Keeping Your Fiddle Ship-Shape

During my stay in Vermont I happened into the very excellent violin shop in Burlington. Good thing I did.

After playing one of the luthier’s own instruments I remarked, ‘You know, the strings feel a little low on this instrument.’

He did a quick check on them, said they were spot on, and then measured mine. They were high enough to be on a cello!

Now, you’d think after 4 decades of playing that I’d sense when something was going amiss with my fiddle. Normally I would, but in this case it was a very gradual change. The neck of my violin was gradually sinking toward the top.

Actually I do prefer my strings about a millimeter higher than normal – but not three.

There was nothing to be done about this before my concerts, so I played with a little cello under my chin.

I’m relieved to know, however, that my beautiful Storioni is in good hands now, and will be restored to perfect health in another week or so.

The bottom line here is that it’s important to have a trained expert take a look at your instrument, now and then. But there are a few things you can keep an eye out for.

Take a look at your bridge periodically to make sure it is at a 90 degree angle from the top and shows no sign of warping. Also look to see whether the strings, particularly the e string, are cutting into the wood.

If you hear a ‘buzz’ while playing you may have a seam open. And no, you don’t want to apply glue to any part of your instrument yourself! Any obvious cracks on the top or back should be addressed as soon as possible to keep them from spreading.

If the fingerboard seems loose; or is easily moved by grasping the neck and applying some pressure; or the strings are either excessively high or low, then a trip to a qualified repair-person is in order.

The key word is ‘qualified.’ If there is any doubt in your mind, do a computer search for the ‘Violin Society of America’ and locate a member in your area. If you live away from a major city you can SEND your instrument via one of the shipping companies. Just be sure you know someone will be present to receive it when it arrives, and that it is packaged properly – your repair person should again be able to advise you.

Of course you’ll want to change your strings at least every six months – I rarely go more than three.

It’s quite comforting to play an instrument that is in good health and set up properly. Last week I was forced to put aside my concern and do what needed to be done. Fortunately the neck held.

Now, I don’t normally do this, but I was so impressed with the Burlington Violin Shop and its staff – they have all trained and worked at internationally recognized shops – that I will give you their website. It is; www.vermontviolins.com

Try to speak with Kathy if you call, and tell them Clayton sent you.

 

When to Belly Breathe

First things first, I’d like to thank all the people who have written in these past few days. I’ve had some wonderful responses to recent newsletters about the goings on in Vermont, and violin matters in general. Time has not permitted me to respond to each and every one, but rest assured, they have been appreciated.

Though I arrived back in Asheville without my number one fiddle, and determined to take a much needed break from playing, I’ve been more occupied than ever.

For one thing, the kind of preparation and focus needed for last weeks concerts left my five-year-old daughter getting the short end of my attentions for at least a good fortnight – I’ve been doing my best to even the score these past days.

And secondly, you wouldn’t believe how tall the grass was when we got home Monday night!

But let’s talk violin playing.

One of the questions emailed in this week concerns breathing. This interested client says he’s made great progress since incorporating the counting and visualizing habit into his playing, but is yet having a little difficulty with breathing. Specifically, he asks, WHEN do I breathe in a given phrase of music.

Before I answer let me just say how invaluable belly breathing is to your musicianship. It relaxes you, and it opens a clear channel from your heart to your brain and on down to the your hands.

Now, in the open string exercise that begins the Kreutzer course I do give some instruction on when to breathe for the purpose of that exercise.

But when it comes to playing actual music, and the counting is being done in my head and not spoken out loud, I allow my breathing to follow its own course. That is to say I just focus on using my diaphragm and on keeping the air stream moving, in and out.

The LAST thing you want to be doing as you play is HOLDING your breath. When you find yourself holding your breath you can be sure you have unwanted tension mounting inside of you.

Let it go!

You will NEVER play better for holding your breath in difficult moments. You must be ever mindful that your breathing is free and full. It’s as simple, and as challenging, as that.

Before I leave you I have just one last bit of critical information. The Novice/Intermediate masterclass is filling in beautifully, and I have sold out of the special low-tuition seats. I have, therefore, decided to open the advanced/professional class up to ALL-COMERS.

This should be great news to any serious violinist. Your tuition at this class, and this class only, will include a Full-Length Recital by yours truly and one tremendously gifted concert pianist. The wisdom I’ll be imparting after this special event will be out-of-this-world great. You can be sure of it.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. What I do require for attendance at either class is familiarity of at least one of either the Kreutzer or Paganini courses.

All the Passion, and Solid as a Rock

Greetings from Newark airport. Last night I completed the last of my performing duties at the Vermont Mozart Festival by playing the Mendelssohn Concerto, in picture-perfect conditions, on the grounds of the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont.

Yes, the same Trapp family of ‘The Sound of Music’ fame.

After leaving Austria the family eventually settled under the shadow of Vermont’s highest peak, Mt. Mansfield, where they established a thriving world-class resort.

One of the Grandsons of Baron von Trapp was present for last night’s concert.

As I walked off-stage, the conductor, a fine maestro by the name of Peter Leonard, embraced me with genuine warmth, and exclaimed, “You are a true artist. You play with all the passion and yet are solid as a rock.”

Obviously, I was very touched by the compliment.

