Improving fiddle intonation

I recently came across this video of Lora Staples from Virtual Sheet Music explaining how to get perfect intonation on a violin. I found it amazingly useful.

Every now and again I think my fiddle is out of tune, only to find, after checking, that it isn’t; it’s my fingers that are out of tune - particularly when crossing from D on the A string to the open E. The method Laura describes (she says it’s part of the Suzuki method) is to listen for other strings vibrating in sympathy with the played note. It’s an unmistakable sound - it’s as though you’ve suddenly turned on reverb.

Like any new skill, you have to start slowly; but once you get it, it adds a new dimension to your playing.

https://youtu.be/fyqzXnZjjHE

play video

Also, playing your D on the A string, while actually sounding the open D (3rd string), will also tell you if are out of tune.

my first violin teacher did not tell me this for four years - which made the next one assume I was tone deaf when I started with her.

Yes, Jim, that’s so. But what I get from this method is more than just ensuring my fingering of D is in tune. It asks me to listen for a ringing, reverb sound that you get when other strings are vibrating in sympathy. Once I get that sound I know I’m in tune; I don’t have to check against an open string. And the sound is so much better that it makes playing fundamentally more enjoyable.

Yes exactly, when you hit a note just right it sounds more resonant, a distinct timbre.

When I was trying to learn fiddle years ago I noticed this effect and mentioned it to my teacher. Her eyes lit up and she said “Yes! So you can hear it! That’s how you know.”

Yes, Jim, that’s so. But what I get from this method is more than just ensuring my fingering of D is in tune. It asks me to listen for a ringing, reverb sound that you get when other strings are vibrating in sympathy. Once I get that sound I know I’m in tune; I don’t have to check against an open string. And the sound is so much better that it makes playing fundamentally more enjoyable.

I seem to have posted the same thing twice. Not sure how that happened.

“I seem to have posted the same thing twice. Not sure how that happened.”

You said it so perfectly that it his the resonant frequency of the discussion board and set up a reverberation.

That tickled me, Creadur 😆

@Creadur, witty indeed! 👍☺️

Nice one, Creadur !!

Solid solid one Craedur

The biggest break-through for me on fiddle was that after I finger a note I can still tweak it to perfection as the note is being played. You can hear a lot of fiddlers & classical violinists do this if you listen closely. Good singers also do this.

Yes, and Stéphane Grappelli of course;- he slid in and out of nearly every note,- ‘tweaking’ at its greatest.

You’ll see good violinists hit a chord, fingering multiple notes at once, and right away a finger might glide down a tiny fraction to bring the 3rd down from its ET place to its JI place.

@ CreadurMawnOrganig. Methinks you may have been spending too much time watching those physics nerds on “The Big Bang Theory”. That last comment sounded like something Sheldon would have said.

There is nothing better than the first book of Sevcik, Op,1, left hand exercises in first position. Do the first 4 or 5 exercises, for each string. Follow the pattern he sets up…. The change in intonation is almost immediate.

@Stellarlute

//There is nothing better than the first book of Sevcik, Op,1, left hand exercises in first position. Do the first 4 or 5 exercises, for each string. Follow the pattern he sets up…. The change in intonation is almost immediate.//

Totally agree. Exercise #5 is a classic.

Get it free here :

https://imslp.simssa.ca/files/imglnks/usimg/c/c6/IMSLP24975-School_of_Violin_Technique_Op.1_Book1_for_Violin.pdf

Good lord, that is one crap tune!