lwl
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Posts posted by lwl
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Now I'm really curious about the "incorrect" bow hold!
Ysaye's tone is splendid. How did he manage that with a problem in his hold? (Or did it manifest itself in other ways?)
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Andy,
You're correct: Modern writing often seems to favor the theory that it is the friction caused by rosin against the string that causes it to vibrate, though I don't believe anyone's conclusively proven what the exact dynamics of string-hair-rosin are yet.
(Fundamentally, though, for playing purposes, the end result is the same -- flat hair equals more sound than tilted hair, because of more vibration-causing whatever against the string.)
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Aman,
Is that book still in print?
For those who are missing the oblique references, by the way: When the young Menuhin went to play for Ysaye, Ysaye was astonished that the child was unable to play a three-octave scale in tune. Menuhin, for his part, was decidedly not pleased at the critique he got, and eventually went off to study with Enescu instead. Unfortunately, he eventually paid for that lack of foundational basics, when the intuitive foundations of his playing broke down when he was a young adult, and he was forced to develop an intellectual understanding of how to play.
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I don't much like the "if you don't like it, try to do it yourself" argument -- there are many things in this universe that we don't have to like, but can't do ourselves.
My feeling about a professional concertmaster for an amateur orchestra is as follows: His duties should be clearly spelled out. If he doesn't feel he can fulfill those duties as written -- whether because he's too busy, the job is too low priority given the rest of his schedule, there's too much work for the pay he's getting, or whatever -- then it's his responsibility *not to take the job*. If the concertmaster's duties are unclear, that is the fault of whoever is running the orchestra.
I continue to believe that for an amateur orchestra with quite a few rehearsals per set, bowings by the second rehearsal is more than reasonable. (If your community orchestra is anything like the various amateur groups I've played with, most players don't seriously practice the music 'til a week or two before the concert, anyway.)
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Andy, you wrote earlier: "I would expect professional concertmasters to know the bowngs for specific music from prior performances during their careers."
I was specifically disagreeing with that point: I would agree that no matter the age of the concertmaster, he should be able to cope with whatever is placed in front of him -- but if he's young, he's unlikely to have the bowings from prior performances.
The concertmaster of an amateur orchestra, I think, is less likely to have a collection of decent previous bowings, too.
(Look forward to seeing you later this month!)
[This message has been edited by lwl (edited 09-08-2001).]
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quote:Originally posted by Violinflu:Just goes to show how difficult it is to put into words what we (with practice) take for granted!
And explains why truly good teachers -- those both able to play well, and to explain *how* and *why* they play well -- are so rare!
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I think violin technique can be separated into certain basic movements that are core and essential to practically everything we do, which combine into the execution of more complex tasks. Then there's the array of virtuosic tricks.
In other words, there are certain basic actions executed by the muscles of the left and right hand; a major component of a basic routine of technical exercises needs to be maintaining the strength and flexibility of those muscles, as well as their coordinated action.
The other major component of a basic routine of technical exercises is, in my opinion, things that are intonation-focused. These exercises maintain the ear's ability to discriminate pitch finely and automatically, as well as maintain our mental "map" of the distances between notes on the fingerboard.
This is why violinists play scales and related exercises -- even Heifetz maintained this routine throughout his entire life.
The hallmarks of good basic technique are clarity, precision, and accuracy.
I would disagree with Roman on Paganini (Caprices, presumably) as a technique-builder, though. One's *basic* technique needs to be firmly in place before attempting them, but they are as good a place as any to learn virtuosic tricks.
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I agree with deb -- the children who are most likely to "take" to music are the ones who grow up in homes where everyone makes music, i.e., where it's a natural part of the household routine, rather than a chore that forces one into solitude for an hour of torture.
I believe that music is something all children should be taught -- preferably from as young an age as possible, where it's presented as fun, rather than a burden. That way, it also becomes a natural part of the child's life, before too many things compete for his attention. There's also compelling scientific evidence that, for string players at least, that the instrument must be started by the age of 9 in order to get optimal mental and physiological benefits from it.
I really do believe that it's a core skill, that everyone should have at least some minimal competence with. Children shouldn't be *pushed*, but it should be made clear that they're expected to try to learn the instrument, just like they try to learn math and reading.
I don't think there's "one best way to start". I would say that children without well-developed fine motor coordination are probably better off starting with piano rather than violin. Ditto children who do not yet have a good sense of pitch.
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The violin produces sound when the microscopic barbs on the hair of your bow catch against the string, causing it to vibrate. The more hair you use, the more vibrations you cause. Flat hair gives you more volume and power. Tilting the bow results in less hair contacting the string, and it changes the quality of the tone in a way that can be desirable when playing softly.
