Update from the studio, plus an exercise for releasing the shoulder tension

 Hello, there! 

It's been a while since I post here. Lots of things happened to the studio. On the night of the hurricane Ida on Sep. 1st., the studio got flooded very badly that we needed to evacuate. We'd been moved to a temporary location for a while and, just recently settled into the new apartment in the same building on the 3rd floor.

I appreciated all the support messages from my students.

We'll be continuing to do in-person and online lessons.

--

Here's my new violin lesson video. 

I've been noticing that some students play a song and soon after take their instrument off their shoulders and put their hands on them to ease the ache and soreness. 

That's a lot of tension on the shoulders. 

And playing the violin in that state makes you feel dreadful. I know it because I've gone through the pain before. And I want to shout out that that shouldn't be the way it is. Playing the violin can be fun and easy on the body. With the right body stance and the movement. 

I hope this exercise in the video helps to release the shoulder tension.

Five ways to practice "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" variation

Five (+) ways to practice "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". You can warmup with this song for any technical aspect you're working on and make up your own variation.

 1. Yummy yummy cup cakes rhythm 

2. Play on only E & G strings 

3. Long bow with vibrato 

4. Double-stops 

5. Improvise with the chord tones. 

 

 

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!

How to tune with fine tuners and troubleshooting for beginner violinists

 I often get a question on how to tune the violin at home, so finally made a video about it. I hope this helps to have a smooth tuning experience for beginner violinists!

A creative approach to practicing Bach

 

[written version]

I improvise on the violin as a jazz violinist and am always looking for good devices and phrasings that I can use in improvisation. 

And I sometimes use Classical pieces to get these devices.

For example, I wanted to get better at odd meters,

So here’s how I’ve been practicing odd meters;

Using Bach solo violin pieces.

Let’s take Partita no. 2 D-minor, Giga.

Originally written as 12/8. 

I’m gonna try to play this piece as 5/8 

by shortening the last two beats of every 6 beats into one beat.

You can still look at the original score, but change of the meter should be done in your head.

I recommend using a metronome and setting to 5/8 so that you can keep track with a 5-beat cycle. 

Through this exercise, 

I can develop the stronger sense of the 5/8 feel in my body 

and find out which bowing works well and not.

I can also discover some nice melodic lines and rhythmic motives I can incorporate in my improvisation.

This also helps when I feel stuck with fresh ideas or imagination when I play written music. Changing meters gives a fresh look of melodies that you’re already familiar with. Just like it’s done so many times in jazz.

Try with other pieces. You can also do 7 or 9 meters. Or even 3. 

ex.)

4/4 reduced to 7/8 

6/8 reduced to 5/8 

4/4 reduced to 3/4

I hope this exercise also helps you in some ways.

Let me know how it goes for you in the comments below.

Happy playing!

 

Reality Check?! Practicing scales? Do it the right way!

 

 

 [written version]

I want to talk about the importance of practicing scales.

Well….., 

You might have heard that a million times.

And yes, it IS important to practice scales. 

BUT, 

I want to tell you about a danger that comes with it.

If you practice a scale a million times with wrong intonation, 

Your ear will get used to the wrong intonation.

 

This actually happened to me.

After years of not taking lessons and practicing on my own,

I took a lesson from a person who is a notable violinist whom I respect very much.

He told me straight up, my intonation is off on this note and that.

And I didn’t notice right away.

I went back home and had to listen to the recordings, and I realized that he was right.

Then, I realized that I played the note out of tune so many times

That I couldn’t perceive it as out of tune anymore.

This was a big reality check for me.

And I’m not the only one here,

I’ve witnessed from years of freelancing that

this happens quite a lot among string players.

So, I highly recommend you do a reality check for yourself sometimes.

 

How?

I do that by practicing scales with play-along tracks. 

You can tune in to the play-along’s reference pitches which is a great way to train your ear.

I recommend all my students to practice scales with play-along tracks that I have in this channel. It’s all available for free.

So, please check them out and practice with it and let me know how it goes.

Happy playing!

 

3 ways to care for violin in dry season

 【NEW VIDEO】

For this dry season, here are 3 ways to care for violin.

[written version]

 

I had a question from my student about caring for her violin in winter.

The violin likes the humidity in between 40 to 60%

Not too dry, not too humid.

I highly recommend checking your hygrometer regularly.

My room gets very dry in winter and I need to provide more humidity.

There are three easy ways I can share in this video.

1. Use a humidifier. 

 Make sure the violin doesn’t get wet from the steam.

2. Use a dampit.

 Moisten the sponge inside a dampit. Pat dry it well.

 Put it inside one of the F holes on the violin.

3. Use a humidifier in your case.

    Fill up the water, make sure the lid is tight. Put it in your case.

I have heard from a luthier that a humid environment is often considered to be very bad for violin, but actually dryness is even more dangerous and it could cause crack and seam opening and sorts.

And these repairs can be costly. 

Let’s give your violin some love by providing a nice care in winter and I’m sure your violin will love you back!

Happy playing!

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.

"How to practice effectively" TED-Ed

Here's another TED-Ed video about practice.
Well explained!

Shoulder rest? Or no shoulder rest, that is the question.

Shoulder rest is always a popular topic in violin playing.

I, personally, have been experimenting with it for quite a while. I was suffering with chronic neck pain and shoulder stiffness, sometimes even headache, plus I always felt the need of stretching the body all the time after I played violin for some time. It was a big problem. Because I needed to play for long time, practicing and performing, as a professional, but it was coming to the point that I couldn't pick up the violin, feeling inspired to do the musical work with joy and excitement. I needed to do something about it.

