Violin Mastery Tips

The Vibrato Twitch, part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:57:00 +0000

Don’t know if you tuned in to the Oscars last night. It was great to see the very talented Michael Giacchino take home the award for best musical score. There is FEELING dripping from every note of the score to the movie ‘UP’.

This morning finds me still thinking about vibrato, however. You see after my last newsletter I received one response that seemed to question the sense of starting the motion from below the pitch.

And the writer is right in noting that this does not conform to traditional thinking about vibrato. I, myself was taught to start at the pitch and oscillate down and back up, in fact. And it worked for me.

Yet it is clearly not working for a number of folks out there who have tried this for a considerable amount of time and still can’t make the ‘jump’ from slow, measured motions to quick, automatic ones.

So I did more experimenting over the weekend. And I noticed two additional things. First, when I ‘twitch’ my hand toward my body it more readily reassumes a relaxed state on the rebound than the reverse; something that is very important.

And secondly, if you think of the vibrato as a series of automatic ‘twitches’ of the wrist, you will hear the strongest sound indication at the apex of the twitch. If the twitch energy is sent downward, then, the result is a note that sounds flat and best.

Combine that with a reluctance of the hand to relax on the rebound and the effect is even worse.

Now, having said that, bear in mind that the twitch upward is quite rapid and coincides right with the first beat of time. In other words, the apex of the first twitch and the beat are simultaneous to the ear.

Once you can do one ‘twitch’ quite cleanly, as I outlined in my last email, you indeed have the beginnings of a fine vibrato – if you missed my last newsletter you may see it at http://www.violinmastery.com/violinsecrets/index.html.

So yesterday I experimented further with this twitch approach. At first I measured and ‘counted’ each one, pretty much as I outlined in the last newsletter.

Then I counted on every OTHER twitch, every third twitch, every fourth, and so forth.

Doing this had the result of giving little pulses to the twitches. And the ‘weak’ twitches – or rebounds – became the ‘automatic’ motions that I think are so elusive to some players.

So you see, it’s never a bad thing to pulse your twitches!

Yet seriously, even if you have a decent vibrato, this sort of practice and control is useful. It ensures that the hand remains relaxed as you vibrate, and that the vibrato is even and purposeful when it is used.

Now all this being said it is important that the twitches I’ve been talking about have a certain form. And that form is what I demonstrate quite clearly in month 7 of my Beginners Circle program.

Of course the program provides a whole lot more instruction than what you need to master a beautiful vibrato. In fact it’s truly a one-of-a-kind resource for the novice violinist who wants to PLAY the instrument and not just dilly-dally around with it.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

The Vibrato Twitch

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:50:00 +0000

The past few days I’ve been doing the spring cleanup around our property. And let me tell you, there isn’t a plant in Arizona that doesn’t have at least two ways to scratch, poke, bite, or otherwise draw blood from you if you try to alter their personal destiny in the slightest way.

Fortunately, none of the insults to my physical being have proved life threatening, so far.

Now, during my off time I’ve been taking another look at vibrato.

It seems that some folks have difficulty going from the slow, deliberate motion to the quick, automatic oscillation that characterizes a true vibrato.

Today I believe I have an approach that will solve the matter, once and for all.

Here’s what you do.

Place your hand in first position and take a pitch with one finger, you choose.

Actually I want you to begin with that finger ‘rolled back’ slightly, on the pad of the finger, with very light pressure on the string. And since the finger is ‘rolled back’ the pitch should actually be about a quarter of a tone flat from what it normally is.

Ok, now, with your hand and arm relaxed, I want you to send a quick impulse to your wrist such that it gives a light, fast twitch toward your nose.

When you make this twitch you will notice a couple things; the finger you’re playing will be pushed into the string slightly and released, the pitch will rise to ‘in tune’ and fall back down, and your wrist will return to the relaxed state it was in just before the twitch.

This little ‘event’ should be like the blink of an eye.

Now, once you have done this a few times without trying to measure it in any way, see if you can repeat it once a second.

After this is managed, on each finger, move to twice a second.

Up to this point each twitch, or pulsation, is controlled consciously.

Now you are going to twitch four times within a second. And at this point the first impulse will be given consciously, yet the second will be almost a reverberation. And as such, it will be automatic.

The final step, and one you may already have taken, is to string several beats together. And there you have it, vibrato.

Now, one of the mistakes people make in trying to master vibrato is to force it. Uh-uh.

Start flat, toward the pad of the finger, relax everything, and pulse. Each pulse should be clean, quick, and return the finger to the starting point; that is, BELOW the pitch of the note. And everything is relaxed.

You see, the pitch level that is audible to the ear is the one where the finger is at its apex. Why this is so is simply that that is where the finger is most pointedly in the string. If you start from the pitch and go up from there, as some folks do, you will have a tendency to sound sharp to everyone else.

Good luck, and…

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. If there are any questions remaining after this explanation, I hope I will see you at the Art of the Violin seminar/masterclass in June, where I’m going to illuminate every violin technique in the book. Please come join in the fun!

Imagine, Experience, Think

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:14:00 +0000

This morning, as we do every morning, ‘Star’ the dog and I went for out for a little walk/run about. In the course of it we did 4 hill sprints; about 600’ of vertical climb.

It was enough to trigger an endorphin rush in me. Star just wanted to eat.

So then I pick up my violin. Now, you might think you can imagine what I experienced when I lifted it to my shoulder.

I don’t think so.

My fingers felt so stiff and slow I thought I thought of calling 911.

Fortunately, things got better. And fast. Over the course of an hour-twenty I went from playing ultra-slow scales, with measured wide vibrato in triplets, to whizzing around Sarasate’s ‘Zapateado’ like a liquored up Marti-Gras celebrant.

And this is how I did it.

I imagined.

I experienced.

And I thought.

And then I did it again. And sometimes, again.

You know, it’s a good policy to give yourself a maximum of 3 tries to execute what you have in mind before making a conscious decision to change the picture.

That really ties in to the ‘thought’ side of the process.

Now with a completely new skill the ‘imagine’ part will be pretty sketchy; unless, that is, you’ve really done your homework and reviewed my DVD instructions on the matter.

Yet nonetheless, once you have an working image of your goal you must ‘put one down’. You must ‘experience’ it. And what I mean by this is to execute the skill based on your image of it, while really paying attention to the actual physical feelings generated by the doing.

Stage three is merely to reflect on the difference, should there be one. If there is you go back, refine the image, and experience again.

As I say, sometimes the brain doesn’t grab anything ‘new’ from an experience, even though the result is clearly not up to snuff.

In such cases I give myself one additional try. If, after 3 tries I’m not making progress, either I change the context of the image – i.e. go slower – or I move on to something else, temporarily.

Now I recognize that this is very likely ‘old hat’ to you. Yet when a skill we are seeking feels ‘out of our depth’, it is tempting to abandon imagination and thought altogether. And ‘practice’ quickly becomes one empty repetition after another.

The good news is this needn’t happen. Yet if it is, and you feel the time has come to ‘jump start’ the creative process of violin learning, I highly recommend that you join me and a bunch of other passionate individuals for a special weekend this June.

It is where ‘perfect practice’ will acquire a whole new meaning.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. The Art of the Violin Masterclass/Seminar is filling up quite nicely, and I wouldn’t delay too much longer in making a decision to join us. I think you’ll be particularly thrilled when you see how I’m going to draw on musical examples taken from my instructional DVD courses during the Seminar sessions.

Left Hand Conditioning

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:26:00 +0000

Before I get into the main subject of this newsletter I’d just like to say a few more words about the June Seminar and Masterclass. This event will absolutely be ENABLING and INSPIRING for players of ALL levels.

Now, I won’t go into WHY I know this, you’ll just have to trust me.

You know, just a few hours ago I concluded one of my ‘Intensives’ with a gal who flew out from Connecticut to spend a couple days with me.

She’s a professional player who also teaches. And she’s planning to come back for the seminar because she knows how much it will add to her teaching skills; above and beyond what she will take away for her own playing.

And if you’re a beginner, well, I think you should be beating down the door to get into this event. After leaving here you’ll have a terrific overview of violin playing; literally from how to lift your arms when putting it to your chin to all the ‘tricks’ of bow mastery.

