hello this is Julia buccola and today
I'm going to be continuing my basic
series with the left hand so this video
is geared towards those who are either
self-taught or want to refresh their
left-hand mechanics from the very
beginning so for those of you who have
not ever started the violin or maybe
started but forgot thoroughly how to do
it here's what I would recommend you
want to look at your left hand in the
relaxed state as this and if you notice
all right now my my wrist is really
relaxed and it's positioned over my
forearm so if I bend my form this way
the wrist will fall if I bend my form
this way the rest would fall here and
open so what we want to do is just to
balance it upright vertically to the
floor to the center of gravity so that
it's loose but not falling this way or
that way okay so here's the first thing
notice where your sound would be
everybody's down would be in slightly
different place but wherever it is
that's the where it grows I call it so
the next thing there's Riley and what I
would do I would take it like this right
now and mmm that's the reason right now
I'm now going to be placing at my my
shoulder I want to first insert the neck
into my relaxed hand so here's my hand
relaxed so I would insert the neck in
there in between the fingers and without
doing anything else just keep it there
for a little bit so you position your
hand like this and then you take the
world and back out again
so here again you insert it there you
can slide it down you can slide it up
just to feel that body and now how your
hand is actually not reacting to it make
sure that your hand here is really dry
and very clean if you're touching the
varnish but you know dry hands are okay
in the varnish
a little bit okay so after you've done
it several times I would recommend the
next step next time would be so I'm
restarting it here make sure that your
thumb is about two inches or inch and a
half depending on the size of your hand
away from the nut so we know that in the
old days everybody was taught to place
the thumb by the nut trust me those days
are long gone we don't do it anymore and
if you see anybody who is teaching like
that believe me the students will later
literally learn how to get their thumb
out of there so the thumb should be
placed away from the nut just where it
grows okay so now whether your first
finger our index finger we call first of
course we will pull it slightly back and
that will look like this so if I don't
do anything you see this shape right
here of the finger when it's completely
relaxed so when I pull it back it goes
in becomes basically straight line with
the rest of the wrist okay so that's
what I want to hear we inserted it well
in then the first finger goes back and
that's where it stays meanwhile you
place your second finger on the E string
let's say or on a string maybe but maybe
an e string isn't the closest to you
find and then just hold and just a mmmm
interesting
notice that I am not at all in the
position of the violin position we'll
get there in the moment why would you
this way is as not to get any grabbing
or holding reflex that we all have or
squeezing god-forbid into our hand okay
so that's stage one the hand is not in
this position yet but in whatever
comfortable position in which you can
insert the violin in pull your first
finger back and place the second finger
maybe third next to it but it will be
always next to it force don't worry
about this so far okay
second stage second stage we need to get
the violin
in the proper position before we get
there I need to tell you that there are
very important moments of creating
comfort and this very uncomfortable
especially at first instrument and those
moments of comforts are created by the
chin rest and by the shoulder rest or
shoulder pad now we do have the
controversy that's going on to play with
shoulder rest or without children rest
believe me it doesn't apply to you if
you are a young beginning player all
beginning players start with some sort
of support we call it under the violin
between the violin and the shoulder so
the shoulder support can or the violin
support under shoulder rather it could
be actual show the rest in this case I
am using the wolf for to say quando it
can be a very much beloved by many
it could be actually a paired and this
for instance is the example of the play
on air or it can be even that sort of
pad by acoustic grip I believe it is
this one is called concertmaster so this
one is actually mount that one mounts on
your violin and space without anything
else so it's many people are using that
as well so let me show you what I would
do with the play on their playing there
pretty much goes on the violin the why
it's called play on there because you
actually inflate it yourself and you can
choose just how puffy you want to you
want it to be and here it goes and you
have a nice support nice cushion support
here there right now the good thing
about it is that when you are at first
time violinist and you will place your
chin on the violin you'll need to make
sure that your
you look straight and then you turn your
head just a little bit and then you
place your chin so when you do it your
violin might not be as comfortably
sitting there as - but even if it goes
down like this that's still okay at this
point it don't try to hold it with your
hand at this point it's not going to be
a good idea but if it's too much droops
you want to make sure that it's more on
your shoulder it's on the shoulder it
will be more or less parallel to the
floor it should be that's what you want
to get so now we are repeating the same
thing as we did before
now the violin is here you can also
support it by the way like I do it now
so I won't even be relying on my support
in there even though I have it and I
will go and insert in this position I
will go insert and pull my first finger
back here and I will put my second
finger on the E string so you will see
and they do that's what you want to
strive for that you have a straight line
right here so you in other words you
don't allow your hand to turn sideways
it continues to be straight your second
finger lightly touching East ring your
thumb is about two inches or inch and a
half away from the nut here and the
third finger also will be placed right
there next to your second finger and
again what I would recommend this we
chose with iteration just observe it and
get comfortable more or less comfortable
your first finger right now we can put
it on the string or we can just leave it
off and I will tell you in a second why
so second is on third is on then you can
lift both and just be there you will be
touching with the side of your index
finger to the neck of course you will be
by the neck right there and here the
thumb will be touching with this what I
call meaty part over thumb just as you
inserted it right there okay so that's
your fur
position if you want to put your fingers
on the a-string you can just do it by
fingers most likely if you have good
enough size of the hand you're not too
small your fingers are not too short but
then most likely you will not need any
accommodative movement of the elbow yet
but later when we go to the d and g
string then your elbow will come what i
call come in into your immediate space
so anyway but on e and a we don't do it
so at first we ignore the fourth finger
if you want to put a fourth finger there
it might not reach it might be like
there especially on a string it might
not reach don't worry about this we
don't use the fourth finger at first for
a while okay so that will be our second
stage of getting the hand there so
making sure again that also this space
big space between the base of the thumb
and the base of the first finger of the
finger that with which we point stays
very open in no way you want this to be
a squeeze but I believe we'll all of
these steps that you will take you will
actually not get to any squeeze so for
now that will be it I would suggest that
you would practice this for several days
and don't attempt to be to do anything
else with the left hand you want to be
thoroughly comfortable with all of these
different sensations including
positioning your violin here on your
collarbone and the dimension this
perhaps not but yes your violin needs to
be in touch with your collarbone right
there that's where it comes tunes right
there and instead of supporting it just
with the hand as people who are playing
without the any support do you may do it
later we don't know but at this point
instead of trying to do this you are
just letting it rest on your support on
your shoulder between your shoulder
and the front of your chest so here it
is and then placing the fingers all
right I hope this has been helpful and
you will get some successful first steps
and I will continue this in my next
video