(Part 2) Top products from r/violinist

I kind of like EE book 2. it introduces up to Bb major and A major as well as D and G minor. Rhythmically, you get dotted rhythms, triplets, sixteenth notes, and syncopation. For articulation, you have hooked bowings and slurs. The end even has some introductory shifting, at least in the cello book I have in front of me.

I think it's a good book to have and I would have your student buy it, but I would give him a folder or binder as well where you give him some additional pieces and exercises. In this, I would either find or make some scale exercises that go more in depth of the things the book is introducing. Is your student trained in memorizing a scale and playing it with different rhythms by ear? The book does include scales and arpeggios up through the ones I listed, so I would at least have your student do the different rhythms and articulations being introduced on whatever scale you've assigned for that period.

Do you have any music editing software available? I sometimes like to just take a song they know and put it in the new key they are learning.

I think you should also be be working on a solo piece with him. If you haven't used Suzuki, I would give him some of the book 1 pieces. You can google "Suzuki book # pdf" to find just about any of the Suzuki violin books to get an idea of what is in each one. These are nice because the pieces are long and musical, but he should have been introduced to most of the ideas in Essential Elements already.

If you haven't started sightreading yet, I've found the String Builder duets to pretty fun. It's pretty cheap, so it'd be up to you whether you'd ask the parents to buy it, but I don't like making my parents buy more than one book so I usually just make copies or have them read from mine since it's sightreading. It starts out SUPER EASY, which is nice because the student will get some satisfaction, but it will sound good since ideally he should work to hold his own while you play with him.

I've found this duet book to be better musically, so it may be worth getting if you think he'd be interested in learning some fiddle duets. They sound good and my students really enjoy them.


With this a week's lesson might include:

• 2 octave G major scale and Arp - practice with half notes, dotted rhythms, and hooked bowings
  
• Page 11 in EE (includes Lento from New World Symphony and Mouret's Rondeau)
  
• The Happy Farmer from Suzuki book 1 (features G major key, dotted rhythms, and hooked bowings)
  
• Possible sightreading or more fun duet piece

I nearly responded yesterday but I didn't want to seem like I should be an authoritative source. My advice may be bad and crippling me and I just don't know it. But since someone chimed in with sentiments that echo my own, maybe this will help?

I just turned 30 recently and am now coming up on the one year mark learning violin (while raising an infant!) so take what I have to say with a profound grain of salt - I have little to no idea what I'm talking about. My only background in music was a course in college that covered intro and basic theory so I'm starting basically from zero.

I've bought Essential Elements, All for Strings, the Doflein Method, ABCs for Violin, Wohlfahrt Easiest Elementary Method, I Can Read Music, Suzuki 1 and a few books geared for instructors to teach. What I find is the more methodical the better I like the book.

ABCs for Violin is arguably the best overall. It contains a DVD which I didn't find that helpful compared to my teacher, and generally starts with basic exercises in preparation for a given piece or series of pieces and seems to introduce things fairly evenly. I wish it were a bit more methodical but the music is much more accessible than some of the others. So far I've enjoyed Ode to Joy, New World theme, London Bridge, Home on the Range, and O Come All Ye Faithful.

Doflein or Wohfahrt are much more methodical and introduce things very systematically and introduce 4th finger use almost immediately - which makes sense to me as an adult with medium to large hands. Doflein seems to focus on duets to help improve playing and is very progression and practice oriented but the music is generally older tunes that are unrecognizable which makes learning to play them more difficult even though I've learned some I liked. Doflein and ABCs are the basic books my teacher is using with me; aside from glancing through Wohlfahrt and playing the first few pages of exercises I haven't gone through it much but expect it suffers from the same issues as Doflein.

Essential Elements I liked and it has the ability to download the music off the website but it takes a really long time to introduce 4th finger. By that point (I started on my own) my teacher noticed I'd already developed a bad 4th finger habit and my teacher thought it was too easy and dismissed it; All for Strings met a similar fate.

I Can Read Music for Violin I only picked up later after I was struggling with rhythm problems and my teacher had copied a couple pages of exercises for me to work on. If you are really new to reading music this might be okay and basically alternates one page for fingering/tone and the next page for rhythm.

