Anyone play the violin?

[mikeG]

jus cake it on, the more on makes the bow stick better and gives a better sound

 

The rosin block is solid and shiny - hence cant cake it on. Maybe it is old and should be softer. I'll try the roughing/knifing/sandpaper approach and if no good, will get new rosin block.

[leahiz]

ye its ment to be solid and shiny, it just needs wearing in.. keep rubbing at it.

[mikeG]

A friend from Devon has emailed with the suggestion 'make sure the bow is at right angle to violin'. Dont think she means right angle as in 90 degrees. Suppose she means experiment with different angles. Its making an occasional squeak at the mo. I'll try a bit more sandpaper and rosin. She said she downloaded some instructions from the internet. How I ever found time to go out to work I shall never know.

[SILLY]

My daughter plays the violin I will ask her if she has any advice when I see her tonight. I can remember when she first brought one home from school at the age of 8 she never had any problem getting a noise out of it.

[Becky B]

I've got a book and video you can have if you want - Teach Yourself Violin.

It was a little bit too basic for me!

[The Mush]

The trick is to rough up the surface of the rosin cake with a knife and then give it a quick rub up with sand paper. Apply rosin to the bow and give it some more 5 minutes later. Keep doing this until you are happy with the sound. Too much will make it sound scratchy, but it will soon wear off.

 

Good luck.

 

I wouldn't say you need to rough up the surface - just apply in long smooth strokes - and certainly don't just "cake it on"! Too much rosin is far worse for the violin than not enough.

 

If the bow was new, or hadn't had rosin applied to it for some time then i would say apply about a dozen strokes as per above. Then only reapply once every half dozen times you play - depending on how long you play for.

 

Make sure you're not applying too much pressure on the bow - this is a commen fault for beginners. You should let the weight of the bow do the work for you and only need to add a small amount of pressure using your first finger on your right hand (it should be touching the bow on the joint of the knuckle) if the correct bow hold is being used.

[SILLY]

I asked my daughter as she teaches violin and gets lots of new pupils with new bows. She says more or less the same as The Mush but she says she uses her own rosin sometimes as new rosin can be hard to aply to a new bow.The new bow however makes her rosin go hard and shiny as it seems to polish it, so rough it up a bit and long smooth strokes. You might be better saving the bottle of Bells that you won to sweeten the neighbours when they come round complaining when your squeaks become wails.

[mikeG]

I've got a book and video you can have if you want - Teach Yourself Violin.

It was a little bit too basic for me!

 

Nothing could be too basic for me! If you could pop it in the post, I'd be much obliged. I'll make sure you are suitably re-imbursed for your trouble/postage cost etc. I'll pm my address and leave it up to you.

[mikeG]

Went to a music shop on Saturday and the guy said the rosin I was using was way past its best so I bought a new block of the stuff, applied it and we now most definitely have a noise. So, I can start practising in order to change this noise into something resembling music.

[mikeG]

Step daughter sorted me out. I hadn't got enough rosin on and the bow wasn't tight enough. Becky has sent me book, CD and video from Sheffield so I'm all set to start learning. Watch out for me on X factor.