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Practice Tips

Suzuki Book 4 - Vivaldi Concerto in A Minor 1st Movement (Violin Play Along & Lesson)

Hi everyone! Joel Kennedy here from Kennedy Violins. Today, we’re diving into something special—one of Vivaldi’s concertos from Suzuki Book 4. Specif...
Suzuki Book 2 — Boccherini Minuet (Violin Play Along & Lesson)

Hi everyone, Joel Kennedy here from Kennedy Violins! Today, we’re diving into another playalong—this time it’s Minuet from Suzuki Book 2, written by ...
Suzuki Book 2 — Two Grenadiers (Violin Play Along & Lesson)

Hello, violinists! Joel Kennedy here from Kennedy Violins. In my latest video, I dive into a classic playalong: The Two Grenadiers from Suzuki Book 2...
Suzuki Book 1 — Allegro (Play Along)

Hi everybody! Joel Kennedy here with Kennedy Violins, and I’m excited to share another Suzuki play-along, featuring “Allegro” from Suzuki Violin Book...
The Top Four Pitfalls for Beginning Violinists and How to Avoid Them

Hi everybody, Joel Kennedy here with Kennedy Violins. Today, I want to discuss some of the biggest pitfalls that beginning violinists face and how to...
How to Learn the Violin WITHOUT a Violin

Learning the violin is often seen as a hands-on endeavor, requiring the physical presence of the instrument itself. However, an intriguing question a...
How to Use a Violin Mute for Performance and Practice

Can you play a violin quietly? Hi everyone, this is Joel Kennedy from Kennedy Violins. Today, I want to share some insights on using violin mutes, ...
How to Hold a Fiddle vs Violin

What are the differences between holding a fiddle and a violin? While both instruments are essentially the same, the playing style and cultural tradit...
How To Tune A Violin By Ear

Tuning a violin by ear is a valuable skill for any violinist to develop. It allows you to tune your instrument quickly and accurately, without relying...
How to Practice Violin Effectively

Learning to play the violin or any stringed instrument involves dedication, patience, and effective practice strategies. At Kennedy Violins, we under...
How To Learn The Violin Step By Step

At Kennedy Violins, we understand the excitement and challenges that come with beginning your journey with the violin. Whether you're completely new ...
How To Warm Up When Playing The Violin

A key aspect often overlooked by many, regardless of the instrument, is the warm-up routine. In this blog, we'll explore the critical reasons for warm...
Why Was The Violin Shoulder Rest Invented?

Hi, I'm Joel Kennedy from Kennedy Violins. In today's blog, we delve into the intricacies of the violin shoulder rest, exploring its history, functio...
Types of Rosin For Violin and Other Stringed Instruments

Many of our customers, especially those new to string instruments, often have questions about this essential accessory. So, let's start with the basic...
How Many Fine Tuners Should Be On A Violin?

The violin, a central instrument in the world of music, is as complex as it is beautiful. One common question amongst violinists, especially those in ...
How to Hold a Violin Bow Properly: A Step-by-Step Guide

The way you hold a violin bow plays a pivotal role in your technique and sound quality. A proper bow hold offers you the flexibility, control, and range needed to create a beautiful tone and execute various bowing techniques....
How to Stop a Shaky Bow When Playing Violin

Playing the violin involves mastering numerous techniques, one of which is achieving a steady bow stroke. Many violinists, both beginners and experie...
Tips for Sight Reading Violin

Today Joel Kennedy delves deep into how to sight read on a violin and shares a simple system  he has developed for mastering sight reading. We'll focus on the basics of sight reading for. A strong understanding of time and key signatures will significantly enhance your grasp of this system....
How to Stop a Shaky Bow on the Violin: A Comprehensive Guide

The violin is an instrument that is as expressive as it is intricate. A skill that often challenges many violinists, both beginner and advanced, is c...
The Ultimate Guide to Finding the Best Beginner Violin Lessons

Today, the internet is flooded with queries like "best beginner violin lessons." As a professional musician, teacher, and a parent of two budding mus...
How to Play a 3-Octave Scale on the Violin

Here's how to easily play a 3-octave G Major scale on the violin. Watch the video and play along. I’m going to show you how to play a G Major scale, w...
How to Play a Major Scale on the Violin

In Today’s video, I’ll be showing you how to play a Major scale on the violin. I’ll be showing you the G Major scale and a 1-octave scale as well as a...
When is the Best Time to Start Violin?

In this video, Joel Kennedy talks about when the best time is to start your child on violin.  Knowing when to start your child on violin has a lot to ...
Why is Violin So Hard?

