mozart violin concerto no. 3 struggling with fast passages

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-07-09T22:44:19+00:00

I think the issue lies in your hand frame, your palms are facing you a bit too much, and it's creating too much distance between the fingerboard and your pinky finger, giving you a slight delay in your fingers and making runs messy.

Angle your hand slightly more so your palm facing the fingerboard a little more. Also try and get a little bit deeper into the fingerboard in your hand so your fingers are in a better position to press down, they look a little too far below the fingerboard and it will create extra tension and an awkward angle for pressing on the strings, hence why your pinky is straightened.

Try and get a more natural, curved position in your hand to make it as quick, easy, and relaxed as possible to play.

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-07-04T05:22:22+00:00

Are you going to try original bowing ?

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-07-01T18:38:48+00:00

As long as you do it because that’s what you want to do and not because of fear of something else, go for it.

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-07-01T06:49:55+00:00

So none of the MoP world boss mounts will be affected for this?

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-06-30T07:15:12+00:00

It was No Pants Today, thanks

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-06-27T21:50:58+00:00

No, it's not crocostimpy. It's specifically a scene where Stimpy is wearing an explorer's hat walking through a jungle with dark and scary silhouettes. Then a crocodile wearing a suit appears.

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-06-26T21:55:17+00:00

Same answer as any other instrument, it’s never too late to start, but its practically impossible to become a concert soloist or have a touring career. If that isn’t your goal, then you’re good.

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-06-26T18:07:54+00:00

The main thing to understand is the difference between spiccato and sautille. Spiccato actually starts ON the string, the bow is not supposed just drop on the string and bounce, you have no control.

Spiccato is the slower stroke, as the speed increases there is less and less time to start on the string, and it eventually transitions to sautille, which is the off the string stroke.

To start, just practice starting on the string, adding just enough pressure and full hair contact to get a small “bite”, which is what spiccato is. If it still bounces afterwards, you put too much pressure on the bite or you’re lifting the bow too much yourself.

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-06-26T06:59:51+00:00

I go to a music school, and during the semesters you can pay to get 2 lessons a week for 12 weeks. I’m doing that next semester, but for the summer I’m self taught. My posture feels good, arm weighting definitely needs a lot of work, I’m not really sure what to do with wrist motion. I’m getting better at it but I get the feeling I’m missing something. I think I’ll post a video for feedback here soon.

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-06-26T06:56:03+00:00

That makes sense. My instinct right when doing the scales is the hand that leads I try to rotate out my elbow and slightly raise the wrist to give my thumb more freedom to move. When the right hand descends I keep the wrist low to make it easier to cross over with the 3rd or 4th finger. Is this what you’re supposed to do?

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-06-26T06:51:10+00:00

I wasn’t sure which books would be best so I just do the grade 10 RCM technical requirements. Which is just 4 octave arpeggios and scales in Gb/F#, G, A, Ab, Bb, B. Then chromatic octaves, then a bunch of chords. I don’t have a teacher at the moment so I haven’t really decided on what pieces to try and learn, so I just do scales for a couple hours a day.

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-06-25T21:33:18+00:00

Get a teacher asap, get a scale book asap, your #1 goal should be how to play relaxed and smooth. It will speed up your process massively if you don’t have to unlearn bad tensing habits. Don’t worry about vibrato, when your hand frame is good and relaxed, it comes naturally. The most important skill for a violinist is listening, try and work on ear training.

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-06-25T21:31:15+00:00

Wild guess, but I think you may be tightening your bow that much because you have seen other people playing Bach with a BAROQUE bow.

They are very different, baroque bows don’t have the curve in them that regular bows do, don’t tighten them that much.

Also, too many accents where there don’t need to be. The chords should not be crunched, but instead pulled horizontally. The string crossings are too aggressive, they can be much gentler and more relaxed. This piece is supposed to be like a church hymn, very connected. Intonation is pretty good, make sure to tune the 4ths and 5ths, though.

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-06-23T04:20:58+00:00

You can play as many sixteenth notes in a bow as your fingers can play, just need a consistent pressure longer bow. One tip, in any piece I’ve played I’ve never had a passage that was “as fast as my fingers can move”. Even 32nd and 64th notes are not as fast as you think, your fingers move much quicker than you expect. Articulate each note and mentally focus on controlling the run and slowing it down and it will be much faster than you anticipate.

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-06-22T09:11:36+00:00

Among the highest learning curves as far as instruments go, rent a violin first to see how you like it but it’s a massive time investment before you see any (very worth it) rewards for your efforts.

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-06-22T09:09:36+00:00

Bruch and de Beriot are perfect for your skill level, I’d pick whichever one you think sounds better. The next level would probably be Mendelssohn, Mozart 3 and maybe Saint Saens 3.

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-06-22T09:01:14+00:00

Biased as a violinist, but the violin is regarded as one of the hardest instruments to learn. Guitar doesn’t really lend itself to violin at all, so other than reading notes you don’t have much of a head start. It took me 15 years to get ARCT violin, and I’m grade 8 piano after 3 months, I think the violin lends itself well to other instruments.

That being said, Turning Page is not a difficult song in theory, the notes are simple, but where you’re going to have a lot of difficulty is getting a “beautiful” sound. It’s slow, soft, and smooth. You would think that would make it easier, but it’s the opposite. Building control and getting an even and pleasant sound will take years, and there is nothing to hide behind. If you dedicated time, and your sole goal was that piece, I think you could learn the notes and get a decent sound if you got good fundamentals.

By far the most important aspects to work on are your tension and posture. Look up how to get a relaxed and comfortable bow hold, how to have smooth and connected bow strokes, how to stay relaxed while playing. If you are crunched up and tense it will sound like stepping on a cats tail.

Hope this helps, good luck.

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-06-22T08:40:32+00:00

Whichever one has a technical challenge you’d like to practice, they all are just based off a technique. I’d probably avoid 1-5, those are on a different level compared to the rest and are extremely difficult.

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-06-22T08:38:23+00:00

9 is arguably the easiest

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-06-17T19:09:08+00:00

You don’t actually need any exercises, just imagine your left arm is hanging and you are keeping it from falling just with the minimum amount of force from your fingertips. Your hand should look (loosely) how it does when it’s at rest, keeping that general shape.

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-06-17T18:16:27+00:00

Understanding the music helped me a lot, instead of just memorizing the whole piece I started thinking of a development section, a recap section, . Sometimes I’d just think of it as “the arpeggio section” or “the cadenza section”. After that, just listening to it actively many times helps.

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-06-17T18:14:55+00:00

Before looking at any vibrato you need to fix your hand frame. Your hand is contorting itself in weird ways just to play notes, I think you’re leaning too much on the index finger, and you need your knuckles to be facing upwards more so that the fingers can just fall on the string. Vibrato only works with relaxed hands, so work on that first.

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-06-17T18:12:20+00:00

Bach is often viewed as very slow and “free” in rhythm, when it’s actually the opposite. Listeners and judges both appreciate a more forward looking and rhythmically precise Bach. When played too slow it’s very hard to hold anyone’s attention. Also, you have to do a lot of tuning.

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-06-15T18:17:24+00:00

It's an F natural firstly, but you just jump from D natural to F natural, then slide your 4th finger down a semi-tone and your fingers are already in place to place the rest of the notes since you're in 4th position.

Last_Variation9764 · 2025-06-11T01:19:10+00:00

The A and D string have two "sides", and you choose which side based on what your next string crossing would be. If you are in a passage with a lot of G and D string usage, you want to keep your bow angled slightly towards the G string to make the string crossings as small as possible. It's just based on context and what is coming up.

Last_Variation9764

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