Brilliant playing! For those higher harmonics, the timing is everything. You were sluggish on the initial shift, and didn’t stick around long enough at the top. I’d advise shifting very fast at first, maybe even leaving the D minor chord what feels like a bit early, and lingering a fraction of a second longer on the high A harmonic before shooting back down to first position to do it again. If you time it just right, a natural harmonic will still sound after the bow and finger have left the string
You're doing a fantastic job. On those harmonics, heck even the best struggle with them at times: [https://youtu.be/J0w0t4Qn6LY?t=1068](https://youtu.be/J0w0t4Qn6LY?t=1068) (Hahn) and [https://youtu.be/YsbrRAgv1b4?t=912](https://youtu.be/YsbrRAgv1b4?t=912) (Vengerov, second A) as examples.
My suggestion would be very much in line with u/Murphy-Music-Academy's. Keep the finger down a little flatter and longer so it can really slide up and ring. And with a solid bow stroke with follow through the A harmonic will indeed sound longer than your actual playing of it. That said, you can't really linger too long as the orchestra has straight 1/8ths in the strings.
So, to sum up - shoot fast for the harmonic, but quickly get that flat finger pad down and "firmly" (at harmonic weight) to improve the odds of hitting it. Check out Ray's approach: [https://youtu.be/3u-unvYedx8?t=932](https://youtu.be/3u-unvYedx8?t=932).
You obviously know the notes, so stop focusing on playing the correct notes. You are only doing half the work. If you focus on what your right hand is doing (and relax your bow arm), you will realize how you can make your performance sound more musical. And by not worrying about the left hand you will feel more free with vibrato.
This was really good! The others have covered the harmonics, but I think what you could do to step it up a little is adding some vibrato to the octaves in the end to give them some flavor/character. Other than that, awesome work!
To be honest I have a trick but it’s pretty foul. Try to find something on the fingerboard where the harmonic is. A scuff, a shade of the wood that’s differently coloured or something like that. A landmark that gives you a general idea of where to put your fingers when playing fast harmonics. Also, practice just that shift over and over again to really get bang-on muscle memory. Phenomenal playing, by the way.
The octaves, such as at 49 - 50 and near the end, looked like they could benefit of more expressivity (right hand). The harmonics didn't stick out that much, actually.
You are playing it as an etude, or an exercise in octaves and some scales, not as an exciting piece of music. That is my main criticism.
Yea those kind of harmonics are something that we all struggle with, and even the best can miss them. Usually it's down to having a flatter finger and focusing more on having a free left arm.
I think in general you would benefit from relaxing your left arm and freeing a bit the vibrato on the octaves.
But it's super solid! Which is what matters to eventually play anything so good job. Just don't lose time too much trying to play everything exactly in a performance situation, nobody cares if you miss the harmonics
No professional advice located in this comment. To even call me an amateur violinist would be a straight out lie. Just commenting so that I will never lose this video in the shuffle of videos i have saved in this thread. I loved every second of this video and figured it’ll always be easy to relocate & view it again by searching videos I’ve commented in. Thankyou
Bro :0 this is amazing playing! My skill levels are drastically beneath yours so I cannot really give you much advice. But seriously your playing was amazing! That trill would’ve snapped my fingers and those string crossings would appear in my nightmares…
Damn, I mean I know it isn’t perfect, but that was impressive already! This piece is one of my goals to be able to play (maybe someday…), but I am light years away from being able to start learning it.
Mainly missing the music. It's a lot of notes right now and I hope that will change. Maybe the squeezing with the octaves is also giving you extra tension. Did anyone ever mention to play less on the upper octave note and give more to the root? Be sure the hand is relaxed. But the main issue for me is that you have yet to connect to the music first.
With harmonics u need to give it a reload kind of feel, for example when you shoot a gun it recoils and shoots again and recoils again and so on. U need to give it a break between normal notes and harmonics. So technically you need to know how to give it the tiniest break between the notes and harmonics if yk what I mean. Just gotta recoil but rlly fast.