Some schools of violin-playing encourage students to tilt the bow away from them when drawing legato strokes that go to the frog, in order to equalize tone and smooth the direction change. This requires unnecessary wrist movement, though, and does produce a change in the quality of the tone -- it's far better to keep the hair flat on the string and allow the fingers of the right hand to flex, taking weight off the bow at the frog by counterbalancing with the hand, and allowing the fingers to function as a spring to cushion the change.
I suspect Violinflu is talking about something slightly different, which is the relationship of the wood of the stick, to the hair. Depending on the kind of tone you want, you will not always choose to center the stick directly above the hair, even if the entire ribbon of hair is in flat contact with the string. But this is largely a subtlety, I think.
[This message has been edited by lwl (edited 09-07-2001).]
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Not all professional concertmasters are old. Consider the concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, for instance -- I believe he got the job right out of Juilliard.
Also, there's a fair amount of repertoire that doesn't get played all that often, and an increasing trend to programming at least one less-familiar work on each concert. It's entirely possible that even a twenty-year veteran hasn't seen some works that are actually part of the "common" repertoire.
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Actually, I don't think it's so much that present-day players play without personality, as that a very large number of present-day players come from such similar backgrounds that the things they have to express through their music are very similar to one another. And even so, there are differences that reflect personalities. Gil Shaham's sweet, sunny style seems to reflect his demeanor. Hilary Hahn is thoughtful. Anne-Sophie Mutter is bold. Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg is outlandish. And so forth.
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I don't think Locatelli has been anything other than realistically supportive throughout this thread.
Get thicker skins, people, geez.
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I'd bet that the all-strings business is an extremely tough one to survive in. Shar, Concord Music, and a host of other online dealers sell strings for close to wholesale prices -- even with this current wholesale-price deal on fiddlestrings.com, the prices of the sets I glanced at were within a dollar or two of Shar's.
Seems like the prices on the Web for strings are generally within a couple of bucks of each other, and might be lower or higher -- and even within a given brand, one shop might have a cheaper G string, say, but more expensive D string, than another.
(Consequently, I usually go with local-retailer loyalty, and buy from Ifshin's.)
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A number of months ago I played a Maline bow that felt like it was made for me -- absolute total fluidity, effortlessly controlled, and a superb tonal match for my violin.
I didn't think I could justify spending that much on what was essentially a toy (equipment for this hobby falls into the category of "frivolous expenditures" for me, unfortunately) -- and it cost nearly what my violin did (a psychological barrier I just couldn't get past). But wow, it was pure pleasure to play.
On the other hand, I just spent that much for a car.
I would have felt guilty either way.
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The opening of the Largo (the third movement) is not difficult, so don't psyche yourself out; just relax and let it flow. Conserve your bow and try to make sure that the sound is even and flows from one bow into the next (don't let your sound die at the ends of the bow). Follow the dynamics very closely. Shifts should be clean (in orchestral music, they should always be clean unless indicated otherwise).
On the Allegretto, you're talking about the exposed string run into a melodic figure, aren't you? If there's no slur marked in your audition music, don't slur. If they give you bowings, you should definitely follow them; they'll be looking for that. It's fast, and so separate bows will present a coordination problem, but not unreasonably so -- it's fundamentally a scale, so I would suggest using whatever fingering feels comfortable to you for fast scales. Don't forget the crescendo up to the top, either.
I would suggest starting to work out the passage by playing it with a metronome in slurs of groups of four or eight. Get the fingers very even. Then coordinate with the right hand -- work the measure in rhythms, with accents, etc.
Don't waste your time (or the judge's) with the concertmaster excerpts if you don't feel you can do well with both of them.
Post sound clips.
[This message has been edited by lwl (edited 09-05-2001).]
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Have you taken a look at Flesch's "Urstudien"? Flesch designed the exercises in the book specifically for a player with highly limited practice time -- in fact, for those with half an hour to devote to technique. Its goal is a highly condensed survey of the basic techniques required for both hands.
I would suggest that if you don't devote a lot of time each day to a technical regime, that you rotate amongst a set of core exercises, rather than doing the same thing each day. I think that each day you will want a finger exercise, a shifting exercise, and a bowing exercise, and you will want to hit several keys each day or play an exercise without a key.
I have not found anything better than the first exercise of Schradieck op. 1 book I, for basic strength and agility of the left hand, if you are very conscious of absolute evenness. It is also an excellent warm-up.
I like the single-page sequence of one-string one-octave arpeggios in Sevcik op. 1 book III; they cover various keys and are a good "know your anchor points" reminder.
I would suggest Simon Fischer's "Basics" as a great source for short exercises. Basics #270, the harmonic sequence exercise, is a terrific intonation exercise; it goes up the fingerboard utilizing third patterns.
A couple of lines of Kreutzer #7 can be helpful; this is a colle' exercise in octaves. The octaves are good routine left-hand practice, but the colle' stroke is terrific for bow control and flexibility of the right-hand fingers.
