Messages posted by: Amy I

I think metaphores are great way to explain how to play an instrument.......here are a few that I've heard that have helped me.

Bowing is like frosting a cake.....smooth, silky, some pressure as needed and decisive...but wouldn't it be great if the cake could help? Instead of placing your bow into your fiddle which is just sitting there under your chin, imagine that your fiddle meets your bow so they can make beautiful music together and you are the one bringing them together.

Passive bowing style using your wrist to pull the bow up and then down again...., imagine your fingers are stuck to the bow with superglue. Then someone just shot your hand up with novacaine and your hand and fingers are numb. Try bowing on an open string this way and watch your hand follow your wrist like a sea creature undulating as it follows your wrist up and down.

The left hand finger action is like being a piano hammer......with machine gun action if you can go really fast...you're finger tips are hanging out relaxed above the strings and then..peew, peew, peew...your fingers push the string to the fingerboard quickly and with intention, and immediately return to their resting position.

Treate each note as though you are having a love affair with it, giving it the attention and time it requires in the present, while you are playing it.

That's all I can think of for now.
Amy

Hey there!

I've been playing about 1 1/2 years now. I started with focus on my bowing and feel pretty good about it right now thanks to some really great teachers. I've learned how to use my wrist and/or hand to move the bow as well as the weight of my arm to drive it. This really improved my tone and will allow me to go fast...except now my left hand can't keep up.

Since it's hard to get everything right from the start, while working on my bowing, my left hand position developed a few problems. I'm currently working on improving my left hand position.

A few problem areas I need to work on include keeping my thumb anchored. I was moving around too much and going flat whenever I played a difficult chord combo or reached up with my pinky or low with my index finger. I put tapes on my finger board at the 1 and the 3 position. Now I watch my fingers more rather than watching my bowing. I try to play slowly to build up good muscle memory (not always easy). The tapes also provide a mark for the thumb to feel as well.

My fingers do not do what I want them to do. They are currently in training. I have found using a loose rubber band around 2 fingers is one way to train your finger to be where you want it. I've used it around my #1 and #2 for keeping my #2 finger low when I reach up and back with my #3 and have used it on #3 and #4 to help keep my pinky near my #3.

I'm trying to keep all of my fingers close to the fingerboard all the time. This is one of the keys to getting up to speed. My fly away pinky is messing my position up big time. My pinky brings my whole hand away when I play certain combos. I'm on it now so hopefully in a few weeks That won't be messing me up so much.

I was playing on the tips of my fingers, which is good but too much so. I was not making good solid contact with the string against the board. I'm still using my finger tips but not so close to my finger nail. More like on the ball of the tip. In addition, I was use to sliding into a note because my fingers were always coming down flat (from fly away pinky, jumpy thumb, ect...). So I was told that when your learning a tune, get it right on the first contact or redo it. If you slide into it then you train your fingers to find the wrong spot.

My hand was sometimes hitting the E string giving me a bad sound. I still am trying to avoid this one. The better hand position has helped some.

Any other ideas are welcome!

Amy

I was wondering how folks have gotten up to performance speed with various tunes.

Playing the fiddle, there seems to be so many factors involved with going hi speed and sounding good while doing it. Right now I can play many tunes pretty well at slow jam speed. I'm trying to go faster but there is a point where the tune is compromised. Then if I play that way, I feel like I am undoing the good memory that I've worked so hard to build.

Is it just a matter of time and finger memory? Also seems like fast, relaxed bowing technique is important, along with perfect position. I wonder if I will just start being able to play everything faster as I work on my bowing, timing and position.

Just curious.
Amy

Well I thought I'd let you know that it was lots of fun. The first Sat I played alone, literally, in a nice shady park.( My family couldn't make it that day). I play a bunch of tunes on my violin from American Fiddle Method, some Irish and Scottish tunes and some from the the fake book here at BGC. The other park had a few kids and that was better to have someone listening and enjoying.

The second Saturday I had my teacher fiddling with me and my brother who plays guitar. That was the best. We were alone for the most part in the shady park and we filled the morning breeze with music. My family came and hung out for a bit.

No funds were raised but I think Creative Arts got some exposure. Also, my teacher and I will try to have our lessons down at the shady park when it's nice out. I highly recommend trying to play outside if you have not ventured out yet.

Amy

Thanks Andy,
I checked out the theory lesson and decided to download because it seems to be a great resource. I guess if you want to go to college you have to study a little !

OK, So I asked a friend of mine who has played guitar forever. Here is what he said. First if there are chords, and you can recognize them by ear, then you would notice they would change from F based chords to D based chords. (Actually, having read the theory lesson, the root of the chord is the correct way to describe it...chords with a root of F or a root of D). I can't tell the chords by ear yet. But the melody changes in the same way and I can hear that well enough. My friend said that the major scale sounds brighter and the minor scale sounds darker so if you listen to the melody, you can hear the part that sounds a bit more ominous and there it is. It works for me.

Amy

Hello out there,
I'm on fire for fiddle music and all I want to do is play. The music school I've been going to, Creative arts for Kids, is having a tough time financially so I decided to try and do a fundraiser. I'm going sit at a couple of the local playgrounds and play for the kids. I'll have a donation box available for the chance donation. I got a permit from the town where I live and I'm hoping some of the other music students will show up to play whatever. If not, I'm going solo. Well not completely solo because my husband has been trying to learn guitar to accompany me and one of my daughters loves to sing so we'll have fun at the least. I'll be playing for the next 2 or 3 Saturdays so I'll let you know how it goes. I'll be at Hunt park and Washington park in Reading MA if anyone is near enough to come. Contact me if your interested.

Amy

Hey there,
I just joined up and I'm having a great time looking through all the posts. I was wondering something. I'm learning this tune by ear and I've been told it is in F major and its relative minor, D minor..... so I'm wondering how do I know when the scale changes, since the notes are the same in both scales?

Thanks, Amy