How to Improve Violin Tone | Katy Adelson
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- Опубліковано 11 лип 2024
- One of the most common questions I've received is, "How do I make my violin sound more professional?" The answer is within the concept of Tone. In this video, I discuss what tone is, and how to improve your tone on a violin (or fiddle). This is a video many have asked for, so I tried to go into some depth while also trying to keep to the point with some exercises to help as much as possible. Hopefully there are some useful things in here!
This is an advanced violin concept, so if you are a beginner, I think it's probably best to just keep this kind of stuff in mind but focus more on learning to play with a straight bow and practice left hand intonation...But if you have those basic essentials down and are ready to dive into developing a more mature sound for your playing, hopefully this video might help give you some ideas about what professionals are doing to get a big, solid sound. It's difficult stuff -- I'm still learning, too!
Navigation Timestamps:
00:00 - Definition of tone
00:14 - What tone is NOT
01:06 - The bow controls tone
01:31 - The four elements that control your tone
02:15 - Arm weight
03:00 - Arm weight exercise
04:52 - Bow speed
05:30 - Why I think "play with a full bow" is bad advice
06:18 - Bow speed and control exercise examples
08:20 - Bow placement / contact point
09:02 - Moving between contact points means you use a crooked bow
09:27 - Practice playing at different contact points on different strings with different sections of the bow (g-string example)
10:28 - How much bow hair touches the string affects tone
11:27 - Combining arm weight, bow speed, and bow placement / contact point to improve violin tone
12:19 - Practice switching between contact points as while sustaining a note
12:45 - Getting harmonics to sound better
13:35 - Upgrading equipment to improve tone
17:16 - Acoustic violin tone quality vs. using a pick-up / amplified violin tone quality (especially if using a bridge pick-up)
18:16 - Things to keep in mind if playing amplified
18:40 - Different definitions of the word "tone" in music / sound
20:56 - Ending thoughts - happy tone practicing! :D
Intonation Video link: • INTONATION - What is M...
I hope this video helps a little, or at least gives you some ideas and things to think about!
Thank you for watching, and I hope you have a good rest of the week -- please stay safe and healthy! =)
~ Katy
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/ katyadelson
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www.goldenaspenmusic.com
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www.katyadelson.com
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Hashtags:
#Tone #MusicLesson #Violin #Fiddle #KatyAdelson #Music
Software and equipment used:
Full list of all my basic violin equipment:
www.katyadelson.com/about/viol...
Violin gear:
Violin: 1899 Ernst Kreusler “Copy of Antonius Stradivarius” violin from Germany
Bow: CodaBow Luma
Strings: Evah Pirazzi Violin Strings (with a ball E) - are still my favorite strings atm.
Rosin: Salchow Rosin
Shoulder Rest: Bonmusica Shoulder Rest
Software used (for Macintosh):
Final Cut Pro for video editing
PicMonkey.com for the ending cards
Camera:
Canon 70D + 18-135 mm kit lens
That "use the weight of your arm" tip has helped me immensely.
On different days I was playing noticably 'smoother' just depending on how I was feeling,
like I felt 'free-er', I couldn't quite figure out why that was.
Now I know : D
I started trying to learn to play the violin at the beginning of Covid and spared no expense. I have several bows. I picked up my re-haired CodaBow Prodigy from the luthiers on the same day that I received a new Pernambuco Bow which said it came with the finest quality soloist Siberian horsehair. I paid for the most expensive rehair from a top luthier in Atlanta for the Codabow. The bowhair on the Pernambuco bow is so superior it is shocking. I wonder if luthiers think student players won't know the difference and give us crappy bow rehairs no matter how much we pay.
Wow interesting.
Katy, I bought your book!!! Today. Actually, it arrived from Amazon.I love it.
Blue Dave in San Diego CA.
Thanks for sharing Katy and very interesting how the bow influences the notes, thanks and stay safe and healthy at this time.
Good stuff! This reminds me of my Fiddle Teacher’s instructions back in the 1990’s. Thanks! 🌞😎✌️🎻
A very helpful video. I've been playing for a couple of years and everything you say makes perfect sense to me. My playing and tone is not what anyone would call nice to listen to but I love playing, so as long as I enjoy it and am learning and improving all the time I'm happy!
Ничего не понял, но сильно понравилось! Большое спасибо!
Thank you Katy. This is really very helpful and practical, as a student.
You needn't be nervous on camera. Keep smiling.
