socks and violins: violins

[fabricdragon]

this post is in two parts..
rants about the lessons.  this can be catagorized as "whining" as well as asking for advice

Is it normal for a teacher to never have anything good to say about a violin?  the best comments i have EVER gotten from this guy about my violins was about the new one:"you got  a bargain" and "its not bad, probably not worth

Comments

[fabricdragon]

well, as to my playing..
sadly, right now we are working on technique. you know, basic bowing, and finger position.
now i will NOT fault him on the finger position part. he has pointed out stuff i know i never learned before.. and his analysis of HOW to move the finger has been spot on.

bowing? bowing is going to drive me to drink.
i understand the points he is making. and he seems to be really working on making it clear. sadly my arm doesnt want to co-operate.
apparently i bow from the shooulder, locking my elbow.. and i keep returning to that problem, even after he has pointed out what i need to do differently. he has given me several excersizes, which seem to work, but if i just pick up the bow and start, i do the same locked elbow bowing....and the ral problem is i dont seem able to feel the difference.

he said at one lesson. part of it is the fact that we are working with small short motions right now, and its easy to lock up.. but at the same time, if you dont get the technique down, you risk "studying" bad form.

i dunno.... its a bit frustrating. i can see his point, but its also very much a case of "wanting to PLAY something"

so as to his comments on my "playing" its mostly been a series of "thats better! can you hear the difference?" and while i am glad its better.... i cant hear any difference.

this last lesson he did state that i seemed to be getting the hang of the finger motions better, and that i was returning to the same spot on the string with some precision. (he actually did smile, which was reassuring)

i suspect it is as frustrating to him to repeat the same lessons over and over as it is to me. the bowing side of the equation has been mostly trying to find a way for me to "get" when i am doing it wrong/right without his standing there.

and i suspect that a musician having angst and proffesional crisis is not a good match for me *emotionally* no matter how good ro bad he may be technically as a teacher....

[tryst_inn]

I think you are wise to listen to your instincts, it doesn't sound like a good match at all.

I well remember bowing issues with the bass. We had a bowing coach we called the "wildman", since he kept accusing us of flapping our arms wildly while bowing. Hey, no shit sherlock, its a FRICKING BASS! We have to bow harder than a violinist would, as he was a violin player and couldn't play the bass.

Bassists tend to be anachronistic, anyway.

[fabricdragon]

ouch...
at least this guy does play the violin, i cant imagine taking lessons with someone who doesnt play my instrument!

the sad thing is, he is right about the bowing.
i can see it in the mirror, i just dont seem to have the kinesthetic sense to be able to "feel" it. or at least not yet.
i get so SICK of going over the same things. but i cant argue the fact that i obviously havent mastered those steps yet. (or even gotten to "level" with them, frankly)

i have a new excersize to practice i hope it will help.

[tryst_inn]

Our high school got the brilliant idea to bring in a bowing coach, who insisted on working with the bassists despite our protests.

The man didn't even know how to handle a German bow! He thought we were kidding when we showed him one. I tend to prefer the English, but there's certain pieces where you just need the power of a German bow which you can't lever enough on the English to do without killing your shoulder or crushing the bow, itself.

I'm not kinesthetic, either, which makes for a bad dancer. I can see WHAT people are doing, I just can't replicate it - I have no body sense in that manner, which is why blocking in ritual circle is so difficult for me.

[fabricdragon]

dont know the difference in bows... can you explain it?

ah, a fellow sufferer. one of the few who understand me when i tell people "uh, no. i CANT tell that i am doing it wrong... why?"

i am a horrid dancer. enthusiastic, great "feeling" but Gods forbid i have to memorize dance steps and do it in sync with anyone else.
just out of curiousity.. did you get hit in the face in every ball sport you ever tried? i found out about the combo of bad depth perception and no kinesthetic sense that way.....
(oddly, there was one sport where i never got hit in the face.... lacrosse. something about the long pole with a net on it... pity i couldnt run....)

[tryst_inn]

I can sooo relate. The only sport I was good at was horseback riding, where I could feel the rhythm. What with my general lack of depth perception due to early bifocal wearing at age 16, I avoided sports like the plague - but learned to turn away quickly anyway. With the exception of an M6 rifle sight that hit me in the eyebrow back in college (freshman year trick drill team, go figure - hey does that count as a sport? I was good at that!)

As for bows - The style of bow you use with your violin we would call an English or French bow. Good for accuracy, tone, fine touch, finesse and up to moderate "pull". Anything harsher, like a really good scherzo and your arm will be wishing you had one of these: http://elderly.com/images/new_instruments/115N/VB7B-3-4GER.jpg

here's a good comparison image:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:French_and_german_bows.jpg

Its hard to explain the hold, but imagine you're putting your middle and ring finger between the stem and the horsehair of the bow, your index finger along the stem and your pinky points out alongside the horsehair with your thumb resting on top of the stem. Sort of like the "shocker" hand gesture but with a bow in it.

I dunno how they teach the bass now, my first lesson goes back almost 20 years ago but they used to say that lefties should use the German, righties the French. Go figure.