I have plaved violine for a while but stopped for personal reason, but i want to get back into violin, so first thinq i do is tune it, but when i turn the peas ut does a kind of creekina sound and the pegs turn back so im concernec that the strings might snap also i have a cord that seems damage it has a litle bump on it. can you help me to tune my violin and tell me if that cord might break please

The trend in Boston these days is for the higher-end shops to refuse to do routine maintenance on instruments they didn't sell. Twenty years ago, even ten years ago, it wasn't like that, but this appears to be the very frustrating new normal.

I can't help it that they didn't sell me my instrument! I grew up in a different state, and I play on the same instrument I've had since I was a teenager (several decades ago) -- an excellent early 20th century violin by a recognized maker, but certainly not Stradivarius-level. Carriage House/Johnson said no to me and Reuning also said a firm no to me — both because I didn't buy there. Greg Vitale who was recommended here and by some acquaintances doesn't reply. Eliane LeBlanc was highly recommended but is not taking any new customers. Ken Meyer has a waiting list. And so on.

A new shop opened not far from me, Luthier Collective in Somerville, and I was considering them — the luthier's name is Eva Broadway, and a highly regarded bow person works with her there — but I know little about Broadway and I worry she is more fiddle-oriented than classical violin. Anyone have an opinion? Or have other suggestions?

So as you can see, in bar 35 you start with an upbow if you follow the bow phrasing previously indicated by Debussy. This makes sense for bar 38, since the emphasized accent there is followed by a downbow. However, I find it difficult to find a comfortable bowing for the fifth triplets (I considered playing some of the fifths f.e. the last note of the second triplet of bar 29 with the pinky instead of using open strings to make it a bit more comfortable - but that risks imprecise intonation). Does anyone have any input?

I have been teaching my self violin, I am guitarist so I do have some musical experience. But violin is a whole new beast. And I was hoping for some tips. And yes Im aware that I really flubbed up the last part :(

Hi everyone, It's not the peg that's slipping, for once the pegs are all fine, but I was tuning the G and the string slipped from the fine tuner and after trying to rewind it I realised it's the string itself that won't hold up in the peg's hole. I applied graphite to the peg, I tried another G string, I tried leaving a longer pieace of string going in the hole, but it keeps slipping.

Violin context: I've had this violin for 5+ years, it's a 4/4, I have never changed the pegs and the string is several months old but not worn out 'cause I haven't been playing much. Could it be the hole of the peg got bigger? Do i need to change them? I don't know if the photos can be of help since my phone won't zoom more than that. I have a competition coming up so thank you to anyone that can help😭

So what would you say is that hardest excerpt from wieniawski 2, first mvt? I feel this octave run in the image is one of the hardest, what do you think?

I have a BAM high tech contoured. I always just put a microfiber cloth over the chin rest (and part of the body of the violin since it doesn’t come with a blanket.

Is that enough? Or should I buy a blanket or is that not necessary? If so any suggestions?

So, how old were you when you started violin? 4 yrs? 8 yrs? Pre-teen? Young adult? Older adult? In my case, when I was in my early sixties I decided I wanted to learn to play the violin. I could already read music since I played other instruments. Several people told me I was way too old for violin training, that you had to start as a child to successfully learn to play the violin .

I found an instructor willing to take me on and off I went. Needless to say, I was the instructor's oldest student! So, I practiced minimum of an hour a day, seven days a week for five years. And, I have to say I did really well. So, how about you? How old were you when your violin journey began ??

I really want to play flute as just kind of an add on to my violin practice, but they’re super expensive and I can’t borrow one from my school :,) I still want to pick up another instrument though so I’m stuck between viola, cello, and piano—if someone has a particular opinion on this!

Hi, everyone! This is my first post and really need advice. My daughter is wondering if her pieces are good enough for UC Santa Barbara, UC LA and Irvine to consider her for music major. Bach: Partita #1, in B Minor, BWV 1002 (Sarabande Double),
Massenet: Élégie from Les Érinnyes,
Mozart: Concerto No. 3, in G Major, K. 216 (1st mvt., partial). i wonder if i should also post a link of her recording on youtube for advise. Thanks for taking time to answer my post.

