An expensive violin( those handmade ones ) and a normal Eurostring RM300 violin,
do they make any difference? in terms of performance, sound, the Feel ?

the difference is very very very big.

hand-made violin(HM) sounds alot brighter than a machine made violin(MM) not to say that MM wont sound brighter but HM's sound's definitely bright , warm and smooth at the same time. ALl the tone aspect is balanced well depends on your violin's personality. Violin is just like a human. They have personalities thus you should treat them well. Different HM violin has differnt tone and volume. Some HM violins suit to play Baroque pieces, some romantic, some classical, some 20th centuries. Different group of violins played their suited centuries better than other groups. But question lies with how do you differentiate. Their maker don't know waht the violins they made will turn into. It's all depends on the sound of a violin.

Normally, strong and piercing personality with a super bright voice is categorised under the 20th century group. People with strong character and wished to stand out like my sister loved this type.

violin with smoother, warmer, and mellowish sound is my faourite! This type suits to play romantic. normally ppl with warm hearts and peace lovers like this type of violin because it's sounds is very comforting.

clear but powerful, you will get kinda discipline aspect in the sound,it's too ahrd for me to explain, but you will get those kinds of calssical feel when you listened to it. the classical category's violin gievs you a very classical, clear, clean and organised sound if you are skillful.

very close to the classical category, the baroque category opens up to your interpretation on whether that violin suits to paly baroque pieces or not. Normally I would isad...Besides clear and classical, I am not in a position to describe this category. But there IS a different between the classical category and baroque category.

This classification was created by me. I am not telling everyone that every violinist had to owned 4 types of different violin taht suits playing 4 different period of pieces but I found that this is best and simpliest classification fopr hand amde violins. All violins are suitable to paly all pieces from any of the periods but just that the specific category played their specified period better than other.

of course, one had to know how all four periods sound like in order to use this clasification. lol.

juz my2 cents.

My mere opinion.

I find these elements are very good guidelines on how a new player should choose the violin but it is abit too subjective on what are the degrees they should go up until. To achieve all these elements are gonna cost you a boom. But again question lies with 'What degree of each elements should my violin achieve and which elements I should focus more on?'

To answer this question...I will said...Tuned the violin, play it with any songs you like... And then....listen to it. Do you like the sound of the violin. NOrmally whether you like it or not depends very much of your character. Yes, your personality and character must suits the violin well because it's part of your soul when comes to music palying thus you must be able to syn with it.

This post has been edited by liez: Dec 13 2009, 07:49 AM

There's no difference between good and bad violin. There's a difference between each player's preferrence and taste of violin.

We don't have to meet up juz for me to test the genuinty of your violin. Lol. That's why I said those are just my opinions...lol. But we might met up in an orchestra later then we will ahve chance to show each other's violin. Lol.

I didn't say that a violin suits to play only one kind of genre but taht violin must be a very very good hand made violin from a very good maker. Thus, as an easy guide for new players, that's why I am trying to empahsize the difference between violin's sound to them.

About the bow, I know how well and how important a bow is. A bow can change 360o of how your violin sounds and it enchances your techniques especially spiccatos. I do loved looking and testing on bows. In fact, I loved testing with violin's bow whenever I went to a violin shop.

Don't worry, I am not doubting your knowledge. It's just that every different players have their own ways of describing a violin.

which part

I seriously mean no offensive remarks to your knowledge, man. I meant I agreed to most of them juz I got my own opinions on some minor issues. That's it so if I did make you think that I am trying to bring down your post then I am sorry.

When I was young, I palyed in chong ching orchestra and NSO junior before...That was the time before they moved the whole thing to Istana Budaya. Stopped my violin and piano at standard 3 then continue at Form 3... SO juz playing for fun now. Didn't really play in any professional orchestra (duh...there's only one in Malaysia and is full of ang mors) . Played in KL Pac O, PCCO, KLSO all these aren't really professional orchestra but they are good orchestra with nice ppl around IMO. And junior string ensemble at my house formed by my mum... lol...

An ensemble is mroe than enough I guessed. Lol. I can hardly think of any forumers here who owned brass/woodwind and percussion instruments especially a set of timpanis. lol.

