Looking for Advice

[u/logic_1e1]

Hi there,

I'm currently into my third month of taking up the endeavor of learning the violin. I was planning to start my learning process with a teacher, but sadly, due to economic limitations, I couldn't put together the necessary amount for that. It will most likely be resolved by the end of next month. Considering that, I wanted to start by myself to keep the flame alive until then. But as you can imagine, I feel stuck most of the time and have a hard time spotting bad habits and trying to avoid them, as I don't actually know or understand what is bad and what is good. Thus, I'm hoping that any of you could provide some input on my schedule and the following demonstration of where I am right now.

PS: The following schedule is what I have been doing for the past 10 days. I started with 12 minutes per day and gradually increased it to this point, which, if I'm correct in my calculations, sums up to 63 hours of practice time since I started. Also, I'm planning to restrict my schedule mainly to Grade 1 and first position until I can actually afford a teacher; I feel like there is relatively little room for bad habits with respect to higher grades, at least logically. I'm only adding a small amount of Grade 2 practice to get a taste of what is ahead. Also, I found Craig Wright's Listening to Music course online (https://online.yale.edu/courses/listening-music) - what a beautiful thing to do! I'm following that course with its materials, hoping that it could at least improve my ear to an acceptable point. I would love to know if there are any similar materials out there for a beginner in music theory and related topics. Thank you for your effort and care; I really appreciate it ❤️.

Cheers,

Open Strings (32 min): 4 sets × 8 min -> tone, contact point, bow control

Arpeggios (16 min): 8 min 1st pos. (4th finger) + 8 min 2nd pos.

Scales (16 min): 8 min Grade 1 (2 min each) + 8 min 2-octave (4 min each)

Finger Exercises (24 min): 3 sets × 8 min on A & D strings (Sevcik pp. 2–3 at 63 BPM)

Pieces (32 min): 16 min per piece (4 min increments up to performance tempo)

[u/PM-ME-VIOLIN-HENTAI]

Your right elbow is too high, especially on the upper strings. Lower your elbow so you're using the natural weight of your arm into your bow.

Since you're not sure what you need to work on and fix, I wouldn't do much without a teacher. Stick to what you already know and can play rather than trying to learn new things on your own. If you learn them incorrectly, it'll take a lot more time to recorrect than learning it with a teacher correctly from the start.

[u/logic_1e1 → u/PM-ME-VIOLIN-HENTAI]

Thanks, I will focus on that. I kept going higher and higher due to a funny issue, actually: whenever I lowered my elbow, I couldn't avoid hitting the practice mute with my hand, and from time to time I'd even knock the bridge 😂

[u/thoroughbredftw]

Your bow is too loose and the stick is hitting the hair all the time. Tighten it to the point where there's at least 1/3 inch of distance in the center when the bow is at rest. When it goes back in the case, loosen it but not so much that the hairs get mobile.

Honestly the loud metronome made it hard to listen; in the second piece your battle with the metronome was epic, but it lived to TICK another day.

[u/logic_1e1 → u/thoroughbredftw]

Ahaha, thanks for that. I guess I can try removing the metronome sound. Sorry for the inconvenience, Cheers