and the boxing throw have same goals:
To have fully controlled, powerful and most natural arm movement.


Watch this video and notice how he rotates his right arm.


Yes, the rotation of the right arm. This is the key point!

This method can be applied well in the upper strokes (from the mid to the tip of the bow).



Experiment:
Bend your right arm and extend it in front of your body with or without rotating the arm.

Did you notice the difference?
Rotating the arm makes your arm move much more smoothly and effortlessly, doesn't it? Because your arms are designed to move that way naturally.

Also experiment:
Make a fist and as you squeeze the fist, slowly extend your arm.
Make a fist and loosen up the fist, then slowly extend your arm.

Did you notice that when your fist is tight, you can't really extend your arm smootly?
This can be apply to keep your right hand relaxed when you hold the bow.


Here are common tips for boxing:

• Rotate Your Arm: Another method to increase the power of your jab is to rotate your arm mid-way through throwing it. You should start with your palm facing inwards towards your face and once the jab is thrown, rotate your arm so that your elbow is pointing outside and your fist rotates also, so your palm ends up facing downwards.
• Keep fist relaxed throughout this movement, until just before the point of contact when it is fully clenched.
• Your knees should be bent every time you throw a punch [...] If you stand straight up, you’re more liable to get caught with a punch and you’ll also produce less power.

(Quoted from http://www.mightyfighter.com and http://boxingbeginners.com/how_to_box_punches.php)

That applies to string players as:

• Rotate your right arm for smooth bowing.
• Keep your right hand relaxed
•  Keep your knees bent slightly at all times. 

*As you rotate, you might touch the lower string. Try avoiding it by bending your body slightly backwards. The violin will tilt toward the left slightly.


Hope this method helps you for smooth bowing.

How to enjoy practicing violin when it seems impossible.

 Have you ever been discouraged from practicing violin, thinking that, "Oh jeez..., I have a long way to go. Am I ever gonna be able to play this song?" or even, "I'm just not good at this. I'm not meant to be playing the violin." and etc...? and end up being reluctant to even pick up the violin to start practicing?

Well, don't worry! You're not alone. Especially in this highly competitive, fast paced society, it's very easy to get into this self-defeating mindset. These overwhelming feelings are poison that can kill your motivation and enjoyment. But what's the antidote?

Here's what I would suggest:

1.) Set achievable goals.  

Nobody would be able to play like Heifetz tomorrow,
but you might be able to memorize the song that you're working on by the weekend.

2.) Be patient. Progress is slow and steady.
As slow as a turtle - a happy turtle.

3.) Don't push yourself TOO hard.  

Be kind to yourself.

4. ) Make a little step each time. 

 As little step as possible.

5.) Never compare yourself to your icon or higher level players and judge yourself based on it.

Always focus on YOUR OWN development. 

6.) Be creative, experiment as much as you can. 

There's no single way to play violin.

7.) Make lots of mistakes, noises.

Beware of what you learn from them.

8.)  Rest when you're tired.

You wouldn't progress much  anyway when you're exhausted.

 And here's a good quote:

Enjoyment appears at the boundary between boredom and anxiety, when the challenges are just balanced with the person's capacity to act.

-Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Happy Easter,

Happy practicing!

Pain?!

Are you in pain from practicing? Then, it's time to check your setup.

(this is a collection from my past research)

Chin rest & Shoulder rest are the two things that support violin players hold the instrument in the right position.

As you know, we have so many different body features; the neck length, the arm length, the shoulder width, the shape of chin, etc.. Chin rests & shoulder rests also have a big variety. And it's very important to have the right kind of chin rest/shoulder rest setup for your instrument. If not, it causes all sorts of technical problems, pain in neck, shoulders, stiffness, soreness, headache..

So, if you're practicing and you're feeling pain or discomfort, consider your setup.

