Hey, I am a violinist who is having difficulty with a particular aspect of playing. I understand that to make music effective, you must play the first note louder in each bar. First of all, how do you get an "automatic reaction" to bar lines and making the first note louder.
Secondly, what do you make louder: The first note regardless of other factors, or, like the first beat (like 4 semiquavers at the beggining of the bar, 1.make them all loud or 2.just the first one or 3. does the time signiture tell you?)

Also, if it is situation no.3 above, then is their a table of which notes in each case

I send my deepest regards to you all, thanks!

Anton

I`ve only heard of such a practice in playing baroque music. Even then, you don`t have to make any notes louder to make the music effective.

Nothing tells you, except for phrasing maybe, which notes to play louder.
If you want a blurry rule, it`s the top number of the time signature divided by two. But then if you see 6|8 time you won`t know if it`s a subdivided 3|4, or two 3|8`s.

Ok, Harvey, thx, but please keep the advice coming!

Yeah, please do help, I`m getting bored!

You might all ready know this, but down-bows are usually...umm how to say...bigger-sounding? than up bows. In duple times this helps.

Anton, it sounds like you have never heard the music you are trying to play, is that right? It`s far better to get a recording of the tune, so you can hear how someone else plays it, then try for yourself using sheet music if you need it.

Many types of playign use a syncopated beat, that is stressing the off-beat. A sinple example would be a polka in 2/4 time, you count 1 & 2 &, stressing the &.

Well, I mean my father insists that the music sounds better when sterssing the first note or whatever, so I was just checking.

In particular, is their a table somewhere I can download?

Regards

It seems that a lot of people are looking at this forum, but not many replying to it. Plz reply even if you are pro/semi-pro and have never heard of this.

Thx
Anton

I think you`re worrying too much. If you really have to get a table rather than naturally feeling the rhythm then you have problems.

Liz

I can`t imagine anyone who keeps stressing on a downbeat... it will change the musical direction...or maybe none`ll be left...focus on the phrase, not the meter. Unless yr playing really rhythmic, percussive music , then parhaps being propulsive does actually sound better. IE : Baroque or 20th century pcs.
Or perhaps u misunderstood yr Father... He might have meant a good bite on down bows, not the stress of a downbeat?

So what you mean is that this is basically not true and that to an average person, music sounds just as effective with or without, yes?

Thx

It largely depends on the music yr playing. But generally speaking, yes, there`s no need to stress on all the first beat of each bar. Look at your phrase as if it`s a sentence... sing out the notes and see if it makes sense( just like talking) to accentuate every word. If u think the music sounds reasonable when played this way, it may be that the style of the music is supposed to be. But take for instance, Rach`s Vocalise... This song requires long, broad phrasing, and I don`t think stressing on all first beat will make any sense. If you`re not sure abt the nature of the pc yr playing... u can always listen to recordings. That`s a good way to pick up music/interpretation... u will know what to do and what not to by hearing more. Thank you, have a nice day.

Right everybody, thanks for everything.

Oh yeah, and Liz: Thankyou so much, you have made all my mental health worries go away by magic.

Anton

yes baroque music, you are right. usually it would sound awkward to STRESS the first note of a bar, especially if you would have to take the bow back to the frog. and it would sound bad if you were to hit the string too hard. if i were you, id forget about the first note of the bar and play it normally, try to follow the dynamics, and accents there are in the music.

what ive also tried to do, is to listen to a professional play the same music, and use those techniques in the music.

hope this helps!