Suzuki I won't comment on as I've only looked through it but never really used it. After researching it for a few days and comparing it against what I know about learning physical skills I just didn't feel that it would be the best way for me to learn - I can't follow the logic that created it. It has been used by millions worldwide and quite a few swear by it, and it is definitely accessible because of it.

I don't know what you like, but there's old disney films

Pop and Rock hits for easy violin

Easy pop Melodies

Phantom of the Opera

Lion King

Harry Potter

More pops stuff

Top Charts

Some of those might have cross over with others. Some might have one or two you can play easily and several that will be a little hard for right now. But it's a lot easier learning music you're more familiar with. There are plenty other books out there like these, I just did a quick search of amazon and alfred. Music shops like Sam Ash, perhaps Guitar Center, and others will have some of these too.

As far as building music reading, it's just practice like anything else. I take many students through the I Can Read Music series because it eliminates a lot of extra information and just practices the basics. Setting the metronome at 60 and forcing your way through, trying to look ahead instead of what note you're currently playing is sometimes all you need. However, I got better at sigh reading by finding extra books with pieces I liked and reading through them.

edited because I can't format well...

By Celtic, do you mean Celtic folk music in general (which is really broad, kind of like saying American music when you actually mean Country or something), or do you mean a specific fiddle style that incorporates Celtic folk music? Anything that originated among people with Celtic ancestry is considered Celtic, but Irish, Scottish, English, and Welsh styles are actually distinct from each other, and there are regional styles that can fall under one of those headings. So is this just a Celtic festival, or is it specifically, for example, an Irish festival?

If it's possible between now and then, you should take lessons with someone who plays in the relevant style, or maybe find a local session (I would think one would be available if your town has a festival, but maybe not).

In general, this book can be helpful with the concept of improvising for someone who came from a classical tradition, but it isn't style-specific. Also, it's weird that the print version costs less than the ebook. I don't own the book. They have it my local library, and after I had it for about a month, I was done with it and felt no need to purchase it. It's not really something you are going to need to consult multiple times, so if your library happens to have it, I recommend getting it there, instead.

https://www.amazon.com/Improvising-Violin-Julie-Lyonn-Lieberman/dp/1879730103/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1496711311&sr=1-1&keywords=improvising+violin

Also, was this real Suzuki, as in you started as a child and had a parent who was involved in the process, or did you really go through the books when you were older? The books aren't the method, and it's relevant here, because the training in the real Suzuki method is different than if you just use the Suzuki books as a source of graded music. There are strengths and weaknesses with both approaches that are going to affect how you process music, and knowing how you were trained can help better advise you about how to approach the general concept of improvising.

1. Could you be more specific about your tuning issues? Are you having trouble with turning the pegs, matching a given pitch, or lacking a reference pitch entirely, or something else? As a beginner, the most important thing you should know when using the big pegs is ALWAYS tune from below the pitch UP TO the correct pitch. This will prevent putting too much tension on the strings which can break them. If the big pegs are not turning smoothly, get some of this and put some on where the peg goes in the hole and turn it a few times. One of these sticks will last a lifetime. If the fine tuning pegs (the smaller ones on the tailpiece) are not turning clockwise, they are probably in as far as they will go. Loosen them until they are as loose as they can get before coming out, and then use the big pegs to get close to the correct pitch and then finish off with the fine tuners.
   
   
2. It's not something to "worry" about, but pay attention to how much hair is left. Eventually, all bow hair needs to be replaced. Some people do this as often as every six months or so, depending on how much you play. If too much is coming out, just go and get the bow rehaired.
   
   
3. If you are already at a full size (4/4) violin, I would recommend waiting at least a couple years before upgrading. Otherwise, you upgrade when you "outgrow" the smaller instrument.
   
   
4. In general, you should avoid playing with mutes all of the time. Many beginners like playing with mutes because they don't sound as bad with them. But learning to play the violin isn't just about putting the fingers in the right spot and moving the bow in the right direction, and if you can't hear yourself clearly, it will be so much harder to develop a good tone, which is what everyone wants. That being said, if you have family and/or neighbors to be considerate of, search on Amazon for "violin metal practice mute" and get one of the big metal ones. They reduce the volume tremendously.
   
