My rosin does not seem to help

January 3, 2007 at 07:43 PM · Denise,

Yes, there are surprising differences between rosins. However, while they give differences in sound and feel, none of them should let the bow slip, so I doubt changing brands will solve your problem.

If nothing is coming off on your strings, you may not have enough on. Is the bow hair new? There was a recent thread about how to rosin new hair. try brething heavily on your rosin cake before aopplying. That works great for me.

Is your hair perhaps too old? bow hair eventually reaches a point when it no longer holds rosin well. You may need a rehair.

Are you perhaps pulling the bow across the strings at an angle? That can cause it to slip, and create a bad sound as well. Make sure your bow is parallel to the bridge.

January 3, 2007 at 07:38 PM · --or you might have artificial hair. Real horsehair is good at holding rosin, while some inexpensive bows have artificial hair which does not hold it well.

And if you are only a few months into this game, your technique is important. No amount of rosin will prevent you from bowing off-track, but if you find that it just doesn't grip well, that could be a rosin issue.

Some of the fancier rosins do see me to be stickier than the cheap generics though I'm sure there are plenty of people who do fine with any rosin.

January 3, 2007 at 07:42 PM · You should raise this question with your teacher and/or luthier. They can best advise on whether you have a technique issue or a rosin issue.

January 4, 2007 at 06:30 AM · One of the reasons bows do not adhere to the strings as they should is because the strings are dirty. Try cleaning your strings with alcohol swabs. You can get Alcohol Swabs in any drug store. Before using them be careful to put three or four layers of paper under the violin strings so none of the alcohol gets on your violin. Clean the strings from the bridge to the fingerboard. Hope this helps you.

January 4, 2007 at 02:59 PM · Bill - you can accomplish the same thing using a wine bottle cork, and you do not have to worry about getting alcohol on the violin.

January 4, 2007 at 05:04 PM · Rosin gets you the friction needed to set the string into vibration and to maintain the vibration. However, don't look to rosin to prevent unintended contact point slippage. (From the way you worded the question, I was wondering whether you might be asking about contact point slippage as well as friction.)Control of the contact point has not to do with rosin. Rather this control comes from mastering various paths for drawing the bow. These paths allow one to bring the bow closer to the bridge, or further from the bridge or have the bow remain at one distance from the bridge according to the player's expressive intentions.

January 4, 2007 at 09:52 PM · As a beginner myself, I think there are a couple of things, which might contribute to your problem:

(1) Cannot control bowing well: Oliver's post addressed this one already.

(2) Quality of the bow: Some of my bows stay on the strings better than others, and the result seems to be consistent with the prices for my bow.

(3???) Violin: Some vioins seem to be picky about bows.

However, I found that Tartini Green (my current rosin, but has been discontinued) worked very well for all my bows; that is, it seems to make my bows stay on the strings better across the board than another one, English made called H something.

January 4, 2007 at 10:44 PM · Greetings,

probably Hidersine. Hate the stuff..

Cheers

Buri

January 4, 2007 at 10:44 PM · Greetings,

probably Hidersine. Hate the stuff..

Cheers

Buri

January 5, 2007 at 02:54 AM · I've been wondering something similar to this question.

What is the difference between light and dark rosins? IS light rosin softer, or the other way around?

Viola rosin....haven't actually ever seen any. So some violists use violin rosin, some use cello rosin. What would be the difference? Exactly? Cello rosin is "heavier"? How?

I definately notice a difference between violin and cello rosin,

so I'm sure there IS a big difference between brands.

Also, if it comes in a cloth with a twisty elastic closer...make sure you wrap it up well and keep it sealed from air when it is not out. Rosin can dry up.

Sals,

JW

January 5, 2007 at 03:47 AM · "probably Hidersine. Hate the stuff.."

Yes. That's it! I hated the stuff, too. So difficult to rosin the bow.

I also have the kind Jennifer was talking about. It dries up very easily. Now I use only my last Tartini stock and Jade (seems to be easy to use, and works very well, too).

January 5, 2007 at 08:55 PM · The idea is that the rosin has to provide the "best" ratio of static to dynamic friction. The rosin has to stick to the string to pull it to the side, and then has to release it cleanly to allow it to vibrate. More massive strings, heavier, will require more "stickiness". Too much stickiness will inhibit the vibrations of lighter strings. These characteristics vary with temperature and humidity so you have to experiment a little.

Cello and bass rosin is stickier than violin rosin. I am not sure that the color corresponds to stickiness but it might (does anyone else here know?)

Look here if you want a really nice technical discussion of the vibrating string, surface noise and Helmholtz motion (Helmholtz is the kind of string vibration we all want)

http://plus.maths.org/issue31/features/woodhouse/index.html

I find all this really fascinating but in the end I do just what everyone else says to do: experiment.