Bought a violin many years ago but life got in the way of learning. I've got it out of storage and am determined the time is now right. I just wanted to say that your videos are incredibly helpful, any question I have you seem to have a video dedicated to it. Thank you for sharing your wisdom.

Hey Alison, when I was a child I learnt how to play the guitar, however when I was a teenager I decided I wanted to play the piano. That was ten years ago and for the majority of that time your channel has been one of my most valuable resources. Now I'm playing violin completely thanks to you and I just have to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being here on KZfaq all these years.

If I could give you eleventy billion stars, I would! Thank you Ms. Sparrow! My daughter (10yrs) and I really enjoy your lessons. I am a trained and experienced trumpet player (20+ years), but a beginning violin student. I love taking in your violin lessons to build upon my existing music knowledge. I've always wanted to know about when to up or down bow. You explain everything so clearly. Thanks so much.

Omg thanks! Every time I play the violin in orchestra, I always see myself playing in the wrong direction while others are playing in a different direction! I just don’t know why my music teacher haven’t taught us how to read those symbols! Thank you.

All of your video's are so helpful! Thank you! I can't really afford violin lessons so your videos have made a world of difference in learning to play. Thank you so much!

Thanks Alison…..I really enjoy your videos and easy to follow teaching methods.

wel yes within 1 year or less ALL my students get to a minimum of grade 1 or more but some in the past for example have gotten from nothing to grade 4/5 within about 18 months - just through sheer practise and a natural flare for the instrument. That doesnt happen very often but it is possible even with students who dont have that natural flare so to speak, but practise literally 3hrs each day. Its all in the practice...practice...practice lol.

Thanks a lot. Your lessons help a lot of non-professional players.

I'm almost at the 7-minute mark Miss Allison and you have so clearly answered the question that was on my mind about when to switch When some of the notations are already there for up bow or down bow thank you so very much. Now I'll watch the rest for any other pointers

It's kind of funny that you mention that slurring with a bow is quite difficult at first. I'm a classically trained woodwind player, so I get the terminology of music. But, I was just saying that it's funny, you mention the slur with a bow is a bit tricky or difficult... I found it to be the most easiest way for me to play, as I forget to move the bow back the other direction for the following note! And as you've mentioned in a more recent video, that vibrato can be difficult. I would absolutely agree. My violin is going all over the place whenever I try vibrato. Definitely not as easy as signing or blowing into an instrument with vibrato! I wish there was an easier form of vibrato on the violin, as now that I'm aging my tendons in my wrist aren't wanting to move so freely. I kind of wish I had started on string instruments first, to get the muscle memory down first. It's also funny how when you sit down and think about the direction of music between a violin versus a wind instrument or even the bass keys of a piano, you're tone is going backwards. Meaning, that as you bring your hand what feels like moving to the left (towards your left pinky), not thinking about that you're coming towards your face... I just mentally got how to think about it... I wasn't thinking about in the terms of the closer you get to your face, the higher the notes get. Before I was just thinking, it's way wrong for the way the hand feels (my left hand is moving left, why aren't the notes getting lower? Because in my mind, I'm not reversing the fact that my handing being reversed is mirroring the keyboard as I play from lower to higher [just another mental thought I had when picturing when I play guitar. your hand is physically going the same direction as the keyboard, so to speak. But, it still hard for me to mentally think that my hand is physically going that direction, because it feels like it's going to the left, as I said with the violin]). But with the new mental vision for me, that will help tremendously. It's also funny how when you write things and are forced to think things out, before you write/speak, you get it after trying it out on your own... Does this ever happen to you as you teach your students? Or does this whole post, jut confuse everyone more!?

Super helpful simple and clear many thanks

you move the bow slower without loosing any sound. Is a technique you need to practice - I did a video on this called How To Sustain the Bow but cant link it here....that vid may help. Alison

Great video. I'm transcribing an symphonic orchestral piece I wrote entirely by MIDI sequencing, and this helps to know the difference when notating down and up bows. Thanks for the info!

Alison...thanks for d wonderful and very thorough lessons. I find them to be very useful, since I am trying to teach myself the violin. I had a quick question regarding mariachi music. There is a piece of music called EL NINO PERDIDO.... It has a very long notes on the violin. I was wondering how one can sustain a note on d violin w/o running out of bow! I hope you have a chance to listen to some of that because that is the type of music I would like to play. See also Linda Ronstadt w mariach

Thanks for that advice! As beginner with Violin I shall consider that during practicing next time.

ok, !! Great video. I am starting out with traditional oriental violin and I must say that your videos are very very helpful. They answer almost all my questions. Thanks for the help, you are a treasure (and very sweet)! Keep it up.

Is it very important to know when to move up and down or is it more of just a fractional increase in the quality of your performance?

i just started learning the violin at school.I love it!

you're videos will help me to play the violin and also to learn english ^^ thank you from France :)

So excited to learn.

Oh dear, it's very very helpful, thanks alot.

Thank You. Madam. Very very Nice

Quite good. Helpful. Thank you.

yes. Go to my channel page and i have about 100 videos dedicated to the violin. Enjoy.

thanks for this vid! it was really helpful and informative 😊

Thankyou..I must have missed it..will revisit and hopefully realise how much I have progressed ...or not :)

Omg thank you so much I am playing violin for an group and I have this all mixed up, thank you a lot.

Your videos are immensely helpful for a day-one beginner. Question on this one: As a general rule, are you playing one note per bow? And then notes marked with a slur are the exception? Thanks!