It will be a breathtaking panorama, an unforgettable vision, and an event that will inform your practice for many, many years.

So let go of that self-doubt, there is no need for it. Just come, and have a ball!

Now, today I want to say a few more words about vibrato. Recently I suggested you use some warm-up time playing scales and arpeggios while measuring the vibrato, either by counting the oscillations as duplets, triplets or quadruplets.

What I’ve done in recent days is to bring that same discipline to actual pieces. In other words, playing phrases while maintaining and tracking the vibrato through every note and every shift. If you are ‘hearing’ the vibrato as triplets, then each beat of music must have one, two, or however many triplets of vibrato is appropriate to the tempo.

Just remember, you cannot play faster than your hand can execute a full, down/up oscillation of vibrato on the shortest note value. If the shortest note value is a sixteenth then you will be playing rather slowly and deliberately, even if only one oscillation is given to each sixteenth.

Now, as you get control over the music in this way you can begin to narrow the range of the vibrato, quicken the oscillations, and advance the tempo at which you are playing.

And if you do this with focus and discipline you will see how quickly your hand and vibrato can become ‘toned’, and how much more rhythmically accurate and ‘singing’ your phrases become.

Now if this seems a little out of reach for you at the moment, not to worry. At the Art of the Violin Seminar/Masterclass I’ll plot a course of action for you to get you there in no time.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Now I only have just 2 spots remaining for Masterclass performers at the Seminar. If you want one of them to be yours I’d get on board soon.

The Unruly Vibrato Fix

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:09:00 +0000

After a bracing early morning walk and training session with our new pup, I did my own training session, on the violin. It’s amazing how similar the work ethics are to produce good results in each.

And recently I’ve been focusing on vibrato, this after uncovering some unruliness in mine. It’s something that just goes with the territory. Guess I’d simply call it skills maintenance.

Yet whether you are reconditioning this particular skill or training yourself to it for the first time, the following little exercises can be very helpful.

Of course to begin with you do want to ensure that your hand and wrist are relaxed, and that the motion of the hand is clean. Now if you are uncertain HOW to the hand and wrist work to produce vibrato you will find a great deal on the subject within my Beginners Circle course, along with instruction on all manner of violin essentials.

So the exercises to ‘top-off’ your vibrato have to do with gently, yet firmly, conditioning it to be constant and even. And I do it at two speeds.

Now which speed you begin with has to do with the natural rate at which your hand oscillates. If you have a lot of fast-twitch muscle fiber you will tend toward a fast vibrato, so begin at the faster speed.

If you suspect the opposite, then let your hand begin with a slow vibrato.

The exercises consist of playing adagio – think slow walk – whole note scales. First position is fine. And as you play I suggest you count the beats, quietly.

If you are in the slow vibrato mode you will be listening for 3 oscillations of the hand per beat. In the fast mode listen for 4.

Remember, the idea is for the hand and wrist to be absolutely as relaxed as possible. No tension in the fingers that are off the string, and the minimum of pressure to make a good tone for those that are on the string.

The challenge is to maintain the speed of oscillation through all 4 fingers. Once you have it at one rate of speed, switch over to the other.

Now, you can do the scale with only one finger in contact with the fingerboard at a time, and you can do the scale where fingers remain on the string as you ascend. Both are very useful.

Of course you will note that having all four fingers down while you play a 4th finger will necessarily limit the range of motion of the vibrato. It needn’t affect the rate of oscillation, if the hand remains relaxed.

For an additional ‘variation’ you might move between forte and piano dynamics as play, noting that forte only requires a slight increase in pressure from the finger being sounded.

When I began doing this a few days ago I felt somewhat challenged doing all that I have outlined here. In fact, it was a couple days before I could pick the fiddle up cold and execute a two-octave scale without glitches at either speed.

Interestingly, just like training a puppy, the ‘pack leader’ is most effective when a clear vision precedes any choice of action. When I raise the violin to my chin whilst seeing/feeling my hand relaxed and in the rate of speed of my choosing, success follows very quickly.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. I only have 3 spots remaining if you want to attend the Art of the Violin Masterclass/Seminarand perform during the masterclass portion of the event. This is a very special opportunity and I really don’t want you kicking yourself because you missed it. Time to get of that fence and register!

On the Mastery of Two Skills

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:37:00 +0000

I am happy to report that after 5 days and nights, Star, our new puppy, is getting the potty thing right about 80% percent of the time. Actually with ‘poop’ he’s been 100% for two straight days.

And boy does it smell a lot better around here!

But hang on, these are not the SKILLS I was going to write about today!

Two questions came from players at very different places in their violin lives. One arose from the rather uncomfortable challenge of sight-reading Saint-Saens’ ‘Organ Symphony’ – a rhythmically tricky piece.

The other, from a beginner, and addresses the challenge of putting fingers to string accurately and reliably.

First the question regarding sight-reading. Here are the basic priorities, in order, that a good musician should hold: awareness of the BEAT; dynamics, rhythms, articulation, and finally, the notes.

Now, for some, the order of my priorities may come as a surprise. They were to me when I first learned them. After all, I thought ‘getting the notes’ was the deal.

Uh-uh.

Awareness of the flow of time is numero uno. And along those lines I have conducted experiments with myself that have proved very interesting.

When I count the beats, even as I sight-read whatever is in front of me, I find that I am no less effective at getting the dynamics, rhythms, articulations OR the notes than when I don’t, in fact I tend to be better. AND I’m a heck of a lot more steady and aware of the conductor, the other instruments, and the pace of the music as I do so.

You see, for some reason the conscious act of forcefully engaging another part of the brain – the language center – OPENS the mind big time to other challenges.

Now, that being said, if I have a few moments before the conductor starts in, I will take a quick look through the music, finding the ‘tricky’ spots and mentally visualizing my way through them.

And certainly if the opportunity to play a little – quietly – is there, I will take it. And here is what I do.

I do my slow, verbalizing-the-beat-while-playing practice – with no regard for even staying in time – until I can coordinate the notes with my count.

Listen, I’ve had some REALLY tricky music put in front of me, rhythmically complex, notey, you name it. Yet when I spend even a couple quiet minutes in this practice the payoff is enormous when the ‘reading’’ begins.

The off-the-beat rhythms of the Organ Symphony are tricky. Yet once the hands and count are ‘Locked’ in this way, it is VERY difficult for anything to shake them apart. Even the most annoying gesticulations of the typical wanna-be conductor!

But again, first thing is time, then dynamics, then rhythms, articulation, and finally, the notes.

All right, on to the basics of putting fingers to string.

Here again, the key is in your thinking. Well, hang on, let’s say the first step begins with the ear. If you can sing the note you are trying to place, you’re more than halfway there.

The next step is to connect the ear to your fingers. And this is about mastering some spatial relationships – where things are on the fingerboard – and developing discrete control over each finger.

Now both of these have primarily to do with the brain, unless, that is, you have nerve damage between brain and fingertips. Yet assuming you don’t, and I hope this is the case, the key is to go SLOWLY. Don’t move until you’ve computed some idea in your head of where that next note lies.

And when you do move the finger, consciously relax the hand – and breathe – such that the second finger is free to move independently of the first; and that it purposefully takes position on the fingerboard where your mental image dictates.

If the image you projected was wrong, well, you just learned something new. If it was correct, why you just moved closer to ‘hard wiring’ the location of F# relative to E in first position on the D string.

And there you have it.

Beyond this I really recommend the beginning violinist to my Beginners Circle program. In the weekly lessons are a tremendous amount of detail on hand position, finger movement, and much, much more.

Heck, many people spend a lot more on their morning Starbucks than you will getting a natural high from the benefits of this instruction.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. I’m quite pleased that the Art of the Violin Seminar/Masterclass is filling up so quickly; it warms the cockles of my heart, as my former benefactor used to say. Yet there are a few seats available. Come join us!

How to Master the Fingerboard

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:59:00 +0000

As you know, I place quite a bit of stock in how one Thinks when playing the violin. And just to illustrate this a little bit, let me give you an example from my practice this morning.

While warming up I set a goal for myself to play a 3 octave B flat major scale in ‘broken thirds’, rapidly, and using separate bows. Now, if you’re not yet familiar with broken thirds simply think of the following pattern where each number corresponds to a note, or degree, of the scale; 1, 3, 2, 4, 3, 5, 4, 6, etc.

