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The Top Ten Reasons Why Your Think or Know You Sound Rotten When You Play Your Fiddle | ||||||||||||||||||||
| from "Learn to Fiddle" by BeverleyConrad |
Be sure to try the online fiddle lesson! Learn to Fiddle Boil That Cabbage Down | |||||||||||||||||||
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10. Your fingernails are too long. It's best to keep the ones on your left hand cut very short so that you always hit the string in the same spot withyour fingertip. Even a 1/16th of an inch will throw the note off. 9. You have just done the dishes, the wash, the floors, etc... Or you have had your hands in water. This makes your fingertips soft and squishy and can deaden sound. It will also make them hurt when you press down on the strings. Eventually you will get nice little callouses on your fingertips that will serve you well. Practice a lot and you will get a very nice set. 8. Your strings are clogged with rosin. Clean the rosin off your srings using regular rubbing alcohol. 7. You're violin is out of tune. Tune your violin each time you sit down to play. Get a four note violin pitch pipe and/or one of those electronic tuners that lets you know exactly where the pitches are. Your ear and your fingers "remember" where they should be to get the right pitch so make it a consistant pitch or #1 you will constantly be looking for the right pitch (fishing, I call it) or #2 you will start to think that a wrong pitch IS the right one (horror of horrors!) 6. You're out of tune. A really easy way to hear what you are actually playing is to close your eyes and play it. If you have trouble keeping them closed and keep trying to peak at where your fingers are, blindfold yourself, pull your hat down over your eyes or play in the dark. You'd be surprised what we can hear when we can't see. . 5. You're stings are no good. Old strings die. They loose their tone eventually, stretch out so much that they can't be put in tune, or just become rusted and tinny sounding. I recommend the Heliacore strings which can be gotton at a discount price at Discount Strings www.discountstrings.com It's a wonderful place to buy things for the violin. Truly discounted and I know! I have ordered from them for years and supply all my students with a catalog. Here's their 800 number. Call them and ask that they send you a catalog pronto. You should be able to order a mute, strings, new bridge, tuner, whatever, through them and it will come right to your door.1-800-348-5003. I like this place because they actually have violin people you can talk to to ask about products and they have actually tried everything out. 4. Your bridge is not properly fited to your violin. The feet of the bridge need to be sanded or "fitted" to fit the curve of your particular instrument. If you can slip a piece of paper under the feet at any point, it screws up the tone. Lacking anything better, I usually recommend what is called an adjustable feet bridge (I have one on my violin.) You can get it at Discount Strings, if you think you need one. 3. Your bridge is not set straight. This will throw your finger placement off and make you sound flat and sharp all over the place. Get a tape measurer and measure from where the strings meet the nut to the exact place where the strings touch the bridge. If the bridge is off square by even a tiny bit, you will not be able to play "in fifths" or in the same spot for each string and you will sound sharp, flat, etc... Also, your bridge should be slightly tilted at an angle vertically. It should tilt slightly away from the neck at the top. As you re-tune each time the strings have a way of pulling the top of the bridge toward the neck(logically) so every now and then you need to tilt it back slightly. 2. You're playing too close to the bridge. This will make the violin squeak and whistle. You're pressing down too hard. This will make it grind and growl. You're playing too lightly. This will make it sound like "little mouse with laryngistis." If you're playing lightly so as not to offend the general public or the family, get a mute. If you don't have a mute put a clip clothespin on the side of the bridge to quiet your fiddle down till you get better at it. (Again -- been there...) And the Top Reason Why You Might Think You Sound Rotten When You Tape Yourself... 1. IT'S NOT YOU. It's the tape recorder! Seriously. If you have a good ear for music, which most people who take up the violin do have or they wouldn't be able to play it at all, you are probably able to hear what is right and what is wrong with a pitch and tone. It's really hard to get a good recording of a violin. They vibrate and tend to overload most mikes and most tape recorders. Also, the least variation in tape speed causes the pitch to sound flat and/or sharp here and there and you will think it's you. It's not. It's the tape recorder. I finally got a good sound by recording straight into the hard drive using what is called a compression mike which is very cheap to buy. Walmart. Computer stick mike for $4.95. Even that kind of a mike with a cheap tape recorder will give you a better recording. Copyright 2000 Beverley Conrad All Rights Reserved | ||||||||||||||||||||
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