I am alto

This post has been edited by liez: Dec 23 2009, 05:19 PM

any christmas song will do....add a violin partner(2nd violin) or minus one the effect will grown by 10 times trust me

male alto is not too high le....It's just slightly higher than tenor....anyway.... it was few years ago.... I sensed my voice is getting lower now....Migth wanna consider myself down to tenor at any time....

I know alot alot alot of them and I will tell you this...It's not easy.

poke it deep into peg hole when you are tunning... you push and turn at the same time....the deeper the better until it won't slip again.

__________________________________________

ANd to those who are facing pitching problem... Although there are tonnes of articles saying that you can somehow trained your own perfect pitch out... But in fact... IMO....It is impossible. Perfect pitches can't be trained... Individuals with perfect pitches are born with them. But let me tell you sth... those who don't have perfect pitch will have what we call Relative pitch and A good relative pitch has about the same effect as perfect pitch. And little ice is right. Even perfect pitchers can get out of tune. SO they too had to practise hard to get the intonation right.

those who don't have perfect pitch will have to practice at least 3 times harder to achieve a good relative pitch and a good relative pitch works well as a perfect pitch (i.e: you will be able to know all the sounds of the notes) and it is not easy... YOu wil have to practice by marking your fingerboards at 1st....then at later stage....you might wanna use the tuner to practice hard....then lastly...you have to memorize all the notes. It's gonna take up alot of efforts but at the end, it worths it.

And the markings on your finger board for beginners must be correct....if you can't do it...Ask someone professional to do it for you...

Good Luck,
Liez~*

The only explaination....your 1st and 2nd finger moved when you are trying to play with 3rd finger. THus while playing back with 1st and 2nd finger which were already there.... YOu got them out of tune.... Stablelize your 1st and 2nd finger there and don't move while you are using 3rd finger.

higher distance between strings and fretboard is good. It trained your fingers and strengthen them more. Andrew Chai loved his student's string to be higher. But if u really cannot stand as it uses more strength to paly then just make your bridge lower....

As an individual with perfect pitch... i can tell you that....perfect pitchers:

- can help in identifying how a note sound like (and the frequency of the note not exact lar....but the bold part only applies to those who'd studied music for some times... My teacher can)
- Are very good in memorising scores... Heard it twice or threice and will be able to memorise it.
- good in singing as they can hardly get out of tune when they sing.
- For easy piece and pop songs.... you won't be suprise seeing them listen to it once or twice and able to produce an exact same thing on an instrument (any instrument included a piano as they can produce the chords as well)
- Perfect pitchers can easily synchronize a song with chords... While I don't know how to explain it but the chords just come out in our mind. We just 'feel good about it' and get it.


however ...as a draw back... perfect pitchers:

-may not be good in sight reading as they always used their ears ( This is just an argument drew up and had no citation at all...but frankly....I got sight reading problem coz I am lazy to practise since young)
-for some special individual case... those with perfect pitch will find themselves using more mental energy/ strength compare to those without perfect pitch while listening to something. Reason being: We will be very very focus on that piece of music. Hence we get tired easily.... My sister was once like that....At least we got to control the situation now.


ANyway, having perfect pitch might be a musician's ultimate advantage (especially string players) as they were born with it. Need not any effort to get a correct pitch and as oppose, those without it need years of experience and great effort to get only a well relative pitch. This world is unfair, yea.... But I ahve to tell you this... Perfect pitch or not... At the end when the relative pitch is trained, it's somewhere on par with the perfect pitch.... Then pitching is not really a factor anymore... what is important should be techniques, skills, speed and other practical elements. I say this becoz I've seen too many good relative pitch user that played better than perfect pitch user (Or at elast as good as )

So trainig your pitch and intonation is as good as hell... But at the end....It just worth it!

normally when u ask them to inspect violin...they will at least help you to smoothen your bridge.

PErfect pitch don't grant you a perfect intonation. It just grants you a better hearning... Lol. Those who are with perfect pitch had to train more or less equally hard as those without to get a ncie full tune.

Good point in answering the question as to the methods to use in order to get a very good intonation.

IMO, you will still need a tuner despite it's a machine. Because you had very little choice left if you don't use it. Playing your scales can improve it... this is true...but when you get to higher levels, you will even lose your intonations while palying scales (despite they are not as hard as playing a song)

You will have to listen to songs you are playing, remember the tunes, and playing it again and again, REMEMBER the tune that you palyed...always do some check ups with your tuner when you felt something isn't right.