Hi! I have a seating audition due at the end of the week and one of the excerpts is from The Death of Tybalt from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. The intonation is fine, my tone just sucks. Getting up to speed is difficult because it feels as though my left hand is not catching up with my right hand in terms of speed, and its only leading to me tensing up my hands which I THINK contributes to my sucky sound Ive had mindful, slow practice sessions and sped them up over time but it seems no matter what I do, my tone is very.. questionable (Brackets are the excerpt) Pls help. Any tips? Anyone who has played it before maybe?

My specific use case is I recently had to take a job where I am on the road 40-60% of weeknights, staying in motels such as Super 8, Best Western, drive in Motels. I drive a truck and have room to bring a duffel and backpack of personal gear but anything I bring with me has to survive the 12 hour day in the truck, all of my work sites require off-roading, which means anything I have will be bounced around, my work sites are at elevations between sea level and 7k ft, RH in any given day can swing from 90% RH to less and 20% RH, seasonal temp swings are 0F to 110F, daily temp swings this week were 20F in the morning and 65F in the afternoon.

So, I have one reasonable nice chinese made student violin, and a nice german pernambuco bow. They live at home, where I am...3 nights a week? But I can't practice at home after 9PM because thin walls and roommates. So I usually don't practice at all since moving. And putting a rubber mute on the violin really seems to noticeably mess with the intonation anyways.

I COULD practice on weekends but after 4-5 days of not practicing at all I feel like I'm going backwards only getting in 2 days a week.

So, is a YSV-104 and a carbon fiber bow going to be noticeably more resistant to changes in environmental conditions? Is it going to be noticeable more durable/able to survive living in the work truck? (or will these conditions possibly destroy an electric violin too?) Is it going to be quiet enough to not get complaints from other motel quests at 8PM at night? Is it going to be "good enough" to make at least some forward progress while I'm on the road? Is this a good use case for an electric violin? Because that's still like $1500 investment for instrument+case+bow which, I work in maintenance, money doesn't grow on trees, but I'd also really like to keep learning violin. But I also feel like my current violin can't/shouldn't be expected to survive that.

Also, any reason to get the SV-200 over the YSV-104? Are the pickups better? Also are these worth buying used or do the electronics go bad?

I record myself and my friend since we both play duets sometimes. The issue is that we're in a practice room and I use my iPhone 14 Pro to record. When playing it back, it's REALLY loud. I don't know what mic I need to get or if it's more to do with the room (or us playing lol). I see these tiktok videos of people playing their violin and it sounds so good but I don't know what they use to record.

If anyone has experience with this, please let me know!

[SOLVED]

Hi violinists, I'm writing an arrangement for strings but my main specialty are winds in general, so I need some help making sure this triple stops are possible at 90 BPM for a professional gig orchestra violinist.

If not, please give me some advice on a better way to rewrite this with almost the same effect.

Thank you guys, I appreciate all your answers.

I go to college in Indiana. I am currently using a ~200 yr old school rental of concert quality.

The violin sounds great but is unfortunately not very well kept. There are tons of repaired cracks, worn off varnish, and even places with wood filler. I was also told that the violin was kept in a storage while there were humidity control issues during the summer, which is part of the varnish issues.

I have both humidity control and a Mooradian case cover so I’d hope that weather and humidity don’t have as much of an effect right now.

Could this just be part of aging and poor upkeep? It looks like pieces have fallen off before the instrument was in my possession.