Now in order to complete 3 octaves I had to ascend into the upper positions on the E string and return back down. And this is where my ‘thinking’ really needed to make a difference.

You see, on the way down I was having a little difficulty, at first, with coordinating my down shifts with my right arm. I also noticed that the accuracy of my intonation was slightly off.

And after repeating the little exercise with the same result a second time, it struck me that I, yes I, was being quite lazy. I was trying to let old ‘auto-pilot’ do the lion’s share of the work for me. I was, in fact, trying to avoid thinking at all about pitch locations, form, or anything as I came down.

Yep, wishful thinking, guilty as charged.

Now having had SOME experience in these things I recognized the ‘fix’ immediately. I needed to have a very clear ‘picture’ of the form I wanted my left hand to trace on the way from 9th position on the E string right down to 1st position, and I needed to have a rock-solid sense of the distances between each interval my hand covered along the way.

So what did I do? I resorted, briefly, to my ‘glissando technique.’

Now for those of you well into my Allegro Players you’ll know exactly what I mean by this. It is surely one of the cornerstones of learning the fingerboard.

Yet for those of you not in the program, and hungry for a bit of insight, I can say this. My glissando technique is a way to isolate the movements of the hand/arm up and down the string without the distraction of individual finger movements.

So in this example I used one finger, in this case the 2nd finger, and slid in a controlled, continuous motion from 1st to 9th position, listening intently for the pitches that would become ‘arrival points’ when the passage is played as intended.

In this case we are talking about a series of thirds; G, B flat, D, F and A. Coming down the first shift is a major third, the second a minor third, and so on. Putting the hand in motion and timing it to ‘hit’ each of these pitches accurately while allowing the position of the hand/arm to ‘morph’ as needed to accommodate the shape of the instrument teaches you a lot. And fast.

Now, for the uninitiated this is a little tricky to pick up, in all its subtlety. If you are an ‘intermediate’ player and are having some challenge with shifting and mastering the range of the fingerboard I HIGHLY recommend you consider getting involved with this program.

Remember, I just lowered the tuition to make the Allegro Players truly affordable for all.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

Getting Two Hand Playing as One

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:26:00 +0000

The other day I wrote some words about playing with a partner. The Bach ‘Double’ was the particular piece in question. And in the course of thinking about that venerable masterpiece, I began thinking about another concern many violinists have; getting the two hands knit together.

In the first movement of the Bach, for instance, there are numerous places where the players have to leap across two or three strings, or suddenly shift from 1st to 3rd positions, while maintaining the steady, uninterrupted flow of 16th notes.

In the haste to make these moves it is not uncommon for the two hands to lose sync with each other. And once that happens, certain ‘sound artifacts’ begin to appear that would definitely have raised an eyebrow or two on old man Bach.

Let’s begin with the case of a shift between to 16th notes.

The tendency here is for the left hand to leave early, while the bow hand is still drawing the previous note. And this is due to the very natural anxiety we have of getting our finger on the note we’re shifting to in time.

In the case of crossing multiple strings, it is usually the reverse. The upper arm, controlling the change of string, wants to ‘jump ship’ early to get to the new note.

Now the solution is really quite simple in both cases, yet it does require discipline and careful mindfulness to technique.

The technique first involves actively visualizing the new pitch whilst not getting ‘pulled away’ from the old. Once you are certain that no automatic, anticipatory movements get triggered by the THOUGHT of the new note, you’re ready for step two.

Step two is to consciously link the change of bow direction, change of string, and change of position. And I have a little trick I use for doing this.

I imagine wearing two gloves connected by a string running across my back and down my arms. Any movement in one hand will produce a corresponding movement in the other.

Now, using this image I think of the change of bow DIRECTION as the linked, ‘trigger’ for the shift, and or change of string.

If you employ this image yourself, you will find that all the elements are suddenly happening as you would like them to be; simultaneously.

Now the only challenge remaining, if there is one, is to arrange for ‘the event’ to happen within the even flow of 16th notes. And that simply means getting back into the counting groove.

Again, this sort of training can be done slowly and out of tempo at first. Once you ‘get it’ you’ll find the way back up to speed can happen very quickly indeed.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. IMPORTANT NOTE – Recently I made the decision to lower ALL the prices on my courses by 20% due to the economic realities many face. Additionally, for the entire month of January, I will be putting aside 10% of all orders toward emergency relief for Haiti and its beleaguered people. Bottom line, this is a great time to invest in your own growth AND to benefit those in great need.

How Two Come to Play As One

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:47:00 +0000

I don’t know whether you are a fan of figure skating, and if not please forgive the brief digression from the subject of this newsletter.

Last night the senior ladies skated the first of 2 programs that will decide the national champion and lead to the selection of 2 skaters to go to the winter Olympics next month. The big news was the amazingly artistic and talented Sasha Cohen, who began her much anticipated come back by landing herself in second place, and just tenths of a point from edging out another extraordinary talent Marai Nagasu for first.

Mind you, this is someone who has not competed in four years, a tremendously long absence in a sport as physically and psychologically challenging as figure skating.

We were able to watch the competition live online last night. On Saturday you can catch the action in the ‘long’ program on NBC. At this point the top 3 gals are within a point of each other. Only 2 will be able to go to the Olympics.

It’s going to be quite a dogfight.

Alrighty, just had to get that off my chest, hope you’re still with me.

A couple days ago I had a question regarding the Bach ‘double’. Specifically I was asked how to go about creating ensemble with another player.

Now with Bach the challenge is really just two-fold. Both players must play in tune and in time, it’s about as simple as that. But hang on, that is certainly easier said than done. And don’t think I don’t know it.

So here’s how you train.

To begin with, you’re not going to get anywhere if you cannot ‘live’ within a tempo. The first challenge, therefore is mastering the flow of time.

And this is where my counting technique is so important. Though metronomes are well and good, they are no substitute for being able to take personal responsibility for ‘time’ while playing.

Now this may mean an investment of time in playing SLOWLY while you master the ability to verbalize the beats while playing the music. As you begin this process, you may even surrender keeping a steady tempo all together in favor of putting beat labels and notes together.

When you force yourself to account for the beats as you play, you began to get control of the music at a much deeper level.

Yet I’ll say it again. This takes patience and discipline. You must believe me when I say there is a breakthrough moment when the mind opens and the learning process springs forward like water bursting through a dam.

The secret is to take it down to the lowest common denominator. Where speech and physical movement can be absolutely knit together.

Once you CAN verbalize as you play only THEN do you begin focusing on the steadiness of the time, gradually raising the bar as you are able.

A brief note here. In a previous email I said that I don’t spend a lot of time at ‘medium’ tempos, and this is true. Yet someone new to the process of verbalizing the beat will find these medium tempos very necessary. After you’ve gained experience with the technique you may find that a couple times through at a slow tempo will suffice for getting most music ‘in your fingers.’

Of course the other challenge is playing in tune, and with that I include ‘cleanness’ of execution. Now we are getting into all matter of issues involving left and right hand technique. And though I’d like to, there is no way I’m going to be able to ‘work through’ the Bach Double in an email.

What I would recommend, however, if you want to master works of Bach such as this, is to subscribe to my Allegro Players. In this course I take you all manner of works, including a Handel Sonata, which will prepare you beautifully for Bach. And it’s a great time to do so as ALL the prices on my courses have just been reduced 20% for 2010.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. One final word about this counting thing. Once you have the control to do this playing with another person becomes a snap simply because all the excess conscious control you have can now be brought to bear on LISTENING to your partner, with no sacrifice in what is coming from your own instrument. Now all you’ve got to do is convince your partner to do the same for you!

How to Dump That Excess Adrenaline

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:33:00 +0000

Before I get into the topic of the day, I’d like to mention that as the list of subscribers to these newsletters has grown so have the number of questions and comments that come in daily.

And I’m thrilled to receive them, believe me.

Yet because of the numbers I find it challenging to respond to all of them, and I know that occasionally an important question may fall through the cracks. So if you write in with a question and don’t hear from me in a timely manner, please do not hesitate to resend the email after a few days. Thanks.

