i am a begginner and wondering how often should u rosin the bow?

You take the rosin and rub it up and down the bow hair.

How often you rosin depends on how much you play. I practice 1- 1 1/2 hours a day and rosin about once a week.

One mistake beginners make is rosining too often...all that does is produce a cloud of rosin dust that you end up breathing in and a mess of dust on top of your violin that you need to clean off (well, you need to clean it off regardless, but there`s not so much if you don`t over-rosin!)

thanks, but is violin rosin and viola rosin the same?

Very similar, though I believe there can be some differences. You can use violin rosin without trouble though don`t use `cello rosin! Or bass rosin, which is extremely sticky.

Peanut butter down the bow, Molasses up the bow. Repeat as neccesary.

works a treat for some modern repetoire...

how can it leave dust though? iT looks like a block of gel.

It shouldn`t be gel! It should be hard, not squishy. You just rub the block of rosin on the bow. Rosin is dusty by nature ( bass rosin is different though ). And you have to wipe the rosin off after you play or else it will ruin the viola`s finish.

Camille; have you actually played before?

of course ive played, but only beginner as well, the rosin just doent look like a "dust prducing" thing

As you move the bow along the strings, dust comes off it. How can you have not noticed this?

no in fact i have not. u dint have to be rude about it, acting like u know everything

Well no, it`s just that at the first viola lessons they always say "after you play, wipe the instrument with a clean dry cloth". If you`re taking lessons, and you`ve played before, how come the teacher hasn`t told you this? I don`t know it all, I never said I did, but it seems people are either not listening to their teachers or can`t remember the basics. I get tired of answering the same questions over and over again. Believe it or not, I was more polite the first fifteen times I answered a rosin question... Now I`ll stil give the info, just not with a smile.

If you feel like making a rude reply, don`t reply. Pretty simple. Its not like the question was meant to be rude to you.