Thoughts on Violin Playing

Music Theory 101 for String players

• Introduction to intervals
• Major and minor intervals
• Perfect intervals, and flipping the intervals
• Augmented intervals
• Diminished intervals
• Introduction to chords
• Major, minor, diminished, and augmented triads
• Inversions of triads
• Enharmonic spelling of notes
• Closely and distantly related keys, and modulations
• Supplemental resources for music theory

Posture

• Importance of holding the violin up
• How to keep your violin up

Bow Technique

• Bow hold basics
• Curved pinkie on the bow
• Relaxed pinkie on the bow
• How to make chords sound full

Left Hand Technique

• Curved pinkie on the fingerboard
• How to relax the thumb
• Basics of fingerings
• Fingering basics - Crossing strings in a whole step
• Finding patterns for better fingerings
• Use two different fingers to play a perfect 5th

Tone Production

• Balance your bow at the frog with no thumb
• Use gravity and arm weight for better tone production

Vibrato

• Concept of vibrato
• How to vibrate, part 1 - Understanding the motion
• How to vibrate, part 2 - Making it into a musical vibrato
• The importance of vibrating from the beginning of a note
• Vibrato Progress Check Sheet

Ensembles

• Breathing with the leader in an ensemble playing
• Do not follow conductors

Interpretation

• How to play augmented and diminished intervals more in tune
• Understanding dynamic markings
• 'Forte' is never 'loud'
• Understanding the musical meaning of ornamentations
• Tips on finding the top of a phrase - height of the notes vs beats
• The mystery of Schubert's accents and decrescendi

Miscellaneous

• The concept of circular motion in violin playing
• Clean playing
• Playing dotted rhythms accurately
• Daily goals when practicing
• Quality vs quantity of practice
• Ways to improve practice methods - Fast and tricky passages
• Overcoming stage fright