In response to yesterday’s missive there was a question related to controlling ‘nerves’ in performance. I’d like to say a few words about it.

The ‘fight or flight’ response behind what we call nerves is an automatic response challenging to eliminate once it has taken hold. Judy Garland was famous for the severity of her performance anxieties I learned recently.

Yet not every performer experiences them. And some will have them at auditions, for instance, yet not be troubled particularly in live performance. It is indeed an individualized kind of thing.

I have a number of strategies I employ in dealing with mine, which can very considerably, by the way, depending on the situation I’m in.

First, is breathing. There is nothing like diaphragm breathing to relax the upper body and smooth out the effect of nerves, particularly in the bow arm. Yet this becomes even more effective when combined with consciously visualizing the smooth outward and inward movements of the hand as you are actually playing.

When I played the violin solo at the Academy Award show last year I was thinking and doing these in spades.

Now if there is time for a warm-up before the performance I will get to the venue very early and literally play myself through the fear or flight response. After all, the body only has so much adrenaline to throw at one situation. If I can burn the bulk of it off in a vigorous warm-up I find myself generally free to go about my business when I get onstage.

The danger here, however, is draining yourself so completely that you have nothing left for the performance. So you have to use some judgment, balancing the energy needs for the performance with dumping the excess fuel that comes with the moment.

When I performed the Tchaikowski Concerto for the first time, some years ago, I put quite a bit of pressure on myself. And I began warming up 90 minutes before the performance – bear in mind, I’d already run the concerto once that day at the morning dress rehearsal.

This is a lot of playing on the day you’re going to play a 50 minute ‘knucklebuster’. Yet I felt ok with it because I had trained going into it for 3 plus hours of heavy playing at one sitting. The warmup and performance, then, was well within my means.

Had I been touring the piece the need for the extended warm-up would no doubt have diminished as I gained specific, repeatable experience.

The bottom line is I can generally judge how much a factor nerves will play, in advance, by pitting my level of preparation against the level of ‘threat’ the situation presents. No, it’s not a perfect science, yet you will be surprised at how effective you can become by seeking to evaluate and manage ‘risk’ in this way.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Speaking of managing risk. Paganini’s 24 Caprices have an abundance of risky moves for a violinist to make his or her peace with. Paganini for Violin Virtuosity, Vol. 1 is a resource to help you manage those risks with an ease you never thought possible.

When Thinking Turns to gold

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:34:00 +0000

A few days ago Tania, daughter Clara and I watched in awe as Jeremy Abbott jumped, spun and otherwise skated his way to a second title as U.S. men’s figure skating champion. And as the top skater in a field as deep as the United States has ever seen, he didn’t do it by a slim margin either.

He did it walking away, beating his nearest competitor, Evan Lysacek by some 10% in accumulated points.

His free skate missed being the highest scored EVER, in the history of figure skating, by just tenths of a point.

Now, I do a little skating myself. Well, just enough to know how incredibly remarkable it is to do what he does on those two blades. And he made it look like a hop, skip and a jump in the park.

Naturally I wanted to hear what he had to say about his performance afterwards. And sure enough, in the interview he said something that really hit home.

He said, ‘I’m not the kind of skater who can just go out there and skate on autopilot. I have to think of every little detail in the program as I do it.’

You know, so often I hear people talk about ‘just letting it happen.’ And I’ll admit that there are times when the mind does interfere in a negative way with what people are trying to accomplish. Yet at the same time I would feel remiss if I set a student adrift with this as the FINAL answer to an interfering mind.

You see, a neutral mind is Very, Very, difficult to hold on to when the pressure is REALLY on.

This is, after all, when the questions start flying. ‘Am I up to this, what if I fail, etc., etc.’

There’s nothing to send your adrenaline to peak levels as those thoughts.

So what I have recognized, over the years, is that the more accurate and rich is your consciousness of ‘all the little details’ in practice, the more easily your mind can become entangled with useful, affirming thoughts at crunch time.

There is no substitute for exercising your ‘knowingness.’

Recently I had a music teacher write in complimenting me on how I explain my thinking continuously as I go through the music in my courses.

And of course, the above is precisely why.

Every bow change, string crossing and finger location is worthy of having my conscious intention behind it. As I see it this is what supplies meaning to what I do; and it’s where the pleasure of fulfillment gets realized.

So if you’re having difficulty ‘putting your finger’ on HOW to place your finger, you may want to take advantage of my thinking behind even this sort of basic violin skill.

It’s the very kind of thing you’ll find in my Beginners Circle, which is now available at a new, reduced rate.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Just about to release dates to my next seminar/masterclass which will be conducted in a whole new format. Stay tuned, I think you’ll find it irresistible!

The Fear of Success

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:03:00 +0000

A few days ago I wrote about some of the challenges and, ironically, opportunities arising from Beethoven’s loss of hearing; specifically as it impacted his spiritual life. And, as I said, the source for these thoughts was J.W.N. Sullivan’s book wonderful book of 1927, ‘Beethoven, His Spiritual Development.’

Well, what I really meant to get to, and what I got pulled away from as soon as I started writing, was how the fears arising from an attachment to selfhood can keep one in shackles in the best of circumstances, when success is there for the taking.

On many an occasion I’ve coached violinists who produce quite wonderful playing when provoked, prodded or otherwise coerced, only to fall back into their business-as-usual ways after walking out the door.

I’ve often wondered WHY THAT IS. Fact is, I’ve been guilty of it myself.

Now I think I can see things a little more clearly.

The opportunity of change, even positive change, is a challenge to the equilibrium our sense of selfhood is constantly seeking to maintain.

In effect we become bound to comfort zones of our own making.

Now, a lot of ‘new age’ thinkers talk about ‘visualizing’ yourself in the new reality you want to inhabit. And I don’t have a problem with that, other than it is likely to be wishful thinking unless backed up by something more substantive.

Real, lasting changes have to take place in long-term memory. And there is a physical transfer that must occur in the brain. We have areas in the brain for short-term memories, and other areas for long-term.

If you do not instruct the brain to remember, not by wishful thinking or saying to yourself ‘please remember this,’ but by DOING with conscious knowledge of the doing, repeatedly, no fundamental change will take place; at least not on the violin.

Today I worked quite specifically with the mechanics of my left hand. For reasons I won’t go into – injury related – I’ve been experiencing a temporary deficit in the execution of certain finger patterns.

Now that I see exactly where the solution lies – reasserting conscious control of lifting specific fingers – I’m making strong headway in rectifying matters. Mind you, these are things I haven’t had to think about this since I was 8 years old. Now, until neural networks and long-term memory are rebuilt, I do.

You know, it feels great to find solutions, and to literally feel the changes taking place as they become hard-wired into the mind. Incidentally, perhaps you notice this too, I am often aware of a pleasant sensation just inside my forehead during this work.

Yet for any of it to happen there must be a shift, from passive ‘selfhood-consciousness’, to ‘mind-linked-to-body-doing’ consciousness. And when this happens, all fears connected to self-preservation disappear like magic.

A nice bonus.

Now before I go, I’d like to mention that I have lowered the tuition rates on the monthly subscriptions to ‘Beginners Circle’ and ‘Allegro Players’ by 20% from the regular price in 2009. Even if you are currently subscribed on a monthly basis at the old rates you should see a reduction in your monthly billing from now on. Good news!

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

A Major Player in the Milstein Tone

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:40:00 +0000

Before getting to the subject of my newsletter today I want to let you know that I am donating 10% of what comes in to Violin Mastery this month toward the relief efforts in Haiti. After all that country has been through in recent decades, and now this. It just boggles my mind and breaks my heart.

Now, let’s talk about something that soothes the care-worn mind and restores the broken heart; the uniquely noble and pure tone of a violin drawn by a master such as Nathan Milstein.

When I think of Milstein’s bow arm and the tone it brought out of his beautiful ‘golden period’ Stradivarius one word comes to mind, and it may surprise you; ‘sweep.’

You know it’s kind of ironic, in a way, yet there used to be a little running joke between my wife and I having to do with ‘sweep’ and it certainly ties in nicely with what I have to say.

She used to laugh at how I often seem to have a broom in hand tidying up around our place. And she felt it was something shared with my father, as he often can be found in the same activity.

