Are the fingers all curved with only the tips of the fingers hitting the strings?.Is the right arm elbow opening and closing to allow for straight bowing?.Is the left arm and hand forming a straight line from the elbow to the base of the fingers?.Does the elbow hang under the instrument and hang freely to allow proper finger alignment on all strings?.

Is instrument positioned parallel to the floor?.

Is the body positioned with nose-bridge-elbow-knee-toe in approximate alignment?.

Is the left hand free to slide up and down the fingerboard?.

Is the instrument supported by the shoulder in such a manner that left hand fingering can occur without tension?.

Many teachers would like us to point out that there are small differences between the two, but in a web page like this we will talk about the things they have in common. This symbol doesn’t raise or lower the pitch instead, it returns the previously altered note to its original or natural pitch within the same measure.Since they are closely related and both sit on the shoulder, violins and violas share much of the same technique. There is one more accidental which you might find when playing music, and it is called (♮) – the natural symbol. By the way, any sharps # or flats ♭ are also called “ accidentals” in the music world because they are notes produced outside of the recently applied key signature. To be clear, any sharps or flats are played with the same finger as normal, just moving up or down the fingerboard a half step in either direction: half-step lower for flats (♭) or half-step higher for sharps #. The (♭) flat symbol, is similar but the opposite: it lowers the pitch by a half step, requiring you to move your finger in the opposite direction. If you are not yet familiar with the (♯) symbol, it means that the pitch of the note is raised a half step higher, and when you play this note you will move your finger a half step higher on the fingerboard. The first finger placed on the A string will produce note B, the second finger- note C or C# ( C sharp), the third – note D, and the last finger, the pinkie – note E. Here is a violin fingering chart for the A string and a photo of the left hand with fingers placed on the fingerboard. Let’s go to the A string and find out what notes we can play in the 1st position.

Violin notes and finger placement pdf