How do we start to learn to play violin?
Answers
Hi baby
There are those who would try to discourage you from learning violin without a tutor.
It has been suggested that anyone who tries, on their own, to teach themselves violin, without oversight and mentoring by a professional music professor, has an idiot for a teacher.
An observation, often made by the self-same professionals themselves.
A seemingly elitist and self-serving counsel by those with a vested interest ?
Perhaps !
If you do not have access to a music teacher, or cannot afford one then you are presumably doomed to failure, a depressing and ultimately nihilistic prospect.
But Hey…… ! I am delighted that I didn’t follow that advice !
Granted, it ain't easy, but then - nothing worthwhile ever is !
If you don’t have access to a music teacher (I live in a rural area where there are none at all in travelling distance) then by following their advice - ‘don’t try to learn without a prof’ - then you are depriving yourself of a potentially life enriching experience!
Given the choice of listening to the pundits and maybe becoming discouraged and not even trying or taking a chance, stubborn as I am, I had to give it a go ….!
When someone who perhaps has already achieved a mastery of a difficult technique, tells me I am wasting my time and it cannot be done, it makes me even more determined to prove them wrong !
As a largely self-taught violin player (I would not, in any way pretentiously call myself a violinist!) I can only give my own personal opinion based on my own personal experience.
At a tender age, I learned some very early basics of violin playing, at school, from a maths teacher who was a talented violinist, so I knew the rudiments of how to hold a violin and get some notes out of it. But, then, as the loaned school violin was of such appalling quality, a violin shaped object, my grandmother banned me from practising in earshot saying it sounded like nails on slate or strangling the cat - and so I soon dropped it as being too painful and onerous.
I went back to self-tuition much later, learning violin again after more than 50 lapsed years, with arthritic joints, much longer arms and much less flexibility.
Great difficulty, at first, in even reaching fourth finger on the G string.
I learned from books such as Violin for Dummies, Fiddle for Dummies videos on You Tube such as ‘The Online Violin Tutor’ - Alison Sparrow and of course, Jenny O’Connor, -The Hot Violinist’ (an inspiration - like a pixie but what incredible talent ! – Jenny was my muse !).
I was an avid reader of all things violin - blogs, books etc.
I practised, first of all, with a second hand 1st gen Yamaha SV100 silent violin to avoid annoying the neighbours, sometimes practising in front of a mirror to get the positional kinetics right, before, having proved that it was not just a passing whim, moving on to a Stentor Conservatoire Gem acoustic.
It must be added, above all, it all depends on what your intentions are !
If it is to become a professional, without a tutor, then forget it. It takes about 5 years and maybe 10,000 hours of practice, so I am told, to master the instrument. You will never do that on your own.
Violin ranks alongside harp as one of the most difficult instruments to master !
But no one can prevent you from trying to be the best that you can be, given the constraints of age and lack of prowess, pushing against the envelope of your ability !
If it is to have fun however, to take on a new and challenging experience, to overcome the difficulties, then it is not impossible to arrive at a reasonable level of performance, to the uncritical ear, and make some serious progress.
But it does need a high degree of motivation and stubbornness and will power.
As a beginner, your hand should be as far up the neck as possible while still allowing your pointer finger to come down on the fingerboard. Eventually, you'll learn to slide your hand up and down to reach higher notes quickly.
Play the strings. Place the flat side of the bow hair approximately halfway between the bridge (the flimsy-looking wooden stand 3/4 of the way down the strings that keeps them tented) and the fingerboard, so that it's directly over the belly (front body) of the violin. Pull the bow along the string as straight as you can, parallel to the bridge, applying a small amount of pressure. A sound should emanate from the violin. Also, tilt the bow hair towards bridge at a 45-degree angle.
More pressure equals louder sound, but too much pressure makes it scratchy. Light pressure should produce a continuous tone from end to end of the bow;[7] if there are gaps, the bow needs more rosin.
If you play too close to the bridge, it may also sound scratchy.
Tilt the bow slightly toward the scroll and your tone will be more focused, producing a more professional sound.
Practice playing open strings (G,D,A and E in order from top to bottom string). Open strings are simply strings played without fingertips on them. Rest the neck of the violin in the space between the left thumb and first finger. Hold the bow with your wrist, elbow, shoulder and contact point on the string within one plane. Change strings by raising or lowering the elbow to bring the bow to the proper height. Try short strokes of 6 inches (15.2 cm) or so in the middle of the bow at first, then try half strokes from the frog to the middle and back again. Work your way up to full-length strokes.
Short and long strokes are both important techniques for playing the violin, so don't feel as though you're wasting time practicing with short strokes.
Continue practicing until you can play one string at a time without touching the other strings. It's important to develop control so you don't accidentally play a note you didn't want to play.
Practice playing other notes. It takes a lot of practice to master the pressure and positioning required to get your fingers to produce clear notes on the fingerboard. Start with your strongest finger, the pointer finger. Using the tip only, press down firmly on the highest string (the E string). You don't need to use as much pressure as you do with guitar strings; a modest but firm amount is enough. Draw the bow across the E string to produce a slightly higher note. If you are holding the violin properly, your finger should naturally come down about half an inch below the nut (the top of the fingerboard), producing an F note.
Add notes. Once you're able to produce a clear note, try putting the tip of your middle finger down a little ways below the pointer finger on the fingerboard. Keep both fingers down and play another, higher note. Finally, set the ring finger ahead of the middle finger and repeat the process. The pinkie is also used, but takes considerably more practice to master. For now, just worry about the other three fingers.
Add strings. Try playing four notes (open, pointer, middle, and ring) on all four strings. Pay attention to the amount of pressure you need to produce a clear note on each one.
Practice scales. A scale is a series of notes that ascend and descend in a pattern of steps (usually 8, sometimes 5) that starts at one note and ends at a higher or lower version of the same note. An easy (and useful) scale for beginners is the D Major scale, which starts on the open D string. From there, place your fingers down in order (as described above) and play each note: D (open), E, F sharp, G (which should be produced by your third, or ring, finger). To complete the scale, play the next highest open string, A, and then repeat the pattern on the A string to play B, C sharp, and finally D with your third finger.
When properly played, the D Major scale (and in fact, every major scale) should match the sound of the famous “Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do” singing scale. If you don't know what that is, look it up online or watch the musical film “The Sound of Music,” which features a memorable and well-known song called “Do Re Mi” that explains it.
If you can't seem to get the sound right, remember: place the first finger a finger's width from the nut, the second finger a finger's width from the first, and the third finger touching the second. If you prefer, ask your music shop or teacher to tape the finger positions for you with white tape, so you have a visual guide.
Other scales, such as minor, harmonic, and even pentatonic (5-note) scales exist, but those can be studied, practiced, and internalized later.