Well, guilty as charged. I certainly do like moving dirt, leaves, and the like toward a destination of my choosing. And I’m certainly not one to reach for a leaf-blower for my outdoor cleanup.

Nope, rakes and brooms are my thing.

And if you ask me the secret of a good sweeping technique I’d say it resembles good bowing technique very closely. When raking I want to get the dirt moving as quickly and efficiently as possible and keep it moving.

Now to move dirt horizontally is much the same moving a string horizontally. You want to minimize the vertical pressure needed while maximizing the horizontal movements of the string.

When I use a broom, rake, or bow for that matter, you will not see me poking around, or stabbing at the subject matter with little, pointed strokes. Nor with you see me micro-managing the implement with fingers or wrist.

You WILL see decisive horizontal strokes of the fore and upper arm – being right-handed it’s my ‘stroking arm’ – that get things moving quickly and keep them moving.

Another image can be the spreading of paint on a large canvas or wall. You are not going to dab and flick paint around with cutesy little finger movements, you’re going to take the brush in hand, laden with paint, and put some ‘sweep’ behind it.

And when I think of holding such a brush, I will grasp it as lightly as needed, with as much flesh-to-handle contact as can be allowed, and with equal participation from all five digits.

It’s simple, and it’s effective.

The fingers and hand, in other words, are merely the means for my arm to interface with the tool, that’s it.

Now in violin playing, the wrist, elbow and shoulder joints must be free of constriction; also true of painting, not necessarily true of sweeping and raking where the wrist is concerned.

And, in violin playing, all the elements of the bow arm – the hand, forearm and upper arm – inhabit a plane of two dimensions.

If you’re wrist, elbow or shoulder is raising and lower during the strokes – breaking the plane – you are losing efficiency and, chances are, tone. So you might want to take a look in the mirror now and again to see what they are really up to.

So you see, getting a good, fundamental ‘sweeping technique’ is as important to violin playing as it is to house work. Come to think of it, if this Violin Mastery thing doesn’t work out for me, maybe there’s a future for me in training the future house cleaners of the world. I’ll have to think about that.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. With the recent reduction in the rate for my ‘Beginners Circle,’ the newcomer to violin playing can get ALL the fundamentals of violin excellence in easy to digest weekly lessons for right around $14.00 per lesson. I’d say that’s a whale of a good deal.

The Book I Received for Xmas

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:13:00 +0000

A few days ago, after our return from California and just before undressing our little Christmas tree, I noticed that there were in fact 3 little presents that hadn’t been unwrapped.

They were all from our assistant and friend, Heidii Ash.

The one with my name on it contained a little book entitled, ‘Beethoven – His Spiritual Development.’ The author, a mathematician, philosopher of science, and reviewer for the ‘The Times’ – London, was J.W.N. Sullivan. And though worth its weight in gold many times over, you will not find it on any best seller list of today. I can guarantee that.

It was written in 1927.

How Heidii managed to find this book I’ve no idea, I have yet to ask her. It is, nonetheless, the singly most timely gift ever made to me, and I will thank her for it for many years to come.

So today I’m going to share something I have found very inspiring. Something I genuinely hope will affect you in a positive way as well, not only in your quest for violin excellence, but also in your quest to understand the nature of our common human truth.

Now you may object to some of what I’m about to say on religious grounds, and that will meet with no argument with me. Each to his or her heart be true, for the heart is indeed the most important sense organ we possess, in my opinion.

So here goes.

As you know Beethoven began going deaf at the age of 28. At the time he was already a celebrated, if somewhat controversial, pianist and composer in Viennese society; recognized as a true genius by most of the literati of the day.

As the condition worsened Beethoven became frantic with fear and loathing, avoiding all but the most essential contact with the outside world. He regarded his condition as the most humiliating calamity that could befall a composer; one that would carry with it intolerable pity on the part of his supporters and endless gloating from his detractors.

Yet, at a certain defining moment, when all hope of recovery had been lost, Beethoven came through a profound transformation.

In the process three things happened. One, he surrendered his ego utterly; two, he lost all fear of what lay before him; and three, he recognized the independence of ‘giftedness’ from any sense of self-hood.

This was a pretty tall order from a person recognized in his early years as the very epitome of conceit, even by many of his friends.

In any case, as a result of his ‘rebirth in spirit,’ Beethoven did not give up on life or composition. Nor did he succumb to writing music full of sadness and longing, as many a lesser man might have done.

What is found in the late quartets, and elsewhere, is music that, while acknowledging the presence and fact of suffering, is nonetheless unattached to it; music representative of the entire range of pure, genuine and honest human experience.

This was his triumph, and this our challenge, each in our own way with whatever tools we may – or may not – find or develop along the way.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

The Seven Elements of Phrasing

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:41:00 +0000

You know, it’s funny. When I send out these emails I often don’t have a clue how they are going to be received. Yesterday’s was a case in point. So I just want to take a moment and thank you for the many wonderful responses that appeared in my inbox through the day.

They ‘warmed the cockles of my heart,’ as my old benefactor, Richard Colburn, used to say!

This morning during my practice I used some of my down time – you know, the time spent shaking out arms and fingers, stretching limbs and the like – to consider all the ways at our disposal to affect what we call ‘phrasing.’

Of course we could probably exchange the word phrasing with expression without getting off track. Yet phrasing to me leads more directly into the particular concerns of music making; it’s certainly more euphonious.

Now bear in mind, as I go through the list that there is no real order in importance to these things. It all depends on the music being played.

So here’s my list.

The distortion of time.

Wow, what a concept to begin with. Yet it is certainly a fundamental aspect of phrasing. On a basic level you only have to think about so called ‘swing’ in jazz, where two written 8th notes are ‘phrased’ unequally; think of a triplet where the first two 8ths of the triplet are tied together as a quarter note, leaving the second shorter in duration by half.

Another way to bend time in the service of phrasing is through ‘rubato.’ Rubato simply implies the taking away of time in one part of a phrase and the adding back of time in another. This is very different from either rushing or dragging, mind you, where the net result is either less time or more time taken than the original tempo would allow. In ‘rubato’ a balance is maintained between the moving forward and the drawing back parts of the phrase. Needless to say the two can be reversed, one can follow slowing with a hurrying forward for a very different effect.

Dynamics.

An easy one, really. Yet certainly the way a line is shaped through the use of dynamic changes – i.e. conscious modulations in volume – will effect how the music breathes. What you don’t want are the unintended rises and falls in sound – what I call ‘unsightly bulges’ – which come from Unconscious changes in bow speed and pressure along the way.

Bow articulation.

Here I’m talking particularly about the beginnings and endings of notes. Many times I find that it is the ending of notes where attention fails. Notes must be brought to a close just as purposefully as they are sounded. And this, of course, this has a lot to do with the left hand as well.

Bow ‘color’.

Namely, the subtle trade-offs made between bow speed and bow pressure. If you mean to convey a feeling of a more dense, purposeful nature, then greater pressure with less ‘travel’ is the ticket. If a more buoyant, transparent tone suits then make the opposite compensations, less pressure and more travel. This is something to experiment with in extremes when playing scales, I find.

Vibrato.

Yes, this can also be used in a nuanced way to affect phrasing. The speed and range of your vibrato can both be altered with practice and used effectively in shaping musical lines. Again, I tend to use my scale and arpeggio practice to warm up and expand the limits of my vibrato. You just have to be a little careful, when attempting to speed up and/or narrow the range of the vibrato, that you don’t become tight in the process. Belly-breathing is a great antidote for this tendency.

Pitch.

Yes, subtle pitch manipulations can be a part of phrasing. Think of ‘blues’ notes in jazz, for instance. Milstein himself used to color harmonies, particularly minor harmonies, quite a bit in romantic music, I remember.

Left hand articulation.

This is perhaps the most subtle of elements, actually, yet it does contribute in a real way. Having control over the way your fingers address the string reinforces the message you are sending in the music. This is not only true of the raising and lowering of fingers either. I also will consciously get up on the tips of my fingers when I’m ‘hearing’ clear, bell-like tones, and I move to the pads when the mood becomes soft and gray.

