Music Information

How To Play The Violin


This article gives the essential basics for how to play the violin. Generally violins are quite commonly available instruments and it is reasonably easy to rent or buy a violin. Children may need smaller violins (from an eighth, quarter, half, three-quarters, seven-eighths up to full size) to accommodate smaller hands if they are going to be learning over an extended period.

The Basics

The bow is held in the right hand with the thumb bent underneath the frog to support it and the other hands loosely gripping the wood. There are many different holds and it its important to find one that suits your hand size and strength. The violin is held with the left hand, with the chin on the chin rest supporting most of the weight, and the fingers loosely coiled around the neck of the violin. The thumb should be relaxed but firm. The left elbow should be curved under the violin. The violin should be roughly horizontal and the right arm held high. The main methods of playing the violin are bowed and pizzicato.

Bowed

The bow should be drawn swiftly and smoothly across the strings, about halfway between the fingerboard and the bridge. A down bow starts with the hand close to the strings pulling across the string from left to right, and is generally used on strong beats. An up bow goes the opposite way, right to left, and is used on weaker beats and upbeats. However with practice down bows and up bows should be fairly difficult to distinguish. Slurs in music indicate that all notes within a slur should be played in the same bow movement. To play loud notes, the bow is pressed down harder on the string using the index finger or the bow is drawn across the string faster. To play more quietly use less pressure or draw the bow across the string slower. In classical music bowed music is indicated by the Italian term arco.

Pizzicato

To play pizzicato (often abbreviated to pizz.) the right thumb should be placed under the fingerboard and the index finger used to pull the string quickly upwards and across. For faster passages, the bow can be held while playing pizzicato, still using the index finger but without the support of the thumb. In more complex and advanced pieces, a small cross above the stave indicates the fingers of the left hand plucking the strings.

Fingering and positions

As there are no physical aids such as frets for violinists as there are for guitarists, accurate tuning comes with immense practice. On a full size violin, the tones are roughly two centimeters apart, but this is difficult to judge when playing since you are seeing from a different perspective. To aid tuning, it is very helpful to have a piano or other keyboard instrument when practicing.

The fingers of the left hand are conventionally named first (index finger) to fourth (little finger). When playing notes other than open strings (G, A, D and E), these fingers must press down hard, so that the string is shortened convincingly for a higher pitch. The standard intervals taught to beginners is tone, tone, semitone, tone (ie. G-A-B-C-D, D-E-F#-G-A, A-B-C#-D-E, and E-F#-G#-A-B). Of course the notes in between can be played by rearranging the hand position.

This is known as first position, where the first finger plays up to a tone above the open string. The next position usually taught is third position, where the first finger plays the note a perfect fourth above the open string (so, for example, third position on the A string would start on the D). All positions from first up to anywhere around tenth can be thus played, and two octaves on one string are considered fairly standard.

Looking for information about the violin? Go to: http://www.mrviolin.com 'Mr Violin' is published by Helen Baxter - The Complete A to Z Of Violin Resources!

Check out more violin articles at: http://www.mrviolin.com/archive


MORE RESOURCES:

Hit Films Tropic Thunder, The Bucket List Feature SmartSound Music
MarketWatch - 6 hours ago
NORTHRIDGE, CA, Aug 27, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- SmartSound Software, Inc. is proud to announce the inclusion of seven SmartSound music tracks in ...


Sydney Morning Herald

Britney Spears 'too busy' for MTV Awards
NEWS.com.au, Australia - 5 hours ago
Britney Spears's camp says she won't be performing at the MTV Video Music Awards / AP BRITNEY Spears will not perform at this year's MTV Video Music Awards ...
Spears manager rules out MTV show BBC News
Britney not planning an encore for VMAs Chicago Sun-Times
Britney Spears Will Not Perform at MTV's Video Music Awards MovieWeb
Los Angeles Times - NME.com
all 390 news articles


Altamont Fairgrounds Announced as New Venue for New York SoCo ...
MarketWatch - 5 hours ago
Doors open at 2:00 pm This is the last of five markets for the SoCo Music Experience festival with each event showcasing five national performers with five ...
SoCo shifts to Altamont Albany Times Union
all 7 news articles


Hip Digital Media Launches Custom Digital Music Store for Nectar
MarketWatch - 18 hours ago
Available for the first time from any Loyalty Program in the UK,music can be downloaded in a high quality MP3 format and is compatible with virtually any ...


Seattle Post Intelligencer

A day-by-day guide to Bumbershoot featuring Times' music critic ...
Seattle Times, United States - 2 hours ago
By Patrick MacDonald Bumbershoot began as a local arts festival in the early 1970s but morphed into a mostly rock festival over the last decade or so, ...
Ben Gibbard on matters of life and Death Cab Seattle Post Intelligencer
all 2 news articles


BBC News

Polar Music Prize
Seattle Times, United States - 17 hours ago
Awards Polar Music Prize Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf on Tuesday presented the 2008 Polar Music Prize to US soprano Renee Fleming and. ...
Pink Floyd, Renee Fleming receive Polar Music Prize AFP
Polar Music Prize for Pink Floyd TheCelebrityCafe.com
Roger Waters And Nick Mason Accept Sweden's Polar Music Prize On ... KBS Radio
Virgin Media Music - BBC News
all 168 news articles


Five tips music students can guard against injury
Indianapolis Star, United States - 5 hours ago
As another school year begins, music students should remember that injuries aren't just for athletes. Studies suggest that, largely because of the intense ...


D'Backs take a note from music industry
Sports Network - 6 hours ago
By Shawn Clarke, MLB Contributing Editor (Sports Network) - Singer/songwriter James Taylor recommends it, and the Beatles explain how reluctant they were at ...


Fans of old-time music gather at the 2007 Happy Valley Old Time ...
Hickory Daily Record, NC - 1 hour ago
It’s almost like the music has an accent. All the jam sessions are open and the music familiar to most anyone who’d want to play. “The music is really like ...


Business Wire (press release)

Twin Cities' favorite Boogie Wonderland to open music festival
Business Wire (press release), CA - 5 hours ago
(BUSINESS WIRE)--The BoDeans will headline the fifth annual Septemberfest music festival in Eagan on Saturday, Sept. 20, preceded by popular disco tribute ...

Music - Google News

home | site map
© 2006