What Matters

Yesterday I received an email from a guy interested in coming to the Violin Mastery Masterclass/Seminar. He wanted to know at what level he must be able to play in order to attend.

My knee jerk response – and I’m glad I didn’t act on it, was to tell him, intermediate to advanced. After all, that’s who I regard as the main audience for ‘Kreutzer for Violin Mastery.’

It was fortunate that I didn’t have time to write and send that message.

You see the past couple days I have been in attendance at an extraordinary seminar on marketing, of all things. But let me tell you something, if parents knew and appreciated the value of half of what I’m learning here, they would demand it be taught in the schools. It’s that good.

Be that as it may, at this morning’s session something was said that turned a brilliant light on in my brain about the question posed and the true value and reach of my event.

To the fellow with the question I wrote this;
‘I do not care what level you are at right now. I am only interested in how committed you are to improving. A student who is passionate to improve is an asset to any class.’

To the rest of you I have this to add.

‘If you think that this event will be just about violin playing, you will be greatly mistaken. It will affect your attitude and posture in life, the role of music in your life and those around you. It will open your mind to undreamt of possibilities for self-development. It may even alter your chosen career path. It will definitely bring greater abundance into your life, artistically, and, very likely, materially.’

All that is required of you, in return, is a ridiculously small fee, a plane ticket, some money for hotel and food, and a commitment to learn Everything you possibly can from me in those 3 days.

Fulfill these and your life will be transformed. Forever.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. By the way, my ‘ridiculously small fee’ will rise to a ‘laughably small fee’ in only a matter of days now. If I were you, and I know I’m not, I would take the former.
http://www.violinmastery.com/kreutzer_masterclass.htm

The Best Sport For Your Bow Arm

You’ve probably never thought about it. But if you’re athletically inclined, and looking for sport that best fits with violin playing; think tennis.

Well, that’s if you’re right-handed. If you’re of the left-handed persuasion, you’d better sit this one out. On the other hand, maybe curling…just kidding.

OK, let me make the case for why tennis is your bow arm’s best friend.

Numero uno, it uses the large muscles of the shoulder and arm. Too many violinists, through a common pitfall, have tight, constricted bow arms and over use the small muscles of the hand and wrist.

Tennis, if you watch a real player hitting from the baseline, requires large, sweeping motions. The forehand shots are up bows; backhands are down bows – we are, of course, talking about one-handed hitters.

Numero dos, good tennis ground strokes use very little wrist. If you needed a lot of wrist control to play the violin I would suggest you play ping-pong.

Most bow moves, however, are best accomplished with minimum wrist and finger movement. In fact, and this may blow your mind, Milstein even produced his spiccato with his upper arm. His wrist and fingers just acted as little shock absorbers.

Bottom line; even if you never pick up a tennis racket in your life, take a page out of the tennis pro’s playbook and get some real sweep into your bow arm. That kind of decisiveness will look good, FEEL good and sound great.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

Playing That Rings True

In my experience, the performances that have stuck in my memory, and made a difference in my life, shared a number of qualities in common. Understanding and tracking the development of these in your playing is essential to your growth as an artist.

The beauty of it is, it’s a lifelong process.

Our physical capabilities change, our emotional and spiritual understanding matures. And with these changes come the ever-shifting hues of new artistic opportunity waiting to be realized.

Of course, to adapt and grow in the face of constant change we must constantly refine and improve the way we relate physically to the violin.

Always look for ways to play more efficiently; to do more with less. Part of that, on a practical level, involves your fingering and bowing choices.

There is no law that says you must follow the printed bowings and fingerings, even if your teacher of 20 years ago put them there.

When you do make changes, however, you should have meaningful reasons. That means the change must not only make a passage easier to play, but also make it more gratifying to the ear. If you simplify a fingering, it should more than make up in ease of playing what it loses in expressivity.

Milstein probably made more use of open strings and natural harmonics than any other great artist. Not just because it was convenient, although that convenience gave his playing a greater sense of ease, but because the violin sounded more open when he did so.

Another way to transform a challenging passage from something to be dreaded into an opportunity is through the intelligent use of rubato.

Often times we ‘run away’, or rush, when confronted with a challenge.
The smart player will take the time he or she needs to execute the move in question, making up the time lost in another part of the phrase. Naturally this has to be accomplished with great skill and an ear for the overall effect. When it is done well it is like magic. A blemish is transformed into a mark of beauty.

If you keep these strategies in mind while practicing your playing will align itself with your ever-changing self.

Just keep asking yourself, ‘am I saying everything I mean to say with this passage.’ Then work with fingerings, bowings, rubato, and all the other expressive devices in your ‘bag of tricks’ until your message is clearly felt.