So these are what we have to play with as we go about making music. And, of course, to a great extent you do them naturally as you respond to the music in front of you. All the same, scales, arpeggios and etudes are irreplaceable when it comes to developing real facility with these things.

Then, when it comes time for repertoire, just let the games begin!

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. In a couple of days I’ll be coming out with dates for my next master class. Meanwhile, resonate!

A Look Under the Neck of My Violin

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:14:00 +0000

Today I’m going to tell you what goes on up close and personal under the neck of my instrument. After all, these things probably constitute 60-70% of one’s left hand technique.

And they have everything to do with how you support the weight of the violin.

To begin with, let’s dispense with the notion of a violin ‘hold.’ Words like ‘suspended,’ ‘supported,’ ‘cradled’, and ‘floated’ are perhaps more apt, really.

On the chin rest side, the lower left back of the fiddle is resting on the shoulder and collar-bone. That’s now a given.

Under the neck is a cradle fashioned by the thumb and base joint of the index finger. Specifically, the neck actually rests just above the first joint of the thumb and the base joint of the index finger.

One thing you want to avoid, though there is no need for panic should this happen, is for the neck to slip down into the clef formed by the thumb and hand.

And bear in mind, the ‘cradle’ uses the absolute minimum of energy to keep the neck from falling farther down into the hand.

Do not squeeze the neck.

If you look at my thumb you will see that, generally speaking, the tip is pointed outward, away from the neck. In other words, it is not bent at the first joint.

Now, the cradle can be rocked back and forth with the upper arm. As you move the upper arm to the right across your body – as you would, say, to play for an extended time on the G string – the neck of the fiddle will rest more fully on the flesh of the thumb.

This is also true as you ascend above 4th position. In fact, once you pass through 4th position you will find that the thumb becomes the only support for the neck.

Again, bear in mind that the Upper Arm is responsible for ‘rocking the cradle,’ as it were. You’re not doing funny little distortions with the wrist for this.

Wait a minute, ALMOST never. There are exceptions to about everything, after all. In the case of some triple and quadruple chords you MAY find that the wrist needs to assume an unusual position in order for the fingers to reach all the notes.

Okay, so that’s the exception that proves the rule.

Now before I go further, and in case I forget to mention this tomorrow, I want you to know that I reach with my fingers across strings quite a bit. In other words, I’m not throwing my arm back and forth for every change of string that comes along.

Yet, as I say, if I’m on the G string for more than a couple of notes you will see my upper arm move across my body slightly to allow my fingers greater access.

The point is to do what is most efficient and/or promotes the greatest ease in playing.

Let’s move on to shifting.

As the hand is brought up the string between 1st and 4th position there is, first and foremost, movement in the forearm. As you reach 5th position and above, however, the upper arm really begins to get involved, moving to the right across the body so the hand can clear the sides of the instrument.

You will notice that by sliding the elbow to the right the ‘cradle’ is repositioned so the neck now rests on the thumb.

What movement there is in the wrist is minimal, purely to accommodate the sides on the violin as you begin reaching upward.

Now if you’re practicing with my Allegro Players course much of this will be familiar to you – at least from month 6 or 7 onward.

If you are not yet working with this program I will just mention that in it I have developed a whole ‘glissando technique’ around the fluid integration of the hand-forearm-upper arm. This is the secret to mastering the entire length of the fingerboard; to having known, consistent positions for each and every note and/or position there is.

After all, there comes a time when ‘guess work’ gets a little old and ‘like the back of your hand’ becomes welcome indeed.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Now, the link I’ve provided above is for intermediate players, really. If you are not yet playing in position, or think a review of first fundamentals would be beneficial, my Beginners Circle program is just the ticket.

5 Benefits of a Left Hand Hold

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:35:00 +0000

As you may be aware, the movie AVATAR is now in release, almost around the globe I believe. I mention it for two reasons. I saw this spectacular film on Saturday with my wife and a couple friends. And I happened to be concertmaster of the orchestra that assisted James Horner in recording his highly effective score.

If you love film making on an epic scale, have a weakness for sci-fi, are any kind of a techno-geek, or just appreciate a well-spun yarn, this is a must see.

Unfortunately we do not have a theatre capable of 3-D projection here in Sedona. Rest assured, however, on my next trip to LA I’ll be in one to experience the turbo-charged version of this creative wonder.

And speaking of wonder, I had a fellow write in who has been wondering about the left hand violin hold I so vociferously defend. And over the next couple days I’ll be spending some time talking about it.

Yet today I thought I’d just give out 5 good reasons for moving in this direction, if you are not already there.

One, your hand is a lot more tactilely aware than your shoulder or chin. Anything you do to create a more sensual relationship with the neck and body of the instrument cannot help but translate into increased warmth and expression in your playing.

Two, releasing the clench of shoulder and chin necessitates greater relaxation and pliancy of the hand; in itself a good thing, yet also leading to:

Three, increased fluidity in your playing. This is so because the fingers will become more balanced and efficient in the bargain.

Four, a hand that is more balanced, efficient and tactile is a more nuanced hand; a more sophisticated hand. You see, the more you are simultaneously supporting the violin AND articulating the notes, the more clever the hand needs to be. The more clever YOU need to be.

It’s a mistake to assume the violin is difficult enough without imposing this challenge on it. Why, because this challenge is at the heart of violin playing. Physically we tend to ‘take possession’ of things with our hands. This is exactly what you do with a left hand hold.

Simply, the violin is more a part of you when it is an extension of your hand and fingers than when it is an extension of your neck.

And five, no more clunky shoulder rests falling off the violin at inopportune times. From the case right into your hand. No need for a chair, knees, fresh rubber-bands, or whatever.

Well, I’m joking a little here, really. The point is to MOVE in this direction. Yes, it can be done ‘cold turkey’, if you like. Yet a good intermediary step is to acquire one of those little red, rubber cosmetic sponges used to apply makeup and fix it to the back of the violin with a rubber band.

If you position it just where the shoulder contacts the back of the instrument it will keep the violin from sliding from your shoulder as you begin dissipating the ‘clench.’

More on all this tomorrow.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. For advanced players looking to cultivate this approach to the left hand I can strongly recommend Volmue 3 of Kreutzer for Violin Mastery. Not only do I review this approach in living color, I demonstrate how to integrate it using Kreutzer’s marvelous Caprices for left hand dexterity.

How to Massage a Fingerboard

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:13:00 +0000

Don’t worry, I’m not suggesting you run out and get a table and massage oil for your violin. Not that they aren’t nice to have at your disposal, along with a massage therapist, for a little after practice deep tissue.

No, what I’m talking about here is a way for the stiff-of-finger, or even just the intonationally-challenged, perhaps, to get those 4 little helpers on your left hand loosened, lubricated, and otherwise 100% at your disposal.

It’s a very simple concept, really. All I’m talking about is taking control of the full range of movement of the finger, in a seamless, continuous way.

To get the feel of it, start with a slow scale; separate bows would be a good idea.

What you want to do is to consciously lift and lower each finger to the string. As the finger touches the string you will continue to draw the finger into the string, gently squeezing the string to the fingerboard.

Once the string is flexed sufficiently to produce a clean tone you consciously maintain it there in this highly dynamic state until the time comes to either lift it from the string or raise and lower the next note.

Incidentally, while the finger is being gently squeezed into the fingerboard your may want to oscillate gently on the fingertip – i.e. introduce a gentle vibrato.

Now to make this experience truly transformative, draw a nice belly breath during the lift of each finger and exhale as you draw the finger down to the string.

You see, many violinists play with a tight, ‘digital’ left hand technique. And the problem with this is that the fine control, the ‘touch’, is missing.

Quite often this leads to a kind of hit-or-miss intonation, and a distinct lack of fluidity in the phrasing.

Once you have this down with separate bows, by the way, you can move to slurring groups of 2, 4, and 8, whilst simultaneously decreasing the range of movement and increasing the velocity.

Then it’s on to repertoire, bringing a whole new level of control and fluency to your music making.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. As you progress through my ‘Allegro Players’ program, this approach is brought to the systematic mastery of scales and arpeggios in every key. There’s simply no better way to keep your fingerboard purring with pleasure!