So, I did a lot of research. I tried many different kind of shoulder rests and chin rests with all sorts of combination. I even made a custom made chin rests for myself, working with the specialist.

Those research was good, but it never really solved the problem completely.

Then, I decided to try "No shoulder rest".
I read the book called: "Play the Violin without a Shoulder Rest (and save your neck)."
And it showed me how to transition from with to without.

I did the transition gradually. It took for a while. First, I used the shoulder rest called "Play On Air", inflatable shoulder rest acts like a pillow. It was very comfortable. But, it muted the sound a little.
Then, I changed to a small red circular sponge, which I still sometimes use with a non-slip woodworking mat.

And now, I mostly play only with the non-slip mat attached under the violin.

And I never get that fatigue anymore. No neck pain, no shoulder pain, no stiff body, no headache. I can play for quite long time. The violin feels very light. It's closer to my body and it feels very natural. The violin is very movable, so I feel physically more flexible. Plus, I don't have to install the shoulder rest each time to the violin and no more worries for the slip-off and no need to store the clumsy shoulder rest in the case.

It did make me work on it for a while. It needs a little different approach from when you have a shoulder rest. Also, your body needs to adjust to the new way of playing and it takes time and focus.

I was also trying to find the best chin rest for this setup. I ended up not using the custom made chin rest. The one I picked finally was Guarneri chin rest which the specialist pointed me out at one point that no one's facial shape fits with the style.
The reason Guarneri chin rest works for me is that I can hook my chin onto the middle part (which is the right thinner side of the chin rest) and support the violin by my head weight more easily. If the surface of the chin rest is flat, I cannot really catch the violin the same way. By hooking the chin, the violin body can go higher or lower and side to side without doing it with your neck. It's very flexible while you can maintain your spine straight. And this is very different concept from "filling the gap". Many people say you have to fill the gap in between your chin and collarbone, so select the height of the chin rest and the shoulder rest accordingly. But you don't need to fill the gap entirely. By filling the gap, it actually disable you to have more freedom in the movement, you get locked up in one position and it is exhausting to play in one locked position for hours. Our body is not naturally designed to do that.

I recently found this great web page that explains very well about the benefit of no shoulder rest playing with great excercises and it has some videos, too. So, check out via the following link!

"Rest No More? (The shoulder rest, that is)" by Jonathan Swartz


Also, there are many great violinists who doesn't use shoulder rests and checking their performance videos would be helpful.

Itzhak Perlman
Aaron Rosand
Anne Sophie Mutter
Leila Josefowicz
Julian Rachlin
to name a few...

Also, great violinists in the past,

Heifetz
David Oistrakh
Mischa Elman
Joseph Gingold
Nathan Milstein
and many more..


If you're having a chronic pain, it's worth considering this. And I hope this helps you to have more enjoyable playing experiences and healthier body and mind.


Happy playing!

How not to make your neighbor go insane.

I often hear from my students how difficult to practice without annoying some people around them, their families, roommates or their neighbors. Even if the student didn't get the actual complaints, he/she is still dealing with the fear of disturbing some people, makes him/her less want to practice.

A simple solution, use a practice mute.

Here is what I use.

The metal one is heavier, so it reduces the sound quite more than the rubber one. Just be careful when you use the metal one. If the violin is tilted when you're holding the violin (when not playing), it could come off and damage the top plate of your violin. I had a similar situation and it almost made a scratch mark on my violin.

I use the rubber one for my 5-string violin (I cut one more slit by myself). It reduces the volume, but not too much, if you prefer to hear more sound.

They also sell the one that combines the metal and rubber which seems quite nice, having the good features from both.

Both are pretty inexpensive to get and will certainly let you practice anytime you want without disturbing anyone.

Enjoy your practice!

Five rules

Here are "FIVE RULES" that Dounis says in "The Violin Players' Daily Dozen Op.20".

FIVE GENERAL RULES

TO BE STRICTLY ADHERED TO

1. Cultivate at all times a feeling of absolute comfort while practicing.
2.  In practicing finger-exercises, watch your bow; in practicing bow-exercises observe a good position of the left hand.
3. Accent the weaker notes; make every note sound with a clear, full and round tone.
4. Remember always that in technic evenness is that which counts most.
5. Form the habit of listening to your playing with the utmost attention sharpen your hearing so as to detect the slightest disturbance in the flow of tone. 

FIVE LEFT HAND RULES

TO BE STRICTLY ADHERED TO

1. Keep the elbow well under the violin and the fingertips parallel to the strings.
2. Try to forget the existence of the thumb; never press it against the neck of the violin.
3. Do not strike the fingers upon the strings with too much force. It is wasting one's physical energy. Cultivate a very sudden and elastic spring-like finger action and keep every preceding finger on the string.
4. In shifting, pay due attention to the guiding finger which is the finger stopping the last note before shifting.
5. In a downward shift, remember that the thumb acts as a forerunner to the other fingers.

FIVE BOW RULES

TO BE STRICTLY ADHERED TO

1.  At all times cultivate freedom of movement.
2.  Bear in mind that the elasticity and flexibility of all joints of the arm and the fingers are as important as those of the wrist.
3.  Have and retain always a balanced hold of the bow; try to feel every stroke with your fingertips.
4.  Accent the up bow to equalize it with the down bow.
5.  Never forget to round off the crossing of strings and the change of bow.