Ask Augustin 30 - Projection Tips

In this episode I talk about projecting your sound, if you are going to play with orchestra, or play in a large hall. This is something I've worked on a lot in the past. Of course the instrument and bow and their condition and how well you maintain them have a huge influence on projection, but there are also technical considerations.
Simply playing everything loud is not the solution - you have to take your musical phrases, with their ups and downs, and raise them dynamically to a level at which they can be heard. Doing so while preserving the color and character takes a lot of practice - so that you can play something that sounds like pianissimo, but can be heard very clearly in the back of a hall.
There are technical hurdles, and optimizations that we can make to help projection. The bigger the hall, the more we have to articulate, and pay attention to our legato (which I mentioned in my previous episode). Bow changes are another area where one can optimize the projection of the sound.
Think about the fact that the violin is a piece of wood which takes time to start and stop ringing -- if you pay attention that your bow changes don't stop and restart those vibrations, but rather keep them going continuously, this will help the projection enormously, and make it possible to play very loudly without forcing the sound.