Importance of Relaxing While Playing the Violin

Video Transcript

Hi! I’m J-Adam Smith with Violin from the Heart, Fiddle Team USA, talking about relaxing with the violin with Expert Village. What’s wrong with me right now? What do you see wrong? Do I look comfortable? A lot of times, we don’t know that we are our own worst enemy in the violin. We don’t think about, ‘Is this comfortable to me when I play?’ Let me show you a few things. First, this did not look good, alright. Any expert would tell you, not just me, that this does not look good. Let’s think about it. First, our body has to be relaxed. Our shoulders have to be dropped, dead, let them go down. You have a chin rest and you have a shoulder rest. You have the word rest in it. They are actually giving in away to you guys. They are saying, look, relax, rest, don’t be tight. So this violin, ultimately your goal when you are playing it, you want to turn yourself sideways a little bit. Make your hip go towards the camera, if you have a camera on, just like I have. Then you’re going to put your violin on a rested shoulder. Let it sit down right on that, don’t bring your shoulder up to it. That also depends on how good your shoulder rest is. I hope that you’re not playing on an old-fashioned 1930 style shoulder rest. These are not comfortable. Get updated with equipment. This violin is going to be on the rested shoulder, not lifting up to it. Then, here are the trick guys. You turn your left hand, then you just put it down, do not squeeze. You’re not holding it; you’re not squeezing with your chin. You’re just turning your chin and naturally, you hold your violin. A good sign, if you are doing it right, is your violins going straight across, is hitting someone in the chest, it’s not down. Next thing, make sure when you put your bow up on your strings, make sure that your arm is being lifted up by your elbow and not by your shoulder. The shoulder does not go up; you lift through your elbow. It is going to be tiring, but trust me. A tired elbow and a sore shoulder are two things, and are completely different. I would rather have a tired elbow that’s going to get stronger by use than a hurt shoulder. So remember both shoulders are down when you are playing, you stand sideways and be relaxed. This is J. Adam Smith from Violin from the Heart, Fiddle Team USA. Relax with the violin.

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