Great video. For composing purposes, when can I know what type of bowing is appropriate and how often to mark it? I am a piano player, not a violin player so just want some general guidelines as to how it might work or feel for the player so it doesn't feel or sound unnatural. Also, how big is the sound difference between up and down? Thanks

a double stop is nothing like a slur as its playing 2 notes at the same time. but a slur is 2 notes usually one after the other but in the same bow stroke. I think what you are talking about is playing chords....so an open G and open E is impossible to play at the same time, but playing them in quick succession as you described above is double stopping, nothing like or to do with sluring

you can try to purchase a new bridge from your local music shop on online music retailer.

When you're playing, are you tilting the bow slightly at an angle? So that only part of the horsehair is actually touching the strings. It kind of looks that way in the videos, and I'm not quite sure if that's intentional.

Just about said everything. The first beat of the main bar you play on a down and if there is 1 pickup note, you go up. In a band with more than 1 violin and sometimes even violas & cellos playing similar parts you'd have everybody agree beforehand which way the bow would be moving so that the whole section looks at sync. Back in my school days, there are students who started off playing with about 3" bow even for long notes.

Thank you Alison!

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. It is very helpful, and I am learning. One question. Do most violin pieces end in a downbow, and does it differ when you repeat?

Hey there, I'm kinda new in playing the violin. Can you give me some advice on how to bow the violin properly like do I need to move my wrist or something? Any advice would be helpful. Thanks and this video did really help me a lot!

So, I understand a slur as two notes played separately but with the same stroke of the bow. Not to be confused with a double stop. However with notes you can't double stop, ie: open G and open E; would you slur them to produce an approximate double stop? Sorry if you covered this in another video.

Dear Alison, I d like to buy your book. Where I can get it?

THANK YOU SO MUCH

Hi Alison ..l have loved learning to play my violin with your brilliantly done videos ...thank you....I'm looking forward to hopefully progressing even more with all of your other tips and advise. One thing I'm not sure about ..and l'm not sure if you've already covered this one ..but is there a right or wrong way in positioning your thumb whilst playing notes on the fingerboard?

I remember asking that question!!! YAY

awesome tips thanks heaps ! i noticed a up "yours" at 0:39sec into it ... is that part of the technique of perfect bowing :)

thank you for this great video. I like your accent btw 😁

very helpful.

this was super helpful ! thank you ;-)

yes. quite - or until you feel you want to do it differently to create a different sound effect, but yes.

If I have violin sheet music without slur markings, but it sounds bad with no slurs, how do I know when to slur or not? I'm sorry if this isn't clear!

I am doing an assignment and I was wondering, is it common for every note to be marked with a bowing direction?

For just 1 note are you meant to use the whole length of the bow everytime? Or is it just whatever sounds right?

do you always have to change your bow direction each time you change note?

The violin that we use came with 2 bows in the case; one is about 2-3 inches longer than the other one, and the horsehair is also longer. Do you know what the difference between them is, besides the length?

Hi Alison. Having trouble with slurring notes. I learnt the pieces first to get the finger positions correct and I am now going back and looking the phrasing, dynamics etc. However, when I slurr it sounds awful. Do you have any tips?

Hi

Thanks for this. How would you play down bow repeated notes within a slur and tenuto marks over each of the notes?

So it just goes up down up down up down etc... until you get to a connected note, then those are the same direction, and the pattern picks up again where it left off after the slur.

Thank you for explai.. wait!!! I forgot ..why you look very nice today Alison dear ok yes indeed the pick up note as I'm rekindelizing my reading skills you kno I had just! figured that out myself and now I come here and you confirm the lonely pick up note and on an upstroke? hmm seems I figure new things out all the time and I come here and you confirm them cool \m/ right up & down absolutely straight land in the middle make each note count isn't that from a movie? thanks for the vid later.

does the up and down has the same sound? what differentiate between those two? thanks :)

Hi, thank you for all the great videos. I am a beginner, I've been playing for 4 months now w I th lessons most weeks. I tend to play using a bow ( either up or down) , per note. I have to learn to play the same songs with 2 notes per bow where possible. I find that really awkward. Is it slurring the notes ? And won't it change how the songs sound? Thank you.

How do you know when to do a slur or not? And can you do more than two notes in the same slur?

How do you know when you have enough rosin on your bow.

I have a lot of bowing problems, as a member of a band there are times that my bowing does not go with the other violin player's bowing. Do you base your bowing on the upbeat or downbeat of a measure? After a 3 quarter rest of a 4/4 measure, does the next note goes on an up bowing?

Thanks. I learned this in strings but i fogot it.

Ohh

My bow bounces a lot when crossing strings very fast, any hints as to what it could be? As far as I know it's not really the tension of the hair as I corrected that months ago :)

Hey Alison! I have been through your violin lessons 1-10. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to figure out how to read the clef ( I mean if there is bs and #) and what notes to play then. Is there a video on this topic? Kind regards Natalie

Trying to purchase your books but the website keeps kicking me out 😡

a'm in love with you

lol - everyday is a school day...! :)

what if the note has no symbols?

The bowing seems like singing to me. you need to judge the air you are going to need and what not.

Why does F natural is more comon than F#

Someone from 10 years ago teach me how to read. Thank you.

I always thought the up and down bow markings remind me a bit of the frog and the tip...just thought I would point that out incase it helps anyone else

can't believe my violin teacher never taught this to me

I was watching violin players in an orchestra and every bow was in sync and i thought how do they do that? I was watching two cajun music violin players and it was the same.i thought how do they do that?😀

Slures means 2 or more notes in one bow

actually, the down bow icon REALLY looks more like a staple, than an N. :)

I asked an elephant if he played with an upbow. he said no, a dumbo