Holding the Bow

A good bowing technique is one of the most important traits of a good fiddle player, and way too often overlooked. Maybe I can pass on a few things that I've learned.
First of all, although it's pretty obvious that you do hold the bow with your fingers, it should be clear that they ultimately decide the direction, the pressure, and angle of the bow. So always, as a general rule, try to keep ALL of your fingers (including your thumb) flexed at all times. This also includes the left hand, but we'll get there later. To do this, you'll need a certain amount of strength in your pinky, which 3 out of 4 people don't have. This does not mean you should not play the violin, or, that you should ignore this rule. It means you'll just have a little more work to do. :)
The pinky should support the bow when not on the string and while playing around the nut.
There are lots of exercises to strengthen your pinky and other fingers, but probably the best one I've found is the pinky push-up with the bow, which is explained in the video. It's also important to realize that your pinky will work better closer to your ring finger and to your hand, providing better support for the exercise itself.
A good idea is to just hold the bow without the fiddle, and see what you can do with it. Walk around with it and test your balance. Don't worry to much about it getting broken... it's not that fragile. And besides, the more it's laying around, the more you'll pick it up.

Elijah Harper and the Vuvuzela

If you've been watching FIFA's World Cup 2010, you've probably noticed the horrible buzzing sound emanating from your television. That is the sound of the vuvuzela. Or better, thousands of them...
I'll be fair. You should need a license to own one of these... A prerequisite would be two semesters of classes with (also) a licensed vuvuzela teacher. The vuvuzela teacher's license would then cost thousands of dollars, subject to approval (of course) by the Afghan Government. (they'll get there)

Hum... They say - "It's an African Culture thing" (Bull. It's actually Mexican, but thanks to "globalization" it crossed the Atlantic) - and - "Let's not try to give it a European feel". So let's come up with an alternative, shall we?

Come to think of it... Striking are the similarities between the violin and the vuvuzela... Both are loud, can be terribly irritating, and start with 'v'. Let's hope nobody comes up wit a 3 dollar plastic fiddle and starts selling them at stadiums... Maybe a few Banjos would do the trick.

I came a across an interesting tune the other day, called Elijah Harper's Reel, courtesy of one of my students. You'll find the sheetmusic for it here. I found it to be the exact same harmonic construction of another popular jig - Swallowtail. I love the "Celtic" licks and bounciness of it.

Traditionally, we would have a 1 and 2 ending for the first part, the 2 having the triplet leading into the second part. I'm not sure if this was written intentionally this way or not, but I found that playing that triplet to lead into the repetition of the first part also works very nicely. Be sure to play the bowings the way they are written, it adds so much to the rhythm.

Play vs. "Work"!?

Some people study as a commitment to discipline or a workout. Always striving for the next technical level, the next concerto. Hobby or not, having realized deep down inside that virtuosity will never realistically be achieved, and knowing that giving up is not an option.

Others play for fun, to hear the ringing of the strings, occasionally playing for an audience, learning a tune or two here and there and in some cases even composing a few of his own.

A handful, have it all. But I'm not even going there...

I guess it all depends on what music does for you. Are you a listener, a reader, a player, a composer, or all of the above? Whatever you do, if you play now, at some point you must have put some form of practice into it. Some form of a rough draft of what it now is, or at least what you imagine it to be.

I've given quite a bit of thought (and practice...), into the whole "practice" or studying thing, given that not too many people seem to be getting the best out of it. I believe that, at some point, we must separate work from play.

Not to be a music nazi... You can still have fun while you work... But set goals, determine when and how you will practice, and when you do so, try to focus on solving problems and not making mistakes.

The more often you play it right, better the odds that you'll get it right every time, right? So the more often you make mistakes, better the odds that... well, you figure it out. If I stumble on a part, I'll try to go over it right at least three times before moving on.

Another good trick is to always try to break down a new or challenging tune into parts and tackle one section at a time. If one section remains too difficult, break that down into manageable problems.
For example, if there is a passage with difficult bowings, make sure you can easily play the same passage with up and down bowings. If you can't get it fast enough, work each hand individually.

Needless to say (but I'll say it anyway), most of these rules are pretty obvious and can be applied to any instrument, but sometimes, in the face of pain, excitement, curiosity, self-confidence (or lack thereof), or plain absentmindedness, we fail to remember or apply them.

Use your creativity!! Make up your own exercises to fix your own setbacks... You might just turn that setback into your strongest attribute. But most important: Stay focused! It's better to practice half an hour with full attention to detail, opposed to hours "fiddling" around. Which... brings us back to our first dilemma: "Are you playing, or practicing?"

Know how to do both!

Shameless Self-Promotion

Yes... That's basically what this is all about... I'll be sharing other information here of course, but just enough to keep your attention. :)

I've been a musician and a violin teacher for quite a while and making a living at it, so I thought it might be time to give a little back. So I'll be posting a little of what I learned, and I hope that you can make the best of it.

For a little bit of background, I've played in hundred's of weddings, serenades, bars, parties, receptions, inaugurations, concerts, cafes, funerals, hoedowns, etc... Basically anywhere you can imagine a musician. Even played in a traveling circus for a year. But to start, my Dad put together a bluegrass and country band, and I played the fiddle. Since then, I've played from celtic to jazz.

As for my instruction, I studied with a "classical violin"teacher for five years, plus a year in CCDMC, in Tatuí, SP, Brazil, and I am currently working on my Bachelor's degree in music education.

I now offer violin, fiddle and mandolin lessons in my studio at my home in Colorado Springs. I also play at weddings, parties... well... consult the list above (just not the circus gig, I'll stay away from elephants for awhile). To contact me, click on "My profile" to the left and you can find my e-mail me there.

I've also been playing with some great people lately... Check back and you should get to see them!