But the fact remains that what I’ve accomplished in music is the result of being ever on the lookout for better ways of doing things and for new sources of inspiration. I haven’t sat on my backside for the past 25 years thinking, ‘Yup, studied with Milstein, guess I know it all now.’

Can I still improve? You bet. One of the beauties of the violin is its inexhaustible depth. I love it.

I can say, however, that in the course of it all I have found some sure-fire practice techniques and playing fundamentals. They’ll get the job done in just about ANY circumstance.

In seven appearances in five days – one sprung on me with just 90 minutes notice – the venues ranged from a sweltering dry-docked ship, to a windy open-sided tent, to a stage under the stars, to a cavernous gymnasium.

The repertoire was as varied as the venues – two Mozart Concertos and his Symphony #32, led by me without conductor; the Mendelssohn Concerto; Milhaud, Piston, Bach, and Handel Sonatas; several Paganini Caprices; Ferdinand the Bull (violin unaccomp. whilst narrating the story); Bartok’s “Roumanian Folk Dances”; and the “Marriage of Figaro” and “Gondliers” as concertmaster.

And, of course, each performance had rehearsals as well. I was quite literally playing from morning ‘til night for 7 days.

The experience was a true test of not just my endurance and the way I play, but of the way I prepare as well.

Happily, I am more certain than ever of the value imparted in both the Kreutzer for Violin Mastery and Paganini for Violin Virtuosity, Vol. 1 courses.

By the way, have you seen “Ratatouille” yet? Got to listen out for the violin solos when you do. It’s a wonderful film. Pixar’s best so far.

When at first you don’t succeed

Today’s title is the beginning of an old adage. Let me give you the whole thing, in case you’ve never heard it.

‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.’

Like any such ‘saw’, it can be true, and it can be untrue. After all, as Einstein one said, insanity can be defined as repeating the same action over and over, and expecting the outcome to change.

So, to get at the truth one must take the lesson from each and put them together. In other words, when practicing, yes, you will repeat things many, many times. But in doing so you must be making conscious adjustments with EACH repetition, constantly refining your purpose and intention to reach Meaning-Full outcomes.

Outcomes that COMPELL a listener to pay attention.

When you have someone’s full attention you have, in essence, a client. No matter whether you’re selling a musical performance, an instructional DVD course, or shoes.

As you know, I arrived here in Vermont a couple days ago with a lot of repertoire on my plate. There were two sonatas – for violin and harpsichord – that I was having great difficulty feeling any connection to.

My partner in crime felt the same way as we began rehearsing yesterday. First rehearsal provided a good deal of improvement on one of them. Through creative repetition we found the way in, so to speak.

The other sonata, by Darius Milhaud, proved more elusive. After all, neither of us play 20th century music for this unusual combination with any regularity. Well, never, actually.

Today things took off. It was very much akin to my motorcycle riding experience of last weekend – Attention to a goal + Creative repetition + Relaxation + Rest = PROGRESS. By the end of the session today we were both grinning from ear to ear, and eagerly looking forward to bringing this music in front of an audience.

So, keep these 4 things in mind as you practice. When the creativity begins to drain away it’s time to rest. When the creative juices are strong don’t forget to breathe and stay relaxed – burn too hot for too long and you risk burning out.

Just for the record, I did not select these two works. In this particular case it seems to be working out for the best. Normally I want to know in advance that I have the ability to, in my mind, say something meaningful with a piece of music.

But before you can do anything with anything, you must have some technique. Pure, efficient fundamentals are the name of the game in this regard. Get yours honed to a razor’s edge with ”Kreutzer for Violin Mastery”. And we just happen to have a little elf in Asheville who can have a copy headed your way tomorrow, even while I fiddle away up here in Vermont.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. And if you’re wanting to get up to Paganini speed, Volume 1 of ”Paganin for Violin Virtuosity” is the ticket. In either or both cases the same little elf will be doing what needs to be done.

Keeping Your Legato Pure

There are few things in this world more pleasing than a truly legato line played well on the violin. If you can do this deceptively simple thing you will never lack for enthusiastic listeners hanging on your every turn of phrase.

But, as I said, this is a deceptively simple task to accomplish.

It requires a solid understanding of bow and left hand technique. And you must have some ‘musical vision’ even before you set bow to string.

Last night I spent a few hours with a very gifted young man working on this very ability. He played some beautiful phrases by the end of the session, and we both enjoyed a heart-warming sense of accomplishment at the conclusion.

So, what did we focus on?

Well, first and foremost we needed to even out his bow distribution. The open string exercise I placed at the beginning of Kreutzer, Vol. 1 is excellent for achieving this.

Many folks will unconsciously slow the bow down just before a bow change and speed it up just after. This results in the kind of ‘unsightly bulges’ in tone that’ll disturb a legato line like a stone dropped in still water.

We worked with vibrato as well. When you want to create a singing line you must decide exactly what the ‘color’ of vibrato is going to be, and then make sure you are using it consistently.

Again, there is a tendency to vibrate some notes more than others due to level of comfort, or discomfort, felt by each finger.

Once aware of this tendency it is surprising how fast one can make the small adjustments needed to balance the left hand and get the vibrato consistent from note to note.

Now, the ‘