About Rosin | Violin & Viola TV #208

Written by Zlata Brouwer
Published: November 17, 2015 at 3:42 PM [UTC]

This episode is all about rosin!

Without rosin your bow doesn’t make a sound, as the horse hair will silently slide over the string. Rosin is an important detail of your violin or viola playing.

How to rosin your violin or viola bow?

If you rosin too little, the response of your violin will not be good and some parts of the bow won’t make a sound. If you rosin too much, you will stand in a cloud of rosin and your violin will sound scratchy.

People tend to rosin the bow mainly and the tip and the frog, but as you use the middle of the bow more, you should rosin the middle of the bow most.

Click here to my dedicated video about how to rosin your bow. In this week’s video I will just show it shortly.

Remove rosin from the soundboard and the strings.

Use a microfibre cloth to remove rosin remains from your strings and violin or viola. This can make a squeaking sound. In this video I will show you exactly how to do this.

If you leave the rosin there, it will become sticky and hard to remove. Your strings sound better when you clean them and the varnish of your violin is better maintained when you remove the rosin.

Replace your rosin once a year.

Yes, rosin can get old and hard. Replacing your rosin once a year is a rule of thumb. However, if you are still very happy with your rosin, you can use it longer.

What rosin do I use?

For those interested... I personally use Petz Vienna’s Best rosin (click here to buy it). It sounds good, is fine and doesn’t give much dust. Of course there are many good types of rosin. Just experiment what works best for you.

Is this video helpful to you? Please let me know in the comments below! If you like it, share it with your friends!

Love,

Zlata

PS: Do you have questions or struggles on violin or viola playing? Post a comment below or send an e-mail to info@violinlounge.com and I might dedicate a Violin & Viola TV episode to answering your question!

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