In Today’s video, Joel Kennedy talks about why it is so hard to learn the violin and what the difference between learning the violin and other instrum...
To Rest or Not to Rest: The Shoulder Rest Dilemma in Violin Playing

In this video, Joel shows you how to use a shoulder rest. and whether you need one, or not. Learning how to use a shoulder rest is not especially tricky. But you should know how to use a shoulder rest, and why it can be so helpful to you. Using a shoulder rest on your violin will make it easier to learn....
How to Bow SMOOTHLY - Learn Colle'

In today’s video, I’ll be talking about how to bow smoothly like a professional. In other words, how to learn the colle’ bowing technique on the viol...
How to Read Sheet Music

Hello everyone, In continuation of my short series on reading sheet music, I want to talk about the first steps in reading sheet music, which is re...
How to Read Dynamics

Hello Everyone, Today, I’m starting a short series on how to read music. Today I’ll be talking about how to read and successfully perform dynamics ...
How to Change a Violin String

Hello Everyone, For today’s video, I will not only be showing you an easy way to change your violin string but also a couple tricks that will make ...
How To Play With a Straight Bow

Hello Everyone, Today’s video is about how to play with a straight bow. Playing with a straight bow is very important because it will give you C...
How To Place Left Hand On a Violin

Hello Everyone, Today's blog post is about proper left hand placement on your violin or viola. Where you place your left hand is very important. Howev...
How to Bounce a Bow

Hello Everyone, Todays video is about learning how to bounce your bow. Bouncing your bow on a stringed instrument is more commonly known as Spicatt...
How to Practice Vibrato

Today's video is about how to practice vibrato. I won’t be talking a whole lot about the mechanics of vibrato because there are different types of vib...
The Importance of Breathing

Hello everyone, Today is the 6th video in my 8 part series about effective practicing techniques. Today I want to talk about how important breathing i...
How To Practice Without Getting Tired

Today I’m going to be talking about improving endurance while practicing. Not getting overly physically or mentally tired during practice is important...
How to Practice with the Metronome

Introduction Hi everyone, Welcome to the 4th video in my 8-part series about effective practicing techniques. Today, we'll focus on the importance of ...
How to Practice Scales

Joel gives us the best way to work up to playing scales!...
How to Read Sheet Music for Violin—Open Strings

Here are the first steps in reading violin sheet music, which is reading open strings. Watch the video for more tips! Memorizing how your open strings...
How to Write Fingerings in Sheet Music

Today’s video is about how to write fingerings in your sheet music. There are many benefits to writing fingerings in your sheet music whether you are ...
How to Use a Mute on an Orchestra Instrument

Here are the the differences between the many types of mutes you can use on your instrument. During my younger years and when I played professionally,...
How to Put Fingering Tape on Your Violin

Hello everyone, Today I’m doing a short video on how and why to put fingering tapes on your violin. Many people who first learn the violin wonder why ...
How To Prepare for an Audition

Hello everyone, today I wanted to talk about how to prepare for an audition. It's all about two main things: Preparing the music and preparing your mi...
Audition Sight Reading

Hi everyone, today I give you 3 easy steps to practice, in order to make sight reading in auditions EASY! The 3 steps are: What is in your foot? --J...
Learn how to easily shift on the violin!

Hi everyone, today I show you how to easily learn how to shift and I give you 2 exercises that'll make you a great shifter! Remember 3 things: 1...
The Importance of Warming Up

What are the primary benefits to warming up properly? When you warm up properly, you will have a significantly more focused and productive practice se...
Effective Practicing Habits

Consistency is Key It is very important that practicing becomes a HABIT. Nobody has time to practice. Nobody has time to get to the gym. Nobody has ti...
How to Practice with Your Kids

Let's talk about how to practice with your child. However, I think that the effectiveness of any advice that I can offer is heavily dependent on the r...
How to Practice

Today I’m talking about how to practice. A lot of people focus on how much time they practice and while that’s important, it’s arguably much more impo...
How to Tune an Instrument

Joel Kennedy explains the different ways in which you can tune a violin and shows how to do each one. In this Video we will go over using the Tuning ...
How to Hold a Violin Bow

Hey guys, this is Joel Kennedy bringing you another video! Today, I'm showing you how I've taught a lot of students how to hold a violin bow. While...
How to avoid scratchy sound on the violin

Hi guys, today's video is about how to play the violin without screeches and scratches. Remember, don't be too frustrated. The concepts of playing w...
How to Pluck a Violin String

Today's video is about how to pluck your violin string (pizzicato). My goal is to make your pizzicato easy and sound awesome! There are two basic types of pizzicato: Plucking while maintaining bow hold or plucking and losing bow hold. Let me show you the difference!...
How to Return to The Violin After Years of Not Playing

By Joel Kennedy Introduction At Kennedy Violins, we get calls all the time from people who want to get back to playing after taking a hiatus of severa...
How to Find Gigs: Musical Networking

It takes a long time to establish your reputation as a musician and performer in a new town. I felt well connected to a great number of musical organizations, schools, teachers, orchestras, recording studios, and the like. Then I moved. So the first thing I did in the months leading up to and following my move was…...
Practice Makes Perfect

By Joel Kennedy Everybody knows that if you want to be better at anything, you need to practice. Most people would also agree that while practicing is...
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