Here are some tips:

• If you're putting your neck down too much, then, your chin rest is probably too low.
• If you're raising your shoulders, maybe you need either more height on either chin rest or shoulder rest.
• If you have discomfort where the chin sits on the chin rest, then your chin rest is probably not the right shape.
• If you're having a difficulty reaching the tip of the bow, try using the chin rest that's center-mounted. For shorter arms, center-mounted chin rests help to have more control for the upper half part of the bow.
• Make sure that the instrument is touching your collar bone. If not, then maybe your shoulder rest is too high. Try higher chin rest and lower shoulder rest.
• Your head should be free to move. No tilting to support the instrument. If tilting, then that's not the right chin rest for you.
• Is your spine straight?
• There are things like, gel pads or suede cover for chin rests that help for discomfort or for more grips. It's easy to try; just put it on your current chin rest.
• If your chin or cheek look unusual (like making wrinkly shapes) against chin rest, the shape of your chin rest is probably not for you.

If you can go to a violin shop and can try a few different kinds, please do. Also, most of the shops understand if you want to try a certain kind of chin/shoulder rest for some times to try out at home for free return/exchange, so it's worth asking.

I'd say it's pretty long process for finding the perfect setup for you. Also, our bodies change overtime as we grow, so that should be also taken into consideration for the long run.

Also, it could be pretty challenging to find the right setup for yourself. There's a service called, Volute Service by Claire Stefani and she's based in New York.  I, myself, had a consultation with her and got a custom chin rest and a new shoulder rest through the session. I highly recommend this service.

Also, there's a web site that would be helpful: Violinist in Balance, explaining the process of finding the right chin rest/ shoulder rest.

It can be quite a journey to find the right setup, so don't give up, be patient!

And NEVER feel bad about yourself if you have discomfort or pain in your body or you're told to relax as much as possible to hold the instrument and it just seems so impossible. You probably don't have the right setup on your instrument yet.

Enjoy the process of finding the perfect setup for you!
When you do have the right setup, I promise that your violin playing will be joyful and you just can't wait to pickup the instrument!

The "Strad" article of Dorothy DeLay on teaching

Here's an interesting article of "The Strad" about Dorothy DeLay, one of the greatest violin teacher in history. She has taught so many influential classical violinists of today, including Itzhak Perlman, Sarah Chang, Midori, Nigel Kennedy, Schlomo Mintz, and many more..

11 views on teaching by Juilliard School violin professor Dorothy DeLay

Here's the 11 views of Dorothy DeLay from the article:

1. What's the secret to my teaching? I've spent many hours doing it every day.

2. Those who play well have two important qualities: self-confidence; and a sense that what they believe is equally important to others. Children are born with these qualities, but as time goes by they are lost. A teacher must strengthen them.

3. One should never say to a pupil, 'that's wrong'. Instead one should say, 'that's fine', and then find easy steps towards the discovery and correction of the fault. Pupils can develop areas of 'withdrawal' and fear, so the teacher must work on these gently and with tact.

4. The audience arouses 'dragons' if passages haven't been practised properly.

5. Forget past criticisms. Don't become your own worst enemy.

6. Everyone has talent, but there are different types of it ― verbal, mathematical, musical, spatial, physical, social and moral.

7. Performers must understand the value of what they do ― it is their responsibility to create something beautiful so that others may love it.

8. Sometimes fingers won't do what's required of them ― insecure shifting for example. The problem is that shifts are either too fast or too 'squeezed'. It helps to think of shifts as a train journey from A to B: before arriving at B, one gathers together one's things, gets up and disembarks, but without haste.

9. Only since Kreisler has continuous vibrato come into general use. Today the accepted view is that vibrato should support the line or phrase, so that at the end of the phrase, the vibrato relaxes.

10. Tension limits all aspects of violin playing. Some violinists, such as Itzhak Perlman, look awful, but still sound great because they have a large vocabulary of stroke types.

11. We have to remember parents' hopes for their children. Every teacher knows that parents can, and do, make terrible mistakes. One has to remind them that their children need to relax and have interests other than violin playing in order to develop.