February 2008

Can my left hand ever be relaxed?

February 15, 2008 08:57

I am constantly being reminded to be relaxed, right arm, left hand, shoulders etc. I'm fairly okay with my bow arm being relaxed, but my left hand especially my thumb is KILLING me.

I find myself gripping when the fingering is difficult. E.g. I'm working on the A major scale right now, so on the G string, I have to use high 3 finger which is completely new to me. Teacher told me to turn my hand more towards the left, and it helps a bit, but I'm still cramping up. Just playing the scale is okay, but playing those fingering exercises that goes from A to D# is a PAIN (literally)!!

It's funny how I would read an old(er) blog of mine (granted i've only started a little over a month ago), the problems I had before has for the most part been resolved!!!

I really hope this is another usual beginner problem that a week later I look back would just laugh.

2 replies | Archive link

Violin shopping!!

February 8, 2008 14:42

Violin shopping is so much fun, yet frustrating!! i read somewhere that a big problem for adult beginners is that they always want to upgrade their violin in hope that it will produce the tone they want. I'm a bit worried that I'm falling into that category, but seriously, I'm not sure if I'm hurting myself playing on this $50 cremona violin.

I went into Ifshin violin in Berkley for the first time, and i was drooling over the cello cases, they are so cool! Too bad i don't play the cello! But I guess I should be happy because those cello cases are very expensive!!!

I really like this violin shop alot. They have these private room for you to test out their violins. I told them my price range and what I'm looking for, they brought in a few violins and kept bringing more in for me to try. I picked out a couple that I like, and the nice man probably was hearing I play from the outside asked if i want him to play some for me, I was relieved.

I picked out a German violin Alosa and their own chinese instrument Jay Haides to test out at home. They sound much warmer and richer than my POS at home, but I cannot tell the difference between the Alosa and Jay Haides, I must rely on my teacher.

I also want to try out the Gliga violin that everyone raves about here.

Then is the bow. They lent two bows for me to try out at home, one is a wooden bow from their own shop that cost $195, the other one is the coda aspire that cost $250. I have no idea what the differences are, but they sure are alot better than mine at home!!

So far, this is such a great learning experience for me and I enjoy every step of this!!

If I were to do a poll, do you think I should get a student violin for about $700ish or just stick with this $50 POS until my ears are better?

5 replies | Archive link

Sight Singing, more on slurs

February 3, 2008 19:28

My 6th lesson went well! I've been officially taking lessons for 1.5 months! We always start the lesson with scales/etude, and I am having some trouble with certain measures intonation and my teacher is making me sing it out loud. This reminds me of those ABRSM aural exams when I was a kid (for piano), except we don't have to sight sing, we sing whatever heard was played on the piano (MUCH easier).

I still hate slurs. I don't understand. If i can play the same phrase fine with separate bows, why can't I play them in slurs?? I just don't get it. OH well, i guess I have to practice...

Dotted rhythms: All of a sudden I feel like a retard when I can't do these short long, long short, or whatever the Hxxx those rhythms are... drives me mad, piano teacher made me do it, violin teacher is still making me do it.... can someone please explain to me how playing the same thing in different rhythm can help me learn? I'm not questioning my teacher, she is GREAT! I just really want to understand!

Happy note: My bow hand is very relax now. I play the scales in nice long legato bow (as long as I know what my left hand is doing, my right hand will be happy). I also notice and realize how important it is to have wrist flexibility. I can do the bowing up and down motion in the air without the bow (bring the top of the wrist to the nose), and stretch it down when moving down (playing at the tip), but when I hold the bow, i can't do it. I just can't, it will make it sound ugly... frustration.

3 replies | Archive link

More entries: April 2008 • January 2008

February 2008

Can my left hand ever be relaxed?

Violin shopping!!

Sight Singing, more on slurs

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