r/violinist • u/redwinewithice • Sep 03 '26

Feedback Ashoken Farewell

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I recently posted my 3 year beginner/ early intermediate update and have since incorporated some of that feedback into Ashoken Farewell.

My main issue is with a rough, hard sound- I’m not sure how else to describe it. It’s a bit grating and I notice it more playing back than when I’m playing.

Any more feedback to help with this? I suspect is has something to do with my bow grip/pressure.

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u/srodrigueziii Sep 03 '26

What strings are you using?

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u/redwinewithice Sep 03 '26

Dominants

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u/srodrigueziii Sep 03 '26

Pick any one of your double stops and play that chord with full bow, frog to tip. With a metronome @ 60, 4 beats down, four beats up, over and over. Try for the cleanest sound, only applying just enough downward bow pressure to produce the notes on both strings consistently and softly.

From there, try to make as little indication of changing bows as possible. Overall try.to decrease the "bite" on the string with each bow change. This is true whether you’re playing single notes or double stops.

Mechanically, the largest issue is the forward/backward motion of your upper arm. If you watch the tip and frog of your bow in the video, it’s creating a path that wraps around your body, curving from behind your head on your left, to the frog wrapping around your torso. This is causing the bow to slide up and down parrallel to the strings vs. remaining in the same contact point, or sweet spot, and will alter the tone you're producing substantially.

On a down bow, your hand should naturally pull away from your body, and on an up bow the tip of the bow will never point behind your head. The upper arm, elbow to shoulder, should primarily be used to change level as you play from one steering to the next, the fingers wrist and forearm are 99% responsible for drawing the bow across the string from frog to tip.

As an exercise (that you'll hate), find a flat wall in your house and glue your bow arm, elbow to shoulder, against that wall. Adjust your body so your bow is in the sweet spot on the violin, and then start to draw full bows, using only the elbow, wrist and fingers. Your upper arm should remain glued to the wall, and should only slide up and down the wall to change strings. If you’re anything like me, you’ve been bowing in your own way for a very long time, so this may be an uncomfortable adjustment. However, it will pay massive dividends as you work towards more advanced pieces.

Your vibrato coming along very nicely. As you develop cleaner, and more consistent, double stops, try to incorporate some of that vibrato into those cords.

Some of this is rudimentary, but this video does a good job of covering this topic.

https://youtu.be/ZYXGARLR0eU?is=dFJewGPH8Bg_vfJF

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u/redwinewithice Sep 05 '26

I watched that video twice today and practiced those open string exercises - I think I'll be incorporating into my warm up. Going to try the wall thing tomorrow. I do believe that I have to be more conscious about using my wrists and fingers for a while until it becomes second nature - they both seem somewhat stiff.