[06/03, 09:21] Another installment by Daniel Kurganov, demonstrating the value of lateral thinking (variety) when practicing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgV1Klkflhk
Additional methods are: practicing with different rhythms, including alternating rhythms in groups of notes; reversing (playing a passage from end to beginning; "looping" (beginning to end/end to beginning in a continuous loop); playing with the thumb away from the fiddle; alternating between slow and double tempo in groups of notes; alternating left hand finger pressure in groups of notes; changing the angle of the violin from your midline; lifting the violin higher or lower; holding the bow at the tip instead of at the frog; using different bow strokes for the same passage; playing in different parts of the bow; alternating 1+3 and 2+4 fingers on the bow, with 1+3 in the upper half of the bow stroke, and 2+4 in the lower half; rolling the bow between thumb and middle finger; alternating sounding points (1,2,3,4,5); standing on a chair; lying on your back, etc, etc, etc, etc. The limit is your imagination.
[06/03, 09:33] Another extremely useful practice technique: alternating the intensity level of the two hands. Forte in the one, piano in the other; high pressure in the one, low pressure in the other. Switch around. It does wonders for the independence of the two hands. Dorothy DeLay often offered these truisms: "the best violinists have to most sensitive hands" (those who make the finest sensory distinctions); "the best violinists have the most independence of hands." My favourite was, "the best violinists are the lazy ones" (delivered with a twinkle in her eye), meaning those who don't waste time with mindless practice - who find the most efficient way of handling the instrument, and of solving problems.
[06/03, 09:53] To refresh your memory bout sounding points between the bridge and the fingerboard: 1 = almost on the bridge; 2 = next to the bridge; 3 = in the middle between the bridge and the fingerboard; 4 = next to the fingerboard; 5 = above the fingerboard at its edge. The great teacher Carl Flesch suggested such a conceptual framework (after many before him did something similar, including Leopold Mozart) and the idea was extensively and extremely effectively used by teachers like Ivan Galamian (especially). Simon Fischer also does an amazing job of teaching sound production on all bowed string instruments using this system. To recap: sounding points 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 going from the bridge to the fingerboard. It is extremely useful to play around with these sounding points in everything you play, whether it is scales, exercises, passages/phrases in repertoire. Make a game of it. Challenge yourself to practice a scale or an exercise or a passage with perfect sound control at different sounding points. Remember: closer to the bridge requires more bow weight and less bow speed; closer to the fingerboard requires less bow weight and more bow speed. The challenge is to get the proportions right at every sounding point for a clean, resonant sound. Generally, for the same level of sound, lower strings sound better at sounding points further from the bridge, while higher strings sound better at sounding points closer to the bridge. You might practice scales going from higher numbered sounding points on the lower strings (5 or 4) to lower numbered ones on the higher strings (3 or 2 or 1). Guess what do you have to do to find the right combinations of sounding point, bow weight, bow speed and amount of hair contacting the string? Yeah, that's right. EXPERIMENT!!!!!!
[06/03, 10:04] Close your eyes while playing the violin, see in your mind's eye what sounding point you are playing...now open your eyes to check if you imagined it correctly. By doing this regularly you will immensely improve your kinesthetic "feel" for where the bow is between the bridge and the fingerboard, and fine-tune (excuse the pun) your association between how your bow movement feels and the sound produced.
2/6/2020 Here is a nice explanation and demonstration of the Portato bow stroke: .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj1jgP4FRHA
He also points out the value of contrast - of varying appropriately what we do to avoid monotony. Contrast. One of the seven "C's" of expressive playing: character, contrast, colour, contour, climax, congruence and closure. See my article, "Reverse Engineering Musical Performance".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgV1Klkflhk
Additional methods are: practicing with different rhythms, including alternating rhythms in groups of notes; reversing (playing a passage from end to beginning; "looping" (beginning to end/end to beginning in a continuous loop); playing with the thumb away from the fiddle; alternating between slow and double tempo in groups of notes; alternating left hand finger pressure in groups of notes; changing the angle of the violin from your midline; lifting the violin higher or lower; holding the bow at the tip instead of at the frog; using different bow strokes for the same passage; playing in different parts of the bow; alternating 1+3 and 2+4 fingers on the bow, with 1+3 in the upper half of the bow stroke, and 2+4 in the lower half; rolling the bow between thumb and middle finger; alternating sounding points (1,2,3,4,5); standing on a chair; lying on your back, etc, etc, etc, etc. The limit is your imagination.
[06/03, 09:33] Another extremely useful practice technique: alternating the intensity level of the two hands. Forte in the one, piano in the other; high pressure in the one, low pressure in the other. Switch around. It does wonders for the independence of the two hands. Dorothy DeLay often offered these truisms: "the best violinists have to most sensitive hands" (those who make the finest sensory distinctions); "the best violinists have the most independence of hands." My favourite was, "the best violinists are the lazy ones" (delivered with a twinkle in her eye), meaning those who don't waste time with mindless practice - who find the most efficient way of handling the instrument, and of solving problems.
[06/03, 09:53] To refresh your memory bout sounding points between the bridge and the fingerboard: 1 = almost on the bridge; 2 = next to the bridge; 3 = in the middle between the bridge and the fingerboard; 4 = next to the fingerboard; 5 = above the fingerboard at its edge. The great teacher Carl Flesch suggested such a conceptual framework (after many before him did something similar, including Leopold Mozart) and the idea was extensively and extremely effectively used by teachers like Ivan Galamian (especially). Simon Fischer also does an amazing job of teaching sound production on all bowed string instruments using this system. To recap: sounding points 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 going from the bridge to the fingerboard. It is extremely useful to play around with these sounding points in everything you play, whether it is scales, exercises, passages/phrases in repertoire. Make a game of it. Challenge yourself to practice a scale or an exercise or a passage with perfect sound control at different sounding points. Remember: closer to the bridge requires more bow weight and less bow speed; closer to the fingerboard requires less bow weight and more bow speed. The challenge is to get the proportions right at every sounding point for a clean, resonant sound. Generally, for the same level of sound, lower strings sound better at sounding points further from the bridge, while higher strings sound better at sounding points closer to the bridge. You might practice scales going from higher numbered sounding points on the lower strings (5 or 4) to lower numbered ones on the higher strings (3 or 2 or 1). Guess what do you have to do to find the right combinations of sounding point, bow weight, bow speed and amount of hair contacting the string? Yeah, that's right. EXPERIMENT!!!!!!
[06/03, 10:04] Close your eyes while playing the violin, see in your mind's eye what sounding point you are playing...now open your eyes to check if you imagined it correctly. By doing this regularly you will immensely improve your kinesthetic "feel" for where the bow is between the bridge and the fingerboard, and fine-tune (excuse the pun) your association between how your bow movement feels and the sound produced.
2/6/2020 Here is a nice explanation and demonstration of the Portato bow stroke: .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj1jgP4FRHA
He also points out the value of contrast - of varying appropriately what we do to avoid monotony. Contrast. One of the seven "C's" of expressive playing: character, contrast, colour, contour, climax, congruence and closure. See my article, "Reverse Engineering Musical Performance".
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