4 Simple Concepts for a Fine Bow Arm

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:33:00 +0000

Today during my practice I happened to run through the Bach “Preludio” in E Major. And when I got to the arpeggiated string crossings, around measure 16, I remembered that a fellow had recently written me regarding the technical challenge this passage presents.

Now, as he also informed me he’d just ordered my little coaching program on this very piece, I had only to tell him that help was indeed on the way. All would be abundantly clear in a matter of days.

Yet today as I went through the very passage, it struck me that players with a strong background in ‘traditional’ music styles might actually require more time to master this passage than those coming to it with a classical background.

It’s not that one style of bowing is superior to the other, far from it.

Yet it is true that, generally speaking, the players of each style use the bow quite differently.

In traditional styles the middle of the bow is highly favored, and the wrist and forearm are used, almost exclusively, to execute string-crossing patterns.

A ‘classical’ violinist, however, learns to use the whole bow; and the upper arm enters much more into the equation, with the role of the wrist diminishing substantially.

This is made necessary by at least 3 reasons I can think of.

First, as violinists began playing to larger audiences in the 18th and 19th centuries they needed the additional projection afforded by the use of the full bow.

The upper arm had to become more involved to do this.

Number two, as the music written became more technically demanding – I’m thinking specifically of large, rapid leaps between notes – the limits of wrist, or even forearm to accomplish them became exceeded. Again, time to bring in the upper arm.

Reason number three has to do with what I might call the ‘Law of Efficiency.’ And it’s an important one.

You see once you add a new element into the mix – the upper arm in this case – you must remove some other element. Why, because otherwise you will inevitable find them working at cross purposes to one another.

Play the passage mentioned above with all three arm joints in motion and you can write off ever playing it cleanly.

That’s why if you want an efficient, ‘classical’ bow arm for the concert music written between 1750 and now, you will do well to consider the following four concepts.

One, the wrist is used minimally, it flexes forward and backward as the bow travels up and down the string; and never for string crossing.

Two, the elbow joint is GENERALLY used to move the forearm horizontally – only rarely do I rely on the forearm for string crossings, and them only for rapid oscillations between two adjacent strings.

Three, the upper arm LARGELY controls string crossings. And its ‘vertical controller’ function is INDEPENDENT of any horizontal movements it may make.

And four, the upper arm is simultaneously free, at all times, to move horizontally at the two extremes of the bow.

So there you have it, some real great advice to get your bow arm in tip-top form.

Now the intermediate player may yet have some questions over how to knit the right arm and the left hand together, especially in complicated passages.

And for that I refer you to ‘Kreutzer for Violin Mastery’, particularly volume 1, which gives you the same techniques I’ve to master all manner of virtuosic repertoire.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

Holiday Special Ends Today

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 18:09:00 +0000

Yea, time grows very short to take advantage of major discounts on my courses.

Now, one of my violin mastery friends sent me an email yesterday suggesting I talk about bow tension; particularly as it has considerable bearing on the ‘jumping’ characteristics of the stick.

The rule of thumb is that the space between the stick and hair be about equal to the thickness of the stick, when it is tightened.

Of course there is some flexibility in this.

If the bow stick is particularly ‘soft’ or flexible, you might want a little more tension; if it is stiff, somewhat less.

Personal preference plays a part as well. Heifetz played with less tension, David Oistrack with more, from what I’ve been told.

Yet for the novice player, unless an expert has identified your bow as particularly one way or the other, I’d stay with the rule of thumb on this.

One last thing, don’t neglect to loosen the bow after practice. There are two reasons for doing this. One, the stick will gradually lose it’s curvature if you don’t; a costly thing to remedy.

And two, sudden drops in humidity will cause the bow hair to shorten. If you leave the bow tightened in the case and this happens, you may open the case to find the tip snapped right off. Another costly repair.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

That Elusive Spiccato, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:06:00 +0000

Before I continue, just a quick reminder that we are in the 8th day of my ’12 Days of Christmas Holiday Special’. Time grows short to take advantage of all the discounts. http://www.violinmastery.com/holiday_sale.htm

This morning I was fooling around a little more with the spiccato groove. Something additional came to me that I can add to yesterday’s comments.

I said that the detache is the basis of spiccato; true. I also said that it is very useful to ‘condense’ your detache, and PURPOSELY confine it to the string, an excellent practice.

Now, once you’ve gotten this – stroking back and forth with a small amount of bow somewhere near the middle, very horizontal and in the string – try moving the bow a little toward the frog and, if the following doesn’t happen, back toward the tip. Depending on the speed and pressure you are using, in one direction or the other you are going to find that the stick begins to jump.

Excellent.

Return now to confining the bow to the string, right where you are. Now release the pressure slightly so it jumps again. Back and forth you go between jumping and not jumping.

Such is the way of getting consummate control of this stroke. Once you have it in one spot, change the speed and/or pressure, confine it to the string, and move around to find a new jumping point.

Pretty soon you will have a repertoire of speeds and dynamics for this stroke. The final step is to move fluidly through them, with no interruption in the action of the stick.

One last thing, if control between the hands is an issue, lock the two together by playing slowly, counting and breathing while using the same confined, concentrated, in the string stroking you began with; exactly in the location where you plan to play ‘at tempo.’

This should lock things up in no time.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. There are just a few days left in my 12 Days of Christmas Holiday Sale. Time to get a move-on to take advantage of 33% savings.

How to Master that Elusive Spiccato

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:31:00 +0000

I’m sure you’ve had quite a number of those ‘Aha!’ moments over the course of your life. They the times when an activity you were in the throws of mastering suddenly clicked. And what had required enormous physical and mental effort, as if magic, became ‘as easy as pie,’ as the saying goes.

Well, spiccato can sure be like one of those. For some, though, the throws of mastery go on much, much longer than is necessary.

And the questions I’ll answer today are, why this is so; and how does one get back on the right track.

You see some folks are defeated before they even begin; they haven’t learned to walk before trying to run.

The foundation of an excellent, dependable spiccato is an excellent, pure detache. That is number one.

It’s interesting and even instructive to note, by the way, that in the old German school, spiccato was almost anathema. They just didn’t think it a legitimate stroke worthy of study.

After all, tone is produced when the bow is ON the string, not off. And the great German romantic era was indeed all about tone and its ability to transmit FEELING.

Yet today, in this country, it is almost the opposite. Many players seem to wear their spiccato as if it were some kind of medal to be displayed at any and every opportunity, even when it is stylistically inappropriate.

I guess this tells you something of where my own sympathies lie.

Yet the point of my telling you these things is to get you to relax and stop trying to force it to happen, if this is the predicament you’re facing at the moment.

An effective, pliant spiccato is cultivated over time, and finessed into action. It does not arise from ‘man handling’ the bow, as some would believe.

Ok, so now let’s assume you’ve got the makings of a fine detache in place, and you do want to begin making the bow ‘jump.’

The first thing to bear in mind is that the bow jumps, or bounces, as a result of the surface tension formed and broken at bow changes.

It is not something produced by making vertical motions with your hand or arm.

Yes, there is something called a ‘brush’ stroke, in which you do drop and lift the bow purposefully. Yet that kind of CONTROLLED movement is a distant relative to the stick-generated stroke I’m talking about here.

What you want to do to get surface tension working for you, is, without altering your detache form in the least, to narrow the travel of the bow down to the smallest amount possible on each note. In other words, to concentrate the detache much like they do the orange juice sitting in supermarket freezers.

Now remember, this is happening right around the middle of the bow; a little below, in slower tempi; a little above in very fast ones.

And ‘edge’ the bow as I mentioned the other day, this will dampen away the excessive chatter you might otherwise produce in doing this.

One further thing, at the beginning I recommend you even focus on PREVENTING the bow from jumping. Doing so will get your bow RIGHT IN THE STRING and keep you focused on horizontal movements of the stick.

At a certain point in the process, as you narrow the range of motion and increase the amount of weight on the string, the bow will begin to ‘jump’ in spite of your best intentions for it not to.

And THIS is the beginning of a truly excellent spiccato. From here it is a matter of experimentation with pressures, speeds, and bow placement to get the ‘feel’ of a range of conditions. Yet each MUST evolve naturally from the interaction between bow hair and string.

