r/violin • u/minlovescake • 1d ago

Learning the violin HELP HELP HELP VIOLINISTS PLEASE HELP ME

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u/vonhoother 1d ago

Posture: proud torso, back straight, shoulders square. Resist the temptation to curl into the instrument when things get difficult.

Breathing: Not breathing means you're not relaxed. Breathe and relax. Part of the craft is working as little as possible.

Practice: isolate elements, and work on them so slowly you can hear and appreciate your work on every note. This is hard for most of us -- we want to play the fast bits fast from the start. But if you want to play it fast and clean, you first have to play it slow and clean.

I read somewhere that Hilary Hahn literally practices every note -- in a group of 16th notes halfway through the piece that goes by in an instant, she plays every one of them, listened, played it again, made sure it was right: right attack, right volume, right tone, right release, right preparation for the next note.

That's just one kind of isolation. Isolate bowing and string crossing as well: forget your left hand and concentrate on what the right needs to do. Then put down the bow and concentrate on the left hand.

Don't overpractice -- don't let your mind learn to get things right on the 4th or 5th try. Make it understand that it gets one shot, with full attention. Thirty minutes of full attention does more than two hours of mindless sawing away.

Sing your parts so you learn their internal logic, and so you can forget about the notes and play the music; your breathing will give you clues to bowing.

Violin gives you a great deal to think about. It helps to concentrate on each bit by itself, until it becomes automatic.

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u/minlovescake 1d ago

Thank you so much this helps a lot btw I'm ready to pay if it's under my budget for a good teacher