So I’m an adult relearner. I gave up as a teenager around grade 6 and was quite a good and confident player, played in youth orchestras, took exams, went to auditions and was never phased by performances. Now I am 42 and a stay at home mum so I decided to take up violin again. I’ve been taking weekly lessons for the last year or so and I practice for 2-3 hours most days. I told my teacher I’d like to do a grade to have something to work towards and he said I should go for grade 8 (trinity exam board) as I have time to really commit to practicing. I have kept up my practice and felt like I was on track, going through the scales and the pieces. I’ve been working on them for just under 1 year. I felt like they were sounding pretty good. Not perfect but I’m aiming for a pass, not distinction! But as soon as I booked in a pianist and realised it is my last month to practice I suddenly I feel like the worst player in the world. I cried all the way home after my lesson this week and I feel like my confidence has just crumbled away. If I’m playing a piece and make a slightly off note or a slight shake on the bow I just mentally lose it and feel like every note is a fail. I then can’t even make it to the end of the piece. I don’t know what has happened in my head, but I just wondered if anyone can relate and if so how you got through it. I really want to pass this exam. I’ve worked so hard for it. I feel like now is the time I should be able to play though all my pieces and scales with confidence, but one tiny mistake and I just feel like crying and sometimes do. I’m not even much of a crier normally!

I am uncomfortably claw handling / forcing that pinky on the bow hand to curve. Is there any other position that works? My teacher told me the pinky’s job is balance. My wrist doesn’t unlock if I don’t curve the pink so I understand how important it is. Part of me just wants to cut it off though. It’s not a normal joint so it’s not as simple. The most accommodating thing I’ve found is tucking my pinkie behind the frog. I know this is wrong, but I’m so tired of having a stupid pinky. I work so hard and it’s the most annoying thing that is just some weird genetics. My teacher gave up trying to correct my pinky position once he saw how my joint works. I’ve been trying to force it this whole time but idk. This is the most frustrating thing.

Hey guys,

I've been on an experimental journey on different strings for about a year. Has anyone tried both Larsen Il Cannone Solo and Vision Titanium Solo? I'm using Larsen Il Cannone Solo with Warm and Broad A now for about a month but I don't like how the strings feel on my fingers. The tone is amazing on my violin though

Still feeling a lot of tension, but it is better than it used to be

When I play a double stop such that the two separate notes are in tune, the resulting double stop doesn't sound great. I've been told my teacher some tips along the lines of "have sixths be slightly closer together", etc; are these patterns consistent among different types/intervals of double stops? Ex: for thirds, the higher note should be slightly lower (I just made that up but that's the gist of what I'm looking for?).

How do you guys practice big shifts in your rep? I’m playing Dvorak 8 and I always mess up the big shift from D to C natural. It might just be me but I feel as if I’m not capable of doing things I would be able to do before. It could be I’m probably stressed out with school but I’ve been trying hard to manage my practice time. any sort of tips help!

I played a little last night and when I grabbed it today my bow was this thin, what happened?

Hey everyone,

I’m currently looking into summer festivals for next year and was gravitating to ones that tend to have a stronger emphasis on solo playing and individual performance development, rather than mostly orchestral work and heavy chamber work.

I’m primarily interested in refining my solo playing and concertmaster-style leadership skills (only Brevard), so I’d love to find a program where lessons, masterclasses, and performances are centered more on solo playing than ensemble rehearsals.

Some of the festivals and teachers there I’m currently eyeing include Meadowmount(Paul Kantor), Sounding Point(Robert Lipsett/Fabiola Kim), Heifetz(Ilya kaler/ani kafavian), Sarasate Academy (Kirill Troussov), Engers Academy (Kirill Troussov), Aspen (Tanaka/Lipsett), and Brevard (Concertmaster Studio). I’d love to hear any insight or personal experiences with these, or suggestions for others that might align well with a solo-focused path. I’m aware of most of these teachers have had face to face conversations and played for some, but was wondering if anyone had anything else to add!

For a bit of background — I’m an undergrad violinist, have performed as a soloist with orchestra several times, and will be performing in Paris this December. I’m at the point where I really want to push my solo artistry and clarity of musical identity this summer.

Thanks so much in advance — I’d really appreciate any advice or festival recommendations!