Relaxation if the first key to playing the violin, and for that reason, even before we pick up the violin and bow I am going to ask you to relax. Whether you do Yoga, Meditation or whatever, choose your own best method of relaxation and make sure you are completely relaxed before starting to pick up your violin.  (I can totally recommend The Sun Style Tai Chi, it is "easy to learn" can be learned at any age, and you do NOT need to be super fit to start! )

Do you like how she looks, your violin? How she feels? The varnish? You want her to make sounds for you? Then, look at her, and let her know you are ready.

     Clean your violin before you start. Take a soft cloth and give her a shine. You will both appreciate it! (My Russian teacher was very particular about this. And, when is the last time you saw a concert violinist with rosin all over his/her violin?

   Next: violin playing is a work for the head and heart, not for the body. This means that you must solve all the problems not by looking at your hands and arms, but by thinking and feeling more the music you wish to play. The body will always follow the intention of the mind and heart. So, if you feel the music, and play the music according to your heart and mind, the technique needed to make that sound will arrive. It just needs slow practice, under total control, making exactly the sounds you hear in your head. Relax, listen, play slowly, direct every movement with your mind and, eventually, you will be easily able to speed up. Wow! What a technique, they will say. 

  "I just learned how to really listen," you will reply.

Go for a walk and sing that song. Walk in time to it. Can you feel it?

Next time you feel like playing your violin go for a walk first, in the countryside, or seaside, in nature if you can. Again! Hear the music in your head as you walk. What does that music tell you? What does it make you feel? Then, go home and try to play, to make the sounds that you heard.

Can’t hear it? Well, go for another walk.

So, here is your first exercise, even before we "know" how to hold the violin or bow. Speak with your violin. Take a walk through your house, or the place you live, and say to the chairs, with your violin, in sound, "he-llo!" Two bow strokes. "How are you to- day?" Five bow strokes. "Think your greetings or comments in sound, and "say" it on the violin. Carry your violin with you whenever you can. Do you watch videos? TV? Then do so with your violin in your arms.