Learning Violin

Jan 17, 2022

I've been learning how to play the violin this last month, and it's been rough. There are so many pieces to calibrate simply to make a noise.

I have to

• Apply rosin to the bow
• Fit the shoulder rest on
• Tune the strings
• Hold the bow in my right hand correctly

Producing a sound on a single string involves moving the bow fairly quickly, and if I move the bow too slowly I get a horrible scratching sound.

Other details:

• If I want to play other notes besides the open strings, I have get my left hand into a specific position, with my left thumb placed just right on the neck, and time when my finger touches the string with the bow motion
• Looking at the music and not looking at the notes my left hand is playing or where the bow is playing (both playing the wrong string or getting off and playing too close to the bridge) is tricky
• Muting a string with my finger when I change to different string
• Only moving my right elbow and not my shoulder when moving the bow
• Having the chin rest not on the chin but on the cheek

All these details I am acutely aware of because I'm a violin amatuer. While it is a lot of mental overhead, I know that after many reps this will become second nature, like past instruments I have learned.

It's been fun to be a beginner at something again. The feedback from the reality of how terrible I sound, and constantly iterating, trying out new positions, and this general feeling of discomfort, is how I know I'm really learning.

My goal right now is to become proficient at reading sheet music, be able to improvise melodies comfortably, maybe learn a Bach partita.

But my meta goal with this is to suck at something. Starting over from nothing challenges me in such a different way. I needed a reminder of this feeling. Hopefully it will be motivating when I am feeling stagnant.

What I'm loving so far with the violin is how much it demands of my attention to intonation. I find this similar to trumpet, saxophone, and bass, but on the violin I feel it is much more difficult to get the correct intonation.

I also appreciate how much knowledge of the instrument is needed to get started making a note. With piano, I'm spoiled with not really having to know how a sound is produced besides a vague notion that hammers are hitting strings. Keith Jarrett has a bit about this, that pianists should know how their instrument works, so that when something feels off about a piano, they know what is causing it and can speak with the owner of the piano to address the cause. With the violin, you have to know from the start how it functions.

What drew me in with the violin is the resonance. There is a suprising amount of variety I can get from just the bow on the open strings in terms of timbre and overtones.

I might sound overly optimistic with all I've said. The reality is that it's been a frustrating process. But I'm excited for the journey ahead.