Hi Katy, Thank you for your lovely playing, you put so much work into your vlogs. Keep up the good work. Stay well.
Cheers, Colin 🎻
Thank you for the great advice!
Katty, thank you so much for these helpful explanations.
Thanks, Katy :)
Love this so much!
Thank you Katy! Your right the more bows you have the better chance for tone. Looking forward to more lessons. Bye
I love your videos and your tone, thank you for another super helpful and insightful video ☺️
Thanks Katy, it's good to be reminded of all these things. It's so easy to forget when you're in the flow of playing! 🎻🎻🎻
Thanks for this video. I'm a beginner student playing for almost 2 months now (stentor student II) and honestly I think I might have a bit of talent for it. My first song was your swallowtail jig. I've been practicing for at least half an hour a day but this is one of my biggest problems. Some strings sound great (okay, a bit off sometimes lol) while others sound 'dull'. I hope I can improve with your tips. Thanks a lot!
Thank you for this video. It really helps me.
Thank you for recording this. It's helpful to know how to control the tone and have a few things to practice.
Thanks to you Katy for sharing this other great video, very clear and complete.
You are very precise in structuring the topics and it is very easy to follow you even in slightly advanced concepts.
An excellent tutorial, thank you! You confirmed some of what I am working on and challenged me to think different about other ideas. A great job, most appreciated!
As a fiddle fanatic I really enjoyed your video!
I love your tutorials. I think you make it seem a lot less daunting learning violin. I am currently playing a Stentor student 1 that i bought for 30 pounds and restored! Previous owner had somehow got glue on the fingerboard! I'll work on the bowing you talked about here to try to improve my tone. My current equipment isn't going to do it for me!
Thank you for these excellent explanations. It really helps me improve my sound and your advice is wise. In addition, your pedagogy is excellent. Using this video I understood what to do and what not to do correctly. I'm in my fifth year of learning the violin and I thought that this year I wanted to increase the quality of my playing. I wanted to have the right tone. I understood that it was going through the arch, but I didn't know how to do it properly yet. After listening to your video, I see that I am not doing everything wrong, but I have now understood what I need to change, improve or modify to get the right tone. Thank you for this excellent video, which I will watch again to properly apply your excellent advice. I wish you and your family a happy holiday season.
Hi Katy. Great class. Thanks. You explain everything very clearly and with great patience. Katy if you make a tutorial of vibrato it would be genial. OK katy be fine.
Best bowing tip I ever received was "pull and push the strings not press the strings"
That’s a really great tip!! I’m going to think about that a lot more..hmmm…
Thank you for what you do it's awesome just wanted to tell you.
The vif on Amazon is nice I bought the vif 200 played it turned right around a bought the vif 250 very affordable and professional sound good stuff.
Thanks Princess 🌹🌹 Great lesson
Good talk.
Playing slow is sooo hard, because you can hear everything that is wrong with your play. A good advice from my violin teacher is to record yourself. I was shocked what a difference it made, when I heard myself the first time from the "outside". It's like a reality check!
😱🎻☘️🍀
why so few likes. This video is very informative, helpful, and complete. Thanks very much! Actually today I tried playing amplified, I shouyld have watrched you video earlier 🙂
She is intelligent as she is beautiful. These tips are really helpful. Practice, practice, practice... them, helps me. Thank you! May God bless.
Great 👏👏👏🎻🌹💕✨
I love you
I have watched many of your videos and love he music. Have you played the Ludlows before? Just curious.
Maravilhoso sou fã do canal. É uma benção. Que Deus continue te abençoando!
"How do I make my violin sound more professional?" Answer: Practice. 👍
With practice one can play with just as much "feeling, phrasing, vibrato and all that good stuff" in the first position. 😊🎻
You know when you have reached a significant level of achievement when you can make a cheap $40 violin (including case, bow, rosin, an extra set of steel strings and digital electronic tuner) purchased on Amazon, and impress your audience by playing it so it sounds like one that sells for 20 times that amount. 👌 😉 ♫
Happy Saint Patrick's Day christopher. Did we purchase the same violin ?
😁☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️
🍀
That arm weight wow it makes a difference thanks 😊
Can you play instrumental violin covers of popular songs that you like?
Wow, never thought the bow influenced the notes this much
Bow like a pro.
:)
One of the reasons for not noticing a difference between student and professional violin tone is the comparatively poor quality of basic sound systems on laptops etc.