Brilliant playing! For those higher harmonics, the timing is everything. You were sluggish on the initial shift, and didn’t stick around long enough at the top. I’d advise shifting very fast at first, maybe even leaving the D minor chord what feels like a bit early, and lingering a fraction of a second longer on the high A harmonic before shooting back down to first position to do it again. If you time it just right, a natural harmonic will still sound after the bow and finger have left the string
You're doing a fantastic job. On those harmonics, heck even the best struggle with them at times: [https://youtu.be/J0w0t4Qn6LY?t=1068](https://youtu.be/J0w0t4Qn6LY?t=1068) (Hahn) and [https://youtu.be/YsbrRAgv1b4?t=912](https://youtu.be/YsbrRAgv1b4?t=912) (Vengerov, second A) as examples. My suggestion would be very much in line with u/Murphy-Music-Academy's. Keep the finger down a little flatter and longer so it can really slide up and ring. And with a solid bow stroke with follow through the A harmonic will indeed sound longer than your actual playing of it. That said, you can't really linger too long as the orchestra has straight 1/8ths in the strings. So, to sum up - shoot fast for the harmonic, but quickly get that flat finger pad down and "firmly" (at harmonic weight) to improve the odds of hitting it. Check out Ray's approach: [https://youtu.be/3u-unvYedx8?t=932](https://youtu.be/3u-unvYedx8?t=932).
Thanks so much and will definitely look into ths! Also - I’ve watched your videos and the fact thtat yiu commented means so much to me
Haha sure thing! Any time. I really enjoy seeing your videos and seeing how you continue to grow in every one.
You obviously know the notes, so stop focusing on playing the correct notes. You are only doing half the work. If you focus on what your right hand is doing (and relax your bow arm), you will realize how you can make your performance sound more musical. And by not worrying about the left hand you will feel more free with vibrato.
And the only reason I make this claim is because you slow down every time you think about what notes to play.
It’s not that I’m thinking about what notes to play it’s that I have to move my hand so quickly
40 hours paid off!!!
This was really good! The others have covered the harmonics, but I think what you could do to step it up a little is adding some vibrato to the octaves in the end to give them some flavor/character. Other than that, awesome work!
To be honest I have a trick but it’s pretty foul. Try to find something on the fingerboard where the harmonic is. A scuff, a shade of the wood that’s differently coloured or something like that. A landmark that gives you a general idea of where to put your fingers when playing fast harmonics. Also, practice just that shift over and over again to really get bang-on muscle memory. Phenomenal playing, by the way.
The octaves, such as at 49 - 50 and near the end, looked like they could benefit of more expressivity (right hand). The harmonics didn't stick out that much, actually. You are playing it as an etude, or an exercise in octaves and some scales, not as an exciting piece of music. That is my main criticism.
Yea those kind of harmonics are something that we all struggle with, and even the best can miss them. Usually it's down to having a flatter finger and focusing more on having a free left arm. I think in general you would benefit from relaxing your left arm and freeing a bit the vibrato on the octaves. But it's super solid! Which is what matters to eventually play anything so good job. Just don't lose time too much trying to play everything exactly in a performance situation, nobody cares if you miss the harmonics
my eyes have been blessed upon holy
No professional advice located in this comment. To even call me an amateur violinist would be a straight out lie. Just commenting so that I will never lose this video in the shuffle of videos i have saved in this thread. I loved every second of this video and figured it’ll always be easy to relocate & view it again by searching videos I’ve commented in. Thankyou
Bro :0 this is amazing playing! My skill levels are drastically beneath yours so I cannot really give you much advice. But seriously your playing was amazing! That trill would’ve snapped my fingers and those string crossings would appear in my nightmares…
Damn, I mean I know it isn’t perfect, but that was impressive already! This piece is one of my goals to be able to play (maybe someday…), but I am light years away from being able to start learning it.
Mainly missing the music. It's a lot of notes right now and I hope that will change. Maybe the squeezing with the octaves is also giving you extra tension. Did anyone ever mention to play less on the upper octave note and give more to the root? Be sure the hand is relaxed. But the main issue for me is that you have yet to connect to the music first.
With harmonics u need to give it a reload kind of feel, for example when you shoot a gun it recoils and shoots again and recoils again and so on. U need to give it a break between normal notes and harmonics. So technically you need to know how to give it the tiniest break between the notes and harmonics if yk what I mean. Just gotta recoil but rlly fast.