How To Get An Awesome Sound On The Violin | Proven Techniques and Tips

Introduction

One of the biggest problems that I hear about from students is that they don’t like the way they sound. I hear a lot of comments like “Oh the dog left the room when I started to play. LOL.”

So in this lesson, I’m gonna give you a few practices you can do to dramatically improve your sound.

Here’s the super simple takeaway: Make good sound priority.

• Spend a little time each day focusing on your tone.
• Practice returning to a good sound throughout a session.
• Get a good sound on single notes and then maintain that as you do more complex things.

4 Practices for Improving Your Sound

There’s a lot you can do to get a good sound on the violin. Here are four practices that form a foundation for a beautiful tone.

• Centering
• Throw-away Bow
• Volume Control
• Dividing the bow into Thirds

1. Centering

You can improve your sound with a technique I call Centering.

Play a single note along with a drone.

Enjoy the sound. Make it effortless.

Not only that, but enjoy the feeling in your body of playing one note really well.

Then bring that good sound to more complex elements like

• Scales
• Chords
• Melodic chunks
• Songs

Keep returning to a single note to reconnect with that good sound and feeling.

2. Throw-away Bow

Develop a big, round tone with throw-away bow.

Do a long, fast bow stroke, letting the bow lift off at the end so that the string continues to vibrate.

I call this the “Thank you good night” note

Do it upbow too.

Then, keep that sound and feeling of release, but play continuous quarter notes in a loop.

Apply this sound to tunes like Irish Washerwoman by playing the Chaining game.

• Play the first note with throw-away bow.
• Play the first two notes, doing a throw-away bow on the second note.
• Continue chaining notes, always playing the last note with a throw-away bow.

Keep that nice big sound each step of the way…

Throw-away Bow is your Secret Weapon.

3. Volume Control

Play with different volumes to find a good sound.

Start by playing quarter notes with a medium volume.

Then play it loud (aka forte). Use longer bow strokes and more pressure.

Then play with a quieter volume. Use short bow strokes and less pressure.

You can do each practice on single notes as well as scales and tune Chunks.

A slightly more advanced practice is to practice volume swells. Gradually get louder (crescendo)…

…and then gradually get quieter (decrescendo).

4. Dividing the bow into Thirds

Make friends with the different parts of the bow.

Play in the upper third, middle, and lower third of the bow.

At first it helps to tape the bow so you can easily see each third.

How does it feel different in each section?

The ultimate goal is to achieve a nice-sounding whole bow.

Conclusion

Get a good sound by practicing Centering, Throw-away Bow, Volume Control, and Thirds.

If you do this every day, then you enter a virtuous cycle. As your tone improves, you enjoy the practice more. That enjoyment means you’re more likely to practice again tomorrow.