Playing the violin is about 15% left hand and 85% right hand...if you listen to all the great masters of old, the reason they all sounded so unique was because they USED THE BOW!!

The focus on the bow-arm was a lesson drummed into me by my cello teacher long ago when I was a kid. He told me an anecdote of when he was at a residential workshop in Spain studying with Pablo Casals. Waking up early one morning he heard someone practising in the concert hall and went to see who it was. It was the great man himself, in his late 80s at the time, working with intense concentration on the very same open-string long-bow exercise you illustrate. I suspect that it's the continuing focus on getting the unglamorous foundations right that helps separate the great from the merely good.

So true: I heard someone recommend imitating your favorite violinist earlier this week, so I watched a video of a soloist and kept noticing his beautiful bowing. When I started trying to imitate that specifically, I noticed that my left hand just automatically relaxed and functioned better as a result. I think the stress of sounding bad (due to bowing) is one of the factors that makes us clamp on the left hand more than necessary and strangle the vibrato/struggle with intonation.

I find that Kerson Leong is a big proof of concept of what you say: great bow harm and technique which makes him an excellent violinist and teacher. And, interestingly, in his lesson online he dedicates much more time to the bow technique than to the left hand…

7:48 That resonated so well, I've seen so many performances where it sounds muddy or muted.

Woww, thank you so much for this very good video, you say the right Thing. I hope you will continue to produce this kind of video because all the violinist community need this information. Once again thank you

This is an excellent video! Thanks!

For more than four years now, I enjoy playing the violin many days a week for several hours a day. It’s no struggle for me, that is, once I got the basics down. I find it very relaxing actually. In fact, I play many tunes by ear. The key to playing by ear, for me, is 1) be completely familiar with the tune, 2) know the first note in which the tune begins, and 3) know in which key signature to play the tune. Now that being said, I must admit, I play the violin aka fiddle only in the first position and with a “finger vibrato.” 😉 BTW: I never used dots or frets when learning to play the violin. I learned to play the violin only by the sound of each note with proper finger positioning and muscle memory. If I want to play a string instrument with frets, I play either my ukulele or mandolin. 👍Happy fiddling! 😊🎻♫

Thanks a lot for this. I've been working on my bow arm for last three months, and could hear significant improvement in sound (my teacher also told me so). This video will help me further

Excellent video. Brilliant teacher. Totally agree with everything you said. Pinchas Zukerman calls his bow arm his bank account. He doesn’t get paid if it doesn’t produce a beautiful sound. My first teacher (a student of Mishel Piastro) was all about the bow and the sound. It would frustrate me to see my rivals playing flashy concertos by Viotti and Rode (with less emphasis on producing a beautiful sound) when my teacher had me working on sober masterpieces by Bach and Beethoven. It was many years later that I came to realize, understand, and appreciate that it’s infinitely more important to learn about bow control and distribution, tonal colors and dynamics, and interpretation and phrasing on “easier” pieces than to show off with left hand pyrotechnics and a sketchy sound. Thank you for sharing your excellent insights with us. Keep up your great work!

Even as a retired professional, I practice 2 to 4 hours EVERY day in segments of one or one and a half hours. When I put away my viola for the day, next next day it seems I am starting all over again. WHY? Its all in the muscles and body. Its about training your muscles. 10 steps forward, and then 9 steps back. LOL

¡Gracias! Great content im learning a ton! Keep it up 💪

Very good video. I couldn't agree with you more. Though I'm only about six months or so into this, much of my attention has been on what I'm doing with my right hand. Contact point, keeping bow straight, control, and keeping a light pressure especially near the frog.

You were asking for video content. Have you ever done a video discusses how actually difficult the violin is and help people need patients and maybe describe the pitfalls in the struggles mental and physical that you may have had with the violin training. I'm always interested to hear how people struggled with violin and overcame it. I love to hear about times when you thought you wanted to quit we were frustrated you weren't making progress and when you practice when you really didn't feel like it maybe an injuries that you overcame or any personal relationships that were difficult all those kinds of things

I'm a very old beginner, and very quickly learned to take more notice of the bow than the fingering. Once I have learned a piece then that's when I watch the bow intently or it just goes off and plays something quite different all by itself! 😅

Thank you! I recently upgraded my bow and I am so amazed at the difference in my playing in one week compared to what it was with my old bow. I play without a shoulder rest like you and I find I tend to grip the strings down a bit much so I'm looking forward to concentrating on my bow arm and having the added benefit of relaxing my left hand. I really appreciate your videos and find your logically explained wisdom extremely helpful. Thank you again

of course, I couldn't agree more! one little question that might be a little technical: to take away weight from the bow, do you prefer to press the right pinky down or to rotate (supinate) the whole forearm keeping the pinky active isometrically but not having it actually pushing down? One other small thing: i noticed that the more you go at the frog, the more, if you pronate or supinate the bow forearm, the bow just crosses from a string from another (i think because of the position and leverage of the contact point from the balance point of the bow, but I wouldn't swear on it) without actually changing the amount of pressure that the hairs put on the string. That being said, what do you think is the right approach to play pianissimo, and conversely fortissimo, at the very frog? Just lifting it up with the hand and pushing it down? I hope I could explain myself, I know it's quite a difficult question to answer, but knowing that you are sich a bright analytical thinker, I would like to hear your opinion ;) thank you and keep up the good work

I was learning how to play violin. I was trying to tune it and then the sting literally fell out and I couldn’t put it back in tomorrow. I’m getting my mom or Dad to return it.

Wow nice mindset! Does staring at the contact points also help?

@Murphy Music Academy I have a question regarding physiology. I've just been made aware that I have a double jointed thumb. When I play my top knuckle bends out as it should but the next knuckle down collapses right in. It makes my hand look very odd but more to the point, I'm wondering have you encountered this while teaching and if so is it an issue? Will I potentially have problems down the road or could it actually be a useful trait? I'm now second guessing quite a bit about my playing thinking about it. Thank you

I've watched many of your videos! Thank you very much for all your tips. As a left handed person, I was wondering. How do you approach a left handed student? Greetings from Greece!

Hi Toby, you make great videos and anyone can learn a lot from them. Thanks for that. There‘s one thing that‘s bothering me though: What‘s wrong with being an amateur violinist (see 0:50 to 0:53)? Why do you put down the „amateurs“? I find this comment quite insulting for anyone who did not have the opportunity to become a professional violinist for whatever reason. „amator“ is latin and means: someone who loves, or simply: lover. Is there something wrong with loving to play the violin, if it‘s not done professionally?

I am surprised to hear that it's uncommon to be focusing on the right arm. The by far most interesting aspect of violin playing is the violinist's bow arm. I have spent hundreds/perhaps some thousand hours rewatching the videos of Heifetz and other violinists just to be awed and inspired by the way the arm and hand moves. That's what's special about bowed instruments, the bow/bow arm is literally our voice, the basis of expression.

And also the bow might more important than the violin, you can buy a violin good enough for non professional even in 500USD but the bow can be a little bit more expensive if you want the tone to be nice.

I can't afford to take violin lessons so I am trying to learn violin but I can't do at all

I try to understand but I speak spanish, deberías poner subtitulos

I'm left handed and all my attention goes to my weaker right hand. :)

Oh my God Violin 🎻 has to be the most complicated instrument ever ! Ahahaha aaa

so if you're a left handed adult learner (of a somewhat advanced age) are you doomed......?