Those who said tuner can't really improve your hearing, it's in fact true. But it's the only method to solve the intonation problem instantaneously for those who don't have a piano or a violin teacher beside them.

This post has been edited by liez: Jan 24 2010, 10:24 AM

I understand what you are trying to say. But why cares about it? Being too technical to novices who can't even get the right tune isn't gonna help them much about it. IMO, however slightly sharper or however slightly flatter tune that your tuner provides.... It didn't really effect much about melody of the song that you are playing. Being technical is good, it shows your knowledge about a specific subject. But it ain't gonna help those who don't even know how they are suppose to sounds like.

So now when everyone's respecting you in this forum (as I can see). You suddenly decredit the tuner... Now everyone is afraid of the tuner. It's like the captain lost himself in a big ocean without a compass. And yes...there are far better and more accurate ways to go on, such as by looking at the sun or moon or stars. But what if the captain happened to be a novice captain who possess no such skill? Most of the palyers here are new. Most of them don't paly piano or don't even own one. Most of them don't know what you are talking about... About the sharps and flats...

All they knew was you told them not to rely on tuner anymore. The one and only tuning instrument ever created by mankind isn't reliable anymore. Then what's next? Those who don't have perfect pitch no need learn violin? or take years and years for keep on doing mistakes. Well I bet not much newbie palyers have such patient. I know what you are taling about. But I am afraid you 'might' kill their passion as well. THey can't tune their violins on their own at home now. THey can't check whether they are accurate while palying songs when they felt weird about it. They lookd at their tuner and sigh.... All b'coz you told them so.

___________

Lil ice... I wasn't being offensive. I respected you for your knowledge. But some times....I somewhat felt that they are too technical, too theoritical.... a good start for new palyers to understand the basics... But I don't agree some of their practicality parts.

I shall still stick on my words... "Use your tuner to first guide you, memorize your tune and you need years to do this unless you have perfect pitch (which it may be faster but you still have to work on it)... Use your tuner to work out your intonation, practise the song well, and play with CDs or youtube...and yes...training your intonation won't be easy"

And yea...All the best.

ooo yea....before i go again....I don't like using piano to tune my violin.... they always get out of tune and their frequency gets funny always.... one who said tuner is bad must said the piano is far more worse.

This post has been edited by liez: Jan 30 2010, 10:07 AM

air should learn double bass...Our current market lacked of that instrument adn viola.

1)Learning the violin is a slow progress...doing it too fast can be interpreted to many ways of learning fast, notably... Jumping from grades to grades... , example: practise 3 exam pieces like no tomorrow, scales, some sight reading and aural test then go for exam....thus doing this is not a right choice. I had always prefer a slow teaching tutor who can focus on all aspects of violin from 1st-6th positions, pinky finger's strength, agility of fingers, notes reading...etc. It take quite some times to practise these however. Your books should include some studies, scales, pieces and techniques.

2)if you have some comfort problem with your violin....I guess it started from the first day when your tutor adjust the positions for you. He wants you to make it right but remember, those are guidelines.... one person will not be able to teach another exact way of holding the violin coz every individual got his/her own body features/structure. I am talking about the neck to cheek part.

3)A tutor who ignores his/her student's mistake might originated from his previous students. If he keep on correcting the student's mistakes. The student will get bored....then the teacher started the fear of losing more and more student for the sake of his student. He will usually then try to let u play as much as possible. let u ahve some interest in violin instead of going for your techniques. or recorrect what's learn. This however is WRONG. I would said...As long as you found your teacher is incapable of changing your mistakes.....change your tutor. I will say he is just not the type of tutor you deserve rather this type is for those who dont really like violin and juz wanna 'play play'.