Ditto a couple of lines of Kreutzer #13. It's a good intonation exercise, and an excellent string-crossing exercise, especially if you reverse the bowing or you try playing it only at the frog or at the tip. Also try getting rid of the last slur in the group, so you alternate beween starting the groups up-bow or down-bow.
I also think time spent on a little son file' is worthwhile. You might want to consider this as a break between the technical exercises, or in little "concentration relief" moments between sections of repertoire.
Whatever you choose, I think you want to avoid complexity as much as possible in the basic technical regime -- it should be things that you train yourself to do with effortless precision and accuracy and that you NEVER allow yourself to do sloppily (as easy as it is to do to run casually through the basic straightforward exercises).
[This message has been edited by lwl (edited 09-05-2001).]
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Discussions of bowings in rehearsal drive me absolutely nuts, unless it's constructive, i.e., "what style are we trying to achieve" as opposed to "does the bow go up or down here". Otherwise, give me whatever -- even if it feels awkward, as long as it's playable, I just don't care that much.
In the midst of rehearsals, some string players can get obsessed with switching bow direction to match what the section leader is doing; my general philosophy is that if the leader is doing something funky, rather than get distracted trying to figure out what it is, just make a note and copy it later. (It's possible the leader is just experimenting, too -- no point driving yourself nuts trying to follow.)
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Amazon, TowerRecords.com, Barnes & Noble, and CDnow all provide good customer service and a good selection.
In general, I have not had positive experiences with Borders online, though.
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Look carefully at the labels. They'll note what nights of the live performance were taped, as well as if any studio was used in addition.
On the other hand, performers rarely make much in the way of slips in real-live performance -- I cannot think of a single screw-up I've heard live in the last five years that would have been audible to a non-knowledgeable audience member.
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I admire grand gestures and the sentimental playing of the past, but such things are not part of my personality. I don't so much think of myself as a romantic player, as a lyrical one. I value clarity and sweetness and purity of sound, I employ small slides fairly generously, and I like to try to bring out details. I think I'm more "thoughtful" than "emotional".
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At the same time, remember that you're not a wind player or singer, and you don't HAVE to breathe.
I was working on a long melodic line that just didn't seem sufficiently connected, and eventually I realized that I was phrasing at each point I was taking a breath when I sang the passage -- and that I shouldn't, because the violin is capable of continuous sound and one long line was preferable. (My teacher pointed out, though, at my next lesson, that I was then holding my breath through the entire passage, and that *I* should remember to breathe, even if the passage continued unbroken!)
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Scordatura.
Paganini's first violin concerto was originally written in E-flat major, rather than the D major that we play it in now. The work has recently been recording in the original key, if I recall correctly.
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If you just need to make a one-shot recording (for a taped audition or whatever), why not see if you can borrow an instrument for a day or two, from a teacher, friend, colleague, etc.?
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It should be noted that many live recordings are also spliced to some extent -- many are made by taking two or three nights of a live performance and editing them together.
Broadcast recordings, though, are generally not edited this way, though you might be hearing the best night that was recorded.
What should I expect?
in The Fingerboard
Posted
I'd add to that:
Arrive fifteen minutes in advance, at least, to the first rehearsal. When you're told that rehearsal starts at X time, that means at X time, you should be *in your seat and ready to play* -- not just arriving. Depending on how long you usually need to get out your instrument, pre-tune, and (hopefully) say hello to friends, you'll need to arrive somewhere from five to fifteen minutes in advance of the rehearsal time.
Bring a pencil. Make sure that it has a good eraser (this usually rules out mechanical pencils that have teeny-tiny erasers), and that it's reasonably sharp. (Standard #2 pencils, or 0.7 or 0.9 mm mechanicals are best -- too fine a tip, and markings become hard to read.)
Bring a standard mute (not a practice mute), and put it on the instrument before the rehearsal (slid back, of course, so it's not being muted). That way you'll be ready if a mute is called for.
Between you and your standpartner, you will need to decide whose music you will use for rehearsals and for the concert. All markings should go into that person's part, though you may wish to copy them into the other person's as well. Regardless, both of you should always bring your music to rehearsals, in case the other is unexpectedly absent or late.
Watch the conductor out of the corner of your eye, at all times, and get used to looking up for tempo changes, fermatas, etc. without losing your place on the page. Try to watch your section leader, as well.
When the conductor stops, there should be immediate silence. Do NOT "play over"; an undisciplined orchestra may do so, but it's poor form. Talking (other than a brief, immediately relevant whisper), plucking, etc. while the conductor is giving instructions, even if his attention is not focused on your section, is also rude.
If you have questions, see if your stand partner knows the answer. If not, ask your section leader.