What a joy it is to arrive at a place where the sound waves emanating from your instrument are perfectly tuned to the waves of feeling inside your own heart.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Volume 2 will ship in 48 hours. Your chance to order this volume individually at the reduced prepublication price is passing quickly.

May the Force Of Gravity Be With You

As we age it is sometimes tempting to curse the force of gravity. When your playing the violin it should be your best friend.

First of all consider tone production. Very few of us are so light of frame that we need anything more than the natural weight of our right arm to make a variety of beautiful sounds the violin.

If you draw a slow, arm-weighted bow you will get the deep, penetrating sound that is ideal, say, for a Bach Grave. Draw the weighted bow quickly back and forth in the upper half, and you’ll produce ringing tones perfect for a Bach Presto.

Now let’s talk time.

There are two ways we see the passage of time displayed on metronomes. Most common these days are the quartz, digital kind. More INFORMative, however, are the old fashioned pendulum variety. Here’s why.

With a digital signal you get a blip, then empty space, and then another blip. A lot can happen in that space. You might, for instance, be playing under some pressure. In which case you might try to rush ahead during the space between blips. Ever do that?

It’s like the two-footed driver. The brake is the metronome and the gas pedal is the nervous energy trying to run away.

In contrast, think of a pendulum style metronome. With it you continuously see motion from one beat to the next. Ah, you have an arc of motion that allows you to gauge the flow of time between beats. You can get rid of the brake pedal altogether if time is analogous to ‘flow’.

All the truly great conductors, and there are few, understand the fundamental difference between a ‘digital’ beat and an ‘analogue’, or gravity, beat.

I hope a light bulb has gone on in your mind reading this.

If so, and if you want to begin rewiring yourself for analogue time I suggest you get yourself on the floor and do the ‘preparatory exercise’ in Vol. 1.

While you count the 4 measures on the G string, visualize a pendulum swinging back and forth each beat. While you count the 4 measures on the D string switch to a larger pendulum that swings every two beats. Finally, on the A and E string move to a great pendulum that will pass center once every 4 beats.

What a visualization!

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Now, when next you play any of the Kreutzer Etudes allow the force of gravity into them.

What Milstein Said About Warming Up

During my first summer of private sessions with Milstein I had lodgings with a couple in Eastbourne, down on the English Channel. Each week I made a 2 1/2 hour schlep to London where the maestro and his wife lived in a beautiful Georgian town home in Belgravia, one of the most fashionable areas of London.

In fact, the square they lived on, Chester Square, was also home to Margaret Thatcher, Morizio Polini, Yehudi Menuhin and, two years later, my benefactor, Richard Colburn.

When I arrived, I felt nervous and tight. It seemed to take forever to warm up and settle down. On my third visit I even complained to Nathan about how difficult it was to play my best coming in ‘cold’.

‘Vhy you should need warm up’, he said. ‘The music is in your head, not in your hands.’

Well, in those days, the music wasn’t in my head. And standing in front of one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century made me painfully aware of it.

You see I had a history of letting my hands take over in pressure situations. To be successful this way I required a lengthy warm up.
Even then I could easily be overwhelmed by ‘nerves’.

It was after that lesson that I began developing my power of visualization.

Though painful at first, I quickly realized the advantage to training this way. While sitting on the train, I visualized myself playing my repertoire, in exquisite detail. I continued visualizing as I walked the short distance from Victoria Station to the maestro’s home. I visualized as I tuned my fiddle…

From the feedback I’ve been getting from users of ‘Kreutzer, Vol. 1’ I know that many of you are employing the same technique, and enjoying equally satisfying results.

Keep up the great work.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Visualizing, in and of itself, is wonderful. Supporting it with proper breathing and my counting technique gives it awesome power. Kreutzer For Violin Mastery shows you exactly how get this power working for you.

Getting A Leg Up To Better Intonation

When I was a lad getting started on Kreutzer for my first go through, I was fortunate to have a dedicated mother around who also happens to be a fine pianist. She was my ‘leg up’ to acquiring a finely tuned ear.

After supper each evening I would break out the violin, stand next to the piano keyboard, and play through my scales and etudes with my mum playing along.

I really enjoyed those sessions.

The time went by much more quickly with her encouragement and very presence so near. Often, when we rested, we could here a cello coming from one bedroom – my next older sister – and a trombone – my next older brother – booming from another. Our neighbors likened our house to a little conservatory of music.

On yesterday’s teleconference call – which I greatly enjoyed and believe was very much a success due to some wonderful questions and comments – one caller, who travels a great deal, commented how useful even the CD play along material was for her.

It was music to my ears.

The slow performances and accompaniments on vol.1 are meant to provide something of that interaction I enjoyed whilst playing with my mother all those years ago. They are also meant to keep you on track to developing a first rate ear along with excellent fundamentals.