   
5. I don't know about tuners on Amazon, but there are many great smartphone tuning apps, which I find to be more convenient to use and just as accurate. I won't recommend any right now because the one I've used for years just started having problems and I don't know yet if it's just me. However, almost all of them are cheaper than buying an actual tuning device, and you don't need to replace batteries.
   
   
6. At your level, I would stick with any cheap rosin. It really won't make much of a difference at this point.

Thanks everyone for the replies! I'm replying to this comment, but I also encourage anyone else (and esp /u/Skripka) to reply as well!

I think I'm more than discouraged enough to stay away from the two I linked in my original comment. What about Stentor 1 and Stentor 2? I've seen a few places (and a comment here) that recommends them.

The plan is for my first child to use a violin for a couple of years then move to a full size. I actually own a couple of full size violins and hope to hand down one of them. I have a second child as well, who will hopefully then pick up this same 3/4 violin when the time comes.

Similar to what the other poster said, bluegrass is a living music form, with lots of improvisation and some particular "sound" that is bluegrass.

There are a lot of levels of layers to even the simplest songs, so that an "advanced" bluegrass player would be playing the exact same song as a beginner, but because they layer on more and more techniques and textures, it becomes a wonderful sound.

Also yes, most bluegrass and traditional violin music is not written as played. There are guidelines and sheet music for anthropological reasons (ie to keep a record of the music of particular musicians before they die of old age), but the real "advanced" bluegrass is being invented by the next generation all the time.

A great intro to some bluegrass sounds is Matt Glaser's Bluegrass and beyond fiddle book. https://www.amazon.ca/Bluegrass-Fiddle-Beyond-Etudes-Fiddler/dp/0876391080/

It's got a CD that I really love and I play it all the time and try to jam to it.

Matt is a faculty at Berklee College, and he together with Bruce Molsky are my favourites at the moment for old time and bluegrass fiddling.

Teaching at a public school, I see a lot of the Amazon instruments. Stentor is probably my favorite of them, though the Cremona are all right. The quality can really vary on those cheaper instruments, especially when the peg box or bridge are poorly cut. Amazon has a pretty good return policy if you want to consider buying a cheaper one and asking your child's teacher if they'll be successful on it. If you end up buying one of the cheap ones, you're probably better off getting a $30 bow from Shar to use instead of the one that it comes with.

I love that the affordability of these instruments opens up the opportunity for more kids to play violin, but they really do make playing harder for the kids using them. If you think the kid will stick with it long enough to get to a full size, I think that's more reason to invest in an instrument that is more playable and produces a better tone so they enjoy it more. But I get it when parents can't afford that extra cost.

TL;DR use parentheses to mark off harder sections. (This is a bit long... Took me all of 5 mins you know?)

7/8 and 31/32 are definitely one of the hardest ones, tied with 18, 28, and 43 for me. What my teacher helped me with is marking the toughest sections and only practicing those for about 2 weeks. Now, she made me do torturous exercises which I will not mention here, but all in all, RHYTHM practice is key (LONG-short, LONG-short/short-LONG, short-LONG, etc). This rewired my brain to think in smaller sections and more patterns. I would listen to more recordings (Menuhin, Kreisler himself, Perlman, Elman) and maybe that will solve your problem with pulse and rhythm.

The shifting really is a tough thing to "handel" (so punny) in the latter half. Which measure numbers are you exactly having trouble with? I can certainly help! I find that the rhythm exercises that I mentioned before help me, but definitely find other methods if it doesn't work for you. Measure 43 took me about 2 days to finally get all the positions of my finger down, and measure 28 took me about 3 days. Get this book. Since you say that you can shift (just not well), this should help you in conquering the second half.

Sorry there wasn't much that I could offer, except an Amazon link... Wish you all the best in SICILAYING this piece :D

=https://www.amazon.com/Introducing-Positions-Violin-Seventh-Educational/dp/1423444884

For some people it's a matter of tricks like leaving music and instrument out on the stand (which i strongly recommend you not do with a string instrument), others (math and software dev types) seem to congregate in San Francisco startups that have MIDI keyboards and guitars laying around so they can take practice breaks.

