Reddit reviews Principles of Violin Playing and Teaching

Galamian, Flesch, and many others who have shaped modern violin playing over the past several centuries have written quite clearly that classical violin vibrato should consist of the accurate pitch, it lowering, and then going back up to the true pitch. They almost unanimously speak out against going above the pitch.


See:
The Art of Violin Playing - Carl Flesch

Principles of Violin Playing and Teaching - Ivan Galamian

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Of course there are some other schools of thought, but these are by far the commonly taught and accepted practices. The ear tends to perceive the highest pitch, so vibrating above the absolute pitch will usually give the impression that the note is sharp and out of tune.

An extra wide vibrato can be suitable in some situations and may lead to the upper pitch passing the absolute pitch slightly, but it is far less common and certainly not how one should think vibrato in most situations.

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>I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority of players rock forward first

I would absolutely take you up on that bet.

Hey, I teach violin lessons, mostly beginners. I have a plethora of info for you. :)

Not gonna lie, violin isn't really like piano in that you can teach yourself pretty well if you're really committed. It's just that so much depends on you and your build and how you use certain muscles, it's really tricky. You could get a lot down but I'm moreso worried about the possibility of developing bad habits that can easily become painful.

Where are you from? If you're near me, I'd so give you lessons, free of charge. Or, if you're interested, if you send me pictures of your set up I could give you see how I can help you out.

But anyway, if you do end up learning through books, your best bets are Galamian's Principles of Violin Playing and Teaching and Fischer's Basics. The Galamian is more straight up book reading but has a lot of priceless information. The Fischer is one of the best books ever and is I think around 300 or so exercises that covers pretty much every technique. It's expensive but so so very much worth it.

Also, in regards to instruments, if you really want an acoustic violin, they sell practice mutes that work really well. I used that one when I lived in a small apartment building with paper thin walls, works like a charm. The only thing that gets me about electronic instruments is that being able to feel the vibrations and resonance, nothing can really take the place of that. You could probably find a decent instrument for about the same price range.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have more questions, and good luck! :)

Just popping in to say that, while the Russian bowhold really does give you power, it also will generally give you tendonitis... So you may want to rethink adopting it. The franco-belgian bowhold is much more balanced and is much better for your body (though tendonitis is still a possibility- repetitive motion is brutal on your body). That said, if you really want to check it out, the link myintellectisbored shared is good, and so is Galamian (see here) or Auer.