You know, I was asked once whether I thought the spiccato stroke can actually be taught. And indeed it is rather like riding a bicycle. How do you really ‘teach’ that? You can point folks in the right direction, yet it is something to be experienced before it can be truly understood.

Now, what I’ve written here can indeed be useful to you. Yet it is no substitute for what you will see demonstrated and explained in depth with my violin in hand on one of my instructional DVDs.

Right now, as you must know by now, everything I have produced is available at a 33% savings.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. We did have a mistake with the ‘Beginners Circle’ annual subscription on the ‘Special’ page initially. If you saw it at a 20% discount instead of a 33% discount you saw the wrong information. This has now been corrected.

How I Put an Edge on My Bow Hair

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:46:00 +0000

No, the answer is not by running each hair through my ‘chef’s choice’ knife sharpener. Nice try though.

But seriously, you may even be surprised at the whole concept of ‘edging the bow’. So this is what I’m talking about.

As you can plainly see, when the hair is put under tension by tightening the frog, the hair of the bow presents a flat, linear surface. When I talk about edging the bow I’m referring to a little technique in which the bow is angled slightly, with the stick rotated out over the outside edge of the bow hair creating a small angle between the string and the hair.

There are a couple of good reasons for doing this. First, playing on the outside edge of the bow hair gives a little cushioning to the bow, particularly at the frog where it can behave a little chatterishly – my word – when drawn on the flat.

Second, doing so tends to create a rounder sound while, at the same time, adding clarity to your articulation.

One of my early teachers described it this way, ‘like a knife cutting into the string.’

Now the way to achieve this is not to twizzle the bow in your fingers – ‘spell check’ informs me there is no such word as ‘twizzle’. So how come ice-dancers get away with doing them, I ask.

Anyway, to get the bow properly ‘edged’ start with the hair flat on the string, the middle of the bow is good. Then, elevate the wrist just slightly until the stick is over the outside edge – fingerboard side – of the hair.

Now practice some long tones keeping this new orientation from tip to stern.

Now don’t get me wrong here, there are times when playing right on the flat of the hair is absolutely in order; certainly when you want an aggressive edge to the sound – ironic, isn’t it, to produce an edge by being ‘flat’; smoothness by being ‘on edge’.

Yet more often than naught you will find my bow in the latter position when I’m playing. There’s simply a refinement, clarity and ringing-ness that I find irresistible.

And speaking of irresistible, we are in the 4th full day of my 12 Days of Christmmas Holiday Special. You can do the math, but this event will end before you can blink twice the way time flies these days. I’d hurry over Right Now and take a look at all the goodies.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Even the monthly subscription rate on ‘Beginners Circle’ and ‘Allegro Players’ has been reduced. You may take advantage of these rates only on this page for a few days longer. Come see!

How to Restore a Rebellious Hand

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:08:00 +0000

As I mentioned yesterday, my weeklong sojourn in Seville was a tremendous experience. In fact, in the coming weeks and months I believe the fruits coming from it will fully restore my playing capacities to their highest level.

Now, in case you’re confused, let me explain.

Some years ago I began noticing abhorrent movements in my left hand which seemed beyond my conscious control.

Yet through rigorous discipline, and by developing tremendously efficient practice techniques, control them I did. And for many years, nobody but myself was aware of any dysfunction whatsoever, not even my closest colleagues.

Yet the issue of controlling my hand seemed to grow more and more challenging each year. And, to add insult to injury, 18 months ago I took and serious tumble onto my left shoulder, seriously injuring it.

Now to make a long story short, I thought I’d reached the end of my line. As of 10 days ago I basically believed there was no hope of restoring my left hand to anything near its former state; no matter how much time I could dedicate to practice.

Yet as it turned out, in Spain I quickly learned how wrong I could be. In fact, much of what I developed to deal with the problem – and what have proved greatly effective to Violin Mastery adherents – were confirmed as RIGHT ON. Largely I was given a dose of my own medicne.

You see, I myself made the mistake of giving what SHOULD have been a temporary dysfunction, a permanent diagnosis; Focal Dystonia. And with this diagnosis I bought into the conventional ‘theory’ that the condition was irreversible and permanent.

So in spite of the fact that I had developed many great strategies for conditioning a left hand for EXCELLENCE, my belief system was, in my own case, working at odds to them.

Now, thanks to my time with a great man named Dr. Joaquin Farias, I am realizing the tangible results of letting go of that silly notion.

Yes, me, the founder of Violin Mastery was given a good dose of his own medicine.

I’m really only surprised it took just a week and a transcontinental journey for it to happen – just kidding on that.

Now, there IS a little something more to it.

In the case of a LONG HISTORY of dysfunctional movement patterns there can be a need for inverting the patterns, for going in the extreme opposite direction. This is something that never occurred to me in my years of experience with the ‘dis-ease’.

There is also, in some cases, a need for prolonged retraining at hyper-slow tempi until the conscious mind ‘unwinds’, and the dysfunctional patterns are broken. You see, in my own case I had not gone far enough in the right direction; again, the product of a mistaken belief system.

Yet for the great MAJORITY of players, like yourself, the secrets of fluidity and velocity are PRECISELY what I have said they are, and what Milstein said they are.

Imagine that.

So those of you that have my courses take this as a word to the wise. The system WORKS. Yet you must have the confidence, patience and commitment to ALLOW it to work.

And the great thing is, this very confirmation comes at a time when we’re holding our biggest ‘Special’ of the year at Violin Mastery. Every course, for every level of player, is offered at a substantial discount.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. You know, recently a gal wrote in about how she applied something I wrote in a newsletter to her playing, and immediately received a special compliment from the conductor of her orchestra. This, in turn, made her open up Kreutzer for Violin Mastery’ and begin reapplying herself to the lessons found therein. All I can say is, ‘Bravo, way to go.’

To Pinch or Not to Pinch

noreply@blogger.com (Clayton Haslop) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:20:00 +0000

I received a couple of interesting notes in my inbox in response to yesterday’s newsletter. One, coming from Kenton, down Florida way, was the ‘violin’ entry in an old Webster’s Dictionary.

And though the accompanying illustrational was quite odd indeed, the text was right-on in its characterization of the violin hold I thought. It said, ‘…held nearly horizontal with the player’s arm with the lower part supported against the collarbone or shoulder.’

It did not say, ‘held between the chin and shoulder’, as many might believe.

In another response Stephen asked ‘whether one pinches the neck between the thumb and base of the index finger horizontally, or whether the thumb should be under the neck so that you can squeeze into the notes and roll the vibrato like a cellist’.

Now it is certainly easy to dismiss the former, I’ll have no pinching of violin necks in any coaching or master class of mine. Pinching of violins or violinists is strictly verbotten.

Doing this not only tightens your hand, it severely limits your ability to get around the violin. Not a good thing.

The latter concept is almost all good, however. There is just one little thing. I like to think of the thumb and base of the index finger as forming something of a ‘V’, with the violin resting between and atop the first joint of the thumb and the base of the index finger.

And yes, I do like the idea of squeezing or, better yet, massaging the fingerboard with the fingers – note that both these images imply pliancy within the hand and fingers.

Nothing is ever stiff, locked, or unyielding in the hand.

In yet another emailed response Al referred to the sweet spot where the violin rests as a ‘birth’ for the violin. I like that.

Now, all this being said, I don’t want to give the impression that I make a religion out of the neck’s location in the hand either. When I play there is quite a bit of flexibility in my hand, and the neck may indeed rest on the thumb, at times, or deeper in the ‘V’ now and again.

Yet the exceptions prove the rule, as the old saw goes.

And a good deal of my practice is spent relaxing and balancing my left hand as I perfect challenging passages.

I want to arrive at the point of maximum efficiency, minimum effort, and minimum hand distortion for anything I do.

I certainly look to keep my chin free of the chinrest if at all possible – downshifts, as I have said, are the one exception in this.

In any case, yesterday I mentioned ‘Kreutzer for Violin Mastery’ as an excellent tool for assisting a intermediate/advanced player in freeing up his or her hold.

Today I’ll leave you with another link to a little instructional DVD that gets you started with the bow hold, violin hold, and a way of breathing that may change your life, literally.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. The DVD listed above is actually the 1st DVD in my comprehensive beginner’s course called, ‘Violin Mastery Beginners Circle.