---------

Some people write out schedules in advance and/or journals on their progress (the latter is pretty important) like: http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2011/10/10/intentional-practice/

-------

i recommend a few books about what playing music means to you:

http://artofpracticing.com/book/

http://www.amazon.com/The-Musicians-Way-Practice-Performance/dp/0195343131

also Kenny Werner's "Effortless Mastery" (pls overlook the hype-seeming title)

/u/pramit57, I read your responses and it seems clear to me that the strings are causing the problem. Entirely. Without question. This problem will not go away until you take those strings off. Possibly until they're out of the house, in the dump, far far away from your violin. Maybe perform a cleansing ritual over your instrument before putting the next set on.

I mean, I looked them up to get an idea of price range you were looking at, and how far off you really were from Dominants. Turns out, these things are about $3 a set. I mean. I'm shocked you got anything more sophisticated than different thicknesses of wire, honestly.

So, yes, it seems that Dominants are out of the question. (Also, WOW Dominants are marked up in India. 8800??? That's about $130, for my US peeps. That's approximately what I pay for Evah Gold viola strings.) But in this case, you really should look into some of those brands in the $ price range on that string chart. This might even be a situation where Red Labels are an improvement. I have no idea how many of those options are available in India, but I would bet some are. For instance, there's a set of D'Addario Pro Arte strings for 4099, which, I know, is a lot more, but at least they're synthetic core and from a reputable company. There's also D'Addario Preludes, which looks like a comparable level to Red Labels, for 2250. They're still steel core, but at least they're wound, not plated like yours. Just a disclaimer, I've never tried either of these, but D'Addario is legit and they've got to be better than what you have.

Just glancing at the piece, it looks like you should start in third or fourth position. I personally would start in fourth, so that high E can be played without an extension.

I would highly suggest getting the two Whistler positions books, which will help you get your fingers placed properly in the positions, and help you shift to them properly as well.

Book 1.

Book 2.

I got the fretless finger guide. Can be easily put on the violin and taken off without damage or residue. Stickers like the P&VT use can leave a residue behind. The fretless finger guide works great. I use it to kind of warm up and I hardly look at it after unless something sounds off. I say use it for warming up. Then try taking it off or playing blindfolded.

You could also try something called "peg compound". I'm not sure what it is, but I bought an $8 tube years ago and it's still going strong. It prevents slippage, but also generally makes the pegs easier to turn!

[Peg compound=magic!] (http://www.amazon.com/Hill-The-Original-Peg-Compound/dp/B000F3KSOU)

Galamian, Flesch, and many others who have shaped modern violin playing over the past several centuries have written quite clearly that classical violin vibrato should consist of the accurate pitch, it lowering, and then going back up to the true pitch. They almost unanimously speak out against going above the pitch.


See:
The Art of Violin Playing - Carl Flesch

Principles of Violin Playing and Teaching - Ivan Galamian

--
Of course there are some other schools of thought, but these are by far the commonly taught and accepted practices. The ear tends to perceive the highest pitch, so vibrating above the absolute pitch will usually give the impression that the note is sharp and out of tune.

An extra wide vibrato can be suitable in some situations and may lead to the upper pitch passing the absolute pitch slightly, but it is far less common and certainly not how one should think vibrato in most situations.

.
.



>I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority of players rock forward first

I would absolutely take you up on that bet.

I went with a Kennedy Violin, and I don't regret it ONE bit. It's mine, I own it, and it was lovingly setup. I got this one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0064CF7OC
Oh, and don't bother trying to learn on your own. I got a teacher, and their job is to make sure you don't foster bad habits. I wouldn't be able to do anything without her.

This is a physical tuner and not an app, but I love mine:
https://www.amazon.com/DAddario-NS-Micro-Violin-Tuner/dp/B00L1LL7DQ

There's some Kreutzer etudes on the topic, and some variations on Kreutzer the topic. A fantastic resource is Demetrius Dounis's technical manual. It has an entire chapter titled "The Development of Rapidity", which is expressly about the development of consecutive up and down bow staccato.

https://www.amazon.com/BF16-Dounis-Collection-Eleven-Studies/dp/082585850X


There's also variations on Sevcik's Op3 that can be applied to the topic...but the Dounis is my favorite, tons of material reasonably laid out and explained as much as it needs.

https://www.amazon.com/Bunnel-Clearance-Student-Violin-Outfit/dp/B0064CF7OC?ref_=ast_bbp_dp&th=1&psc=1

-------

hi, came back to add detail.