Now the only way you’re going to enjoy all the benefits of my Kreutzer program– the learning techniques, the explanations and demonstrations of many facets of playing, the play along material – is to pick up a copy and get started. Do it today.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. There are still some seats available for the ‘transform your playing in three short days’ Masterclass/Seminar. If you think my DVDs are giving you a ‘leg up’ to violin excellence, this highly concentrated ‘up close and personal’ intensive will be like a circus canon catapulting you out of the big top.

Friday The 13th, Your Lucky Day

In my humble opinion, Friday the 13th has gotten a raw deal for way too long. And today I’m reinventing this calendar event by offering a one day ‘Friday the 13th Special.’ Order ‘Kreutzer for Violin Mastery’ or reserve a seat at the Masterclass/Seminar today and I will send you a wonderfully listenable CD of the Haslop/Sanders duo absolutely free. Today only, a FREE CD with every order.

Now, some people may wonder why I don’t sell my CDs on this site. Simply, it’s just not what I’m about. What I offer here is about making you a better violinist, not tooting my own horn.

It’s not that I’m not proud of my work. This CD has some wonderful music on it. Music you will not hear anywhere else, and music that is beautifully played. Jack Sanders and I performed together for 10 years.

Just before recording this CD we toured China. Our concerts there had very much the feel of out door rock concerts in the US of A. We had to be amplified because people came and went, talked, ate, and generally carried on their lives as we performed. It was kind of a rush playing in such an environment, really. I mean, it wasn’t that we were having trouble being heard – the volume was blasting.

After concerts we were met at our hotel by groups of enthusiastic fans wanting autographs. It was truly extraordinary.

Bare in mind, this was 1988. Things may be a little more sophisticated now. China was still emerging from the unfortunate effects of the ‘cultural revolution’ then.

In any case, we had a fantastic, interesting time. It’s much different visiting distant locales as a performer than as a tourist. One gets a much more up close and personal few of things.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

And The Tears Fell

Have you ever been blessed to attend a performance so utterly transcendent you literally wept as you listened? I am not ashamed to say that I have been moved to tears at many wonderful concerts.

There is one that stands out, however. It also speaks volumes as to why Milstein had such an effect on me.

The year was 1982. I had just returned from a 17 day concert tour of Hawaii with the Los Angeles Piano Quartet.

Now, you might think, ‘what could be better than to tour a tropical paradise and get paid for it.’ Right?

Well, plenty, in this case. You see we played 14 concerts in those 17 days along with several ‘outreach’ activities. It was a relentless schedule.

But what really made the experience a nightmare, however, was that I was having a serious compatibility problem with the violist. Let me just say that I have come across few musicians in my career with as much tension underlying their playing as this fellow.

The sad part, really, was that he had no awareness of it.

As a consequence, his music making was characterized by a constant edginess. Often his nervous energy drove his pitch sharp. There was a distinct absence of ‘breath’.

Though gifted with an incredibly strong intellect he kept it focused outwardly. Vulnerability was something to be avoided at all costs.

Now you’re asking, ‘Why’d you let him in the group?’ All I can say to that is, ‘hindsight is 20/20.’ He seemed the best choice at the time.

But I’m getting a little off message here. The point is I returned to LA in a state of nervous exhaustion over the experience.

As it turns out, Milstein was performing in town the night I returned. Of course I had tickets.

My sister and I drove from Santa Monica to Pasadena, about a forty minute drive, with my hardly uttering a word.

Once in my seat I sat in a fog waiting for the master to take the stage. I feared in my innermost being that I would be unreachable. Maybe permanently, I thought.

Fortunately, I was more wrong than I had ever been. As soon as he sounded the first notes of the Respighi ‘Sonata en Re’ tears began flowing down my cheeks. After a few minutes I felt my sister’s glance. The tears just continued right on.

Intermission brought a brief respite from my little rite of purification.

Brief is the operative word. With the first note of Brahm’s D Minor Sonata following intermission the whole thing started afresh.

By the end of the concert I knew it was hopeless to go backstage. I was unable to speak.

The next day I was fully recovered. Life had returned. What enabled that profound catharsis was the genius of Milstein. Transcendent is the best word to describe it. Through the purity of his phrasing and beauty of his tone shone the genius of Stradivarius, Tourte, and the composer he was performing.

It went even deeper. His was an act of devotion, and it enabled me to release and shed all the accumulated tension and anxiety that threatened to overwhelm me.

Such is the power of the true artist.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Eliminating tension and cultivating pure fundamentals is essential to artistic expression on the violin. Kreutzer for Violin Mastery, Vol. 1 gives you powerful tools toward that end. Get your copy now.