EDIT

This post has been edited by liez: May 4 2010, 09:07 AM

how can one repair the crack on the chinrest??? its possible to glue back other parts of the violin but definitely one is not encourage to do it on the chin rest because you can just buy a new one and replace it. It didn't cost too much and its not an important part of the violin to keep the original. So I will say just buy a new one to replace it.

vibrato derived from the word vibration...but you shouldnt think of it as a vibration. Erm...Lets think of it as a 'movement'. a 'movement' that move forward and backward with your wrist while pressing a note on the string.... just remember....move it forward and backward.....not side by side....up and down (while most learner tends to do this mistakes).

see here...while you are pressing on the string with your wrist grabbing on the violin neck...it restraint your wrist's mobility. But that is what makes vibrato....

so imagine yourself holding the violin and pressing a note (not too hard but the finger which press on the violin shouldn't move its position from one semitone to the other) and you try to move your wrist forward and backward.... at most your finger affected by this movement is just a little bit..... u do it slowly....u made a mosquito-nearby-your-ear sound......accelerate the 'movement' and familiarize with it....it becomes what we called as vibrato....

on a side note: you dont depend the violin's weight on your left hand....you stabilize and hold the violin with your chin and shoulder....no weight shall depend on left hand at all.....or you will never ever make vibrato....coz if you depend a lil (yes..even a lil ) on the left hand/left wrist.....u will see your whole violin shaking tremendously....

but even with you holding the proper way(means with shoulder and chin) u will still shake your violin when you try to do the vibrato.....just its not as bad as holding the violin on the hand.... you can try to reduce the shakiness if you practice your violin lots of time....and find the balance in it.... (remember you are holding the violin and try to shake it...so it will shake)

________________________________________________________________________

2nd and 3rd position....

2nd position.... practice B flat major on the 2nd position (start your first note till the last note on 2nd position...meaning 1st B flat note on 1st finger G string) practice it until you can play with your eyes close...then go look for more 2nd position studies and etudes to practice....

3rd position...same thing....practice entire C major on 3rd position then find some 3rd position study or etude to practice with....

side note: you wil get really really frustrated when you find yourself doing mistakes from beginning to the end...dont hesitate....do the studies row by row...make sure you got the whole row correct before moving on to the next row. and finger/numbering written on the note is not encouraged by me....but at the end of the day...its up to you.....if you really got frustrated to the max level...wel... write on some of the notes....

good luck and all the best.

there are 2 music schools that I knew in Wangsa Maju. Athilia's Music School and friends' music school of string (if I am not wrong). Athilia one is good in developing kids therefore most of their programme focus more on children while friends' music....I am not sure but as far as I heard....They are like normal music school.... fee for beginner there range from RM90-RM110 ...As you learn longer....your fee raises as well.

There was once a 50 years old ++ doctor who learn violin from someone I know (family-related) .... My first teacher learn at the age of 30...through hard work....his technique really...speechlessly amazing... Of course that was the result if one can finish Hrimarly and Sevcik studies perfectly.... Takes time, takes effort...but you get the pay out at the end.

erm...yea.... coach more in schools nowadays.

This post has been edited by liez: Dec 3 2010, 01:44 PM

I can't really compare both the music school seriously...I hadn't been to both of them... Anyway...I will say the fee is more or less like that. RM15 for theory is consider cheap. and rumors has it that the school produced alot of fine theory student.

get the metal one....the effect is so powderful but may hurt your bridge a lil....But unless your bridge is a high end ones....it doesnt really matter if a good mute hurt a lil.

Go to The Music Professionals academy of performing arts in Sunway PJ...They produced lotsa high quality students there...few years ago They trained a 12 years old LTCL piano student (LTCL is the second last level of diplomas for music learner...acronym for Licentiate of Trinity College London). Besides that, They have quite a number of activities and events held every year....The school is working well and the teachers there work hard and fine...Of course if you find that the teacher assigned to you doesn't fit you...Just complain or request for a change. Just don't worry...There are many teachers there. I would said its one of the best school to learn music in the country. Here's the website... The Music Pro

And try not to go to yamaha.... The certs there aren't really worthy. Well...may worth something for yamaha Music school but most people prefer of course a cert from England or other Europe's country music school. ABRSM or Trinity works fine. Yamaha may be good for kid's music learning progress but I hardly heard anyone learning string instruments from yamaha.

about the violin part....you just go there...Most music school will sell you a violin they have there...There are many brands of learner's violin but so far Euro String had been consistent in their quality...of course they are many other brand in which some I hadn't even heard of. dont have to worry about the violin...the violin you will get cost probably RM250 to Rm320 this is the cheapest one....They sound almost the same....no such thing as perfect violin for this price....however you can choose the violin depends on your preference as to its sound. But again....More or less the same unless you are willing to buy a RM5000 china made violin. But of course everyone start with the learner's one ...

Good luck.

but u are rich enough to study in HELP wor... scholarship?