Sound Experimentation in Violin Playing

In a scientific experiment, you have to isolate all the different factors and change things only one at a time. If you change more than one thing, you can't tell what's causing what.

The Three Elements

Practicing this sound exercise, there are only three elements to consider:

• Speed
• Pressure
• Distance

From the bridge, two of the three are basically fixed. You've decided to experiment on a particular sound point, so that isn't going to change much. You're basically using whole bows at a particular tempo, which decides the speed of the bow. So, that isn't going to change much either.

Focus on Weight

This leaves only the weight of the bow.

• Keep the sound point and speed more or less the same.
• Experiment with more and less weight until the string is vibrating at its maximum.

Then, without changing the speed, pressure, sound point, or balance, add vibrato.

Sound Point Three

Here we are on sound point three with whole bows.

"All I'm going to do is try more and less weight until the string vibrates widely."

And there it is. And bravo. Bravo!

Practice Tips

You know, if you practice playing the violin by:

• Going up, down, up, down.
• Practicing down, up.

Just the end of the bow. Start here and just practice the end of the down bow. That's what you want to focus on.

Understanding Sound

When we're working on sound, there are endless sounds and effects that come out of the instrument.

• Some of them we like and want to carry on doing.
• Some of them we don't like and wish we'd stop doing.

But the reason for everything only comes down to these three factors: speed, pressure, sound point.

In other words, there's hardly anything to think about. So if you're struggling to eliminate a noise you don't want, you don't need to search very far.

Key Considerations

Now, wait. The sound point is pretty fixed in this case because we've decided on whichever sound point we're on.

This leaves us with speed and pressure. The speed is pretty fixed because, you know, you're going, "da." That's basically it.

So, the only thing you've got to think about is the weight.

• When you turn the corner, this is the moment we want to focus on and make a pure connection.

"So here we go. Bravo. Do that again. Very nice. Do it at the heel. Now."