$175 is too cheap for a violin in most cases, and most of the options on amazon are a bad idea.

however, kennedy violins is a reputable real life violin shop that just happens to have an amazon storefront, and they occasionally have clearance items that get close to your $175 mark, so if your only chance to get a violin is amazon and you cant afford more, browsing their deals is probably your best option.

I don't actually own one. This was just given to me by the shop owner to keep the violins that I am trying. However, my friend does violin and viola and has a double case. He has to use something like this which he clips to the outside of the case.

https://www.amazon.com/Protec-A223-Violin-Viola-Shoulder/dp/B000648CPU

The Dounis collection is massive.

http://www.amazon.com/Dounis-Collection-Demetrius-Constantine/dp/082585850X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1394666594&sr=1-1&keywords=dounis

You just have to look around a little bit and find a worthwhile starting point. Reading his method book
is also very worthwhile before studying the exercises.

http://www.amazon.com/Demetrios-Constantine-Dounis-University-Education/dp/0820438952/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1394666544&sr=1-2&keywords=dounis

I've used a Dampit with success. Your results may vary... You may also consider putting a small hygrometer in your case if you don't already to try to find your violin's happy place.

https://www.amazon.com/Dampit-The-Original-Violin-Humidifier/dp/B000HA65W0

(Sorry for ugly link, on mobile)

Yes I third a humidifier. I live in a state with very humid summers and very very cold (-14) winters full of snow. I use a dampit humidifier

http://www.amazon.com/Dampit-The-Original-Violin-Humidifier/dp/B000HA65W0

(The little hose in the F hole that veryloudnoises was talking about ;) )

Possibly craft an interesting stand, maybe foldable, and put one of these type hangers near the top. Or fabricate the hanger too.

Just popping in to say that, while the Russian bowhold really does give you power, it also will generally give you tendonitis... So you may want to rethink adopting it. The franco-belgian bowhold is much more balanced and is much better for your body (though tendonitis is still a possibility- repetitive motion is brutal on your body). That said, if you really want to check it out, the link myintellectisbored shared is good, and so is Galamian (see here) or Auer.

No. Just du-et.

If you're looking for music, Applebaum has a great series of duet books. I think there are something like three or four volumes, ordered by difficulty.

I like this one more:

https://www.amazon.com/DAddario-NS-Micro-Violin-Tuner/dp/B00L1LL7DQ/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1485202368&sr=8-7&keywords=violin+tuner

Clipping out of those clip on tuners is so hard on the violin. This one puts the tuner right in your face. It was a lot cheaper when I bought it(~5$) so they are likely just low on stock right now or maybe they discontinued them.

I use this one and have never looked back.

Wall mounts, everyone. Wall mounts.

I use this one for my Bon Musica

https://smile.amazon.com/Protec-A223-Violin-Viola-Shoulder/dp/B000648CPU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495115485&sr=8-1&keywords=protec+shoulder+rest+case

You could try this stuff. https://www.amazon.com/Impressionist-Chinrest-Comforter-Black-Large/dp/B0072LMYUY

Fretless Finger Guide for Full (4/4) Size Violin https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E9EC2K4/

I know you said you've tried multiple shoulder rests but have you tried the Bon Musica one? It is different than others in that it has a dramatic curve at the end which grips/hooks onto your shoulder so it stops it from feeling like the violin is going to fall. It is specifically marketed for people with arthritis/injury too. I was having some discomfort (not as severe as yours) and this helped greatly. I heard about it from this Youtube violinist, who explains it more.

An $80 set of strings lasts only 3 months?! That's insane to me. I've been using my $15 set of (don't even know the brand*) strings for close to a year. Granted they don't exactly sound great, but still...

• Edit: I figured it out: I have D'Addario Preludes, which got really good reviews. One reviewer even compared them to the Pirastro Golds, which cost over $50 more! Wtf.