Hello. Could you please answer, what does “wet smok” mean?

@@el.shan.salim. “wet smack” but in Prof. Kalinovsky’s particular accent

here is a random question: Why are we first taught to use the tips of the finger first?

I’m also a guitarist studying violin. Good to know there’s others out there. My teacher before the pandemic was a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory back in the 1970’s., so Russian school….Good luck with your endeavor on the violin! 😊👍🎻

Thanks.

@@JSB2500 You're welcome! : )

@@skyko Hi Skyko! To explain: I've been playing the violin for around 18 months and I reckon it's going great. I'm certainly enjoying it immensely! I did a recording recently in an empty church - maybe an hour long. Listening to the recording, I noticed just one thing that stood out, and that was lack of continuity of vibrato from one note to the next. Maxim Vengerov and Tobias Murphy have both mentioned the importance of this. I've been working on this since. I don't find it easy. At the moment I'm timing the vibrato such that I move to the next note at the lowest pitch point of the vibrato. I then finger the next note and continue the vibrato from there. I reduce the amplitude of the vibrato when I transition between notes. I hope that this technical description makes sense. Shout if not. I very much want to avoid the auto-shimmer you mention and warn against. I play flute as well (as well as organ, which you've heard - thanks for your compliment on my channel! 🙃), and I definitely don't auto-shimmer the vibrato on that. It's all nicely controlled. Also quite naturally expressive. From what you say and have experienced, I think I'm on the right track. I intend to try and copy my flute vibrato on my violin. Cheers, John.

​@@JSB2500 Hi John, You are as ambitious a musician as I am! Congratulations on your ability to pursue your life dreams and infuse your life with an abundance of art and meaning more than nearly anyone else could imagine. Regarding your vibrato, I would say to please TAKE YOUR TIME with it. As you know, practicing anything will eventually make you better. The more you practice the faster you gain expertise. Just never forget that vibrating faster is NOT your goal. This may sound counter-intuitive so let me explain. After a year and a half of playing the violin you sound happy with your progress, so this is a great sign. If you begin to “push” your vibrato tempo against your brain/hand/arm/finger coordination, it can lead to a drastic “tremor like” or “tremolo” vibrato that is shaky and not pleasing to the ear. What I’ve surmised is that because one who pushes like this is SO EAGER to progress, he/she forces the hand to shake or vibrate unnaturally, and the brain sort of “fills in the blanks” by creating this uncontrollable shaking tick. When you are learning vibrato it is a fully conscious endeavor. You are thinking and concentrating on making your fingers arm wrist & hand work together in a way that is completely foreign to anything you’ve done throughout your life. (This may be a reason why children have an easier time learning stringed instruments than adults). If you learn this the WRONG WAY, it will transfer into your subconscious and every time you enable your “vibrato now” command, you will hear this uncontrolled shaking, mess of a vibrato emerge and wonder why it sounds so bad. So, please - take your time with it. Truth be told even though you may want speed at the moment, what you REALLY want is CONTROL. When you have control, then speed will come as an added benefit & afterthought. I play the violin, sing, guitar, piano, drums, computer and make films. The hardest thing i’ve EVER done in my life was to master my vibrato. (And it’s still not 100% there yet). I’m 58, so I have hopefully enough time to get it even closer) Lol. Hopefully, this helps you. The violin vibrato is a miraculous thing, it is like a fingerprint - no two violinists have the same sound. And I venture to say that 98% of the semi-pro KZfaqr teachers unfortunately do not have a full grasp on how to do it properly let alone how to teach it. I like this lady a lot! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/h82ajdCpvJrTiKM.htmlsi=EvIqhwx93dGwDtuQ Please write back if you have any more questions or feel free to email me - my email is in my KZfaq Bio. Cheers!! Skyko : )

@@skyko Thanks Skyko. Lovely to meet you! The internet is surely a marvellous thing for enabling such like minded people to meet!! I love this sentence of yours, "Congratulations on your ability to pursue your life dreams and infuse your life with an abundance of art and meaning more than nearly anyone else could imagine.". I think that's exactly right. It's exactly how it seems to me. I have mountains of music, nearly all of which I can play (I play most of Bach's organ works, plus Rach C2, plus Brahms, and so on), through which I can time travel and become all sorts of different people (composers) in different eras throughout human history. It's surely such a wonderful thing, that I treasure dearly. We are of similar age, as I think you already know. So far I have done exactly what you describe regarding violin vibrato. I have never forced speed; not even once. I saw too many flutists develop the dreaded nanny-goat vibrato by doing that... I totally agree about the vibrato fingerprint - I've been thinking the exact same thing! Also, I'm coming across more and more people who's vibrato I DON'T like - I'm pretty certain that means mine is improving. (With the flute, you don't notice your own tone getting better; you only notice other people's tone getting worse! 🤭). I'm very much an emotion centric musician (like you!). I want my violin vibrato to express my feelings at every point throughout the individual notes and the whole piece. I do not want to copy others (except to explore what I might like). My family will have to endure my slower vibrato for longer. I suspect they think it's too slow, but I'll be mentally strong and know - with your help - that I'm on the right path. With everything I do I'm in for the long game - no quick fixes for me!! I may be in touch via email. Cheers, John.

Agreed!! I see so much of Havas in his explanations here.

But i do admit that after reviewing, i also see things that is greatly important but is not from Ms. Havas. I plan to rewatch this course soon.

Galamian never thought at the Indiana University. Gingold did …:)

Prof. Kalinovsky studied with Pinchas Zukerman who of course studied with Ivan Galamian, who had DeLay as his assistant for years until they fell out. Nearly all of his technical advice comes from those schools of thought, though he is personally obsessed with making violin playing more ergonomic, but I never heard him mention Dounis.

Attack the violin with every atom in your soul!

It's an exercise to teach the hand to react quickly and become more springy in real playing. And if you haven't tried it trust me it works wonders in improving mushy finger action into proper left hand articulation particularly for fast passages where that is needed most.

These exercises adress weakness in left-hand technique and if you've seen his whole series, set you up to play with tension applied when needed ,' rather than as a result of unexpected consequence as a result of playing with "correct" technique which only works for a very few select individuals. They could also be seen as how a tennis forehand stroke is practiced complete with the closeup of the hands at the end. Almost never is it executed during match play like this, nevertheless, it teaches a consistency and repeatable pattern and framework which becomes automatic in actual playing! I've seen vast improvement in the efficiency of my own learning and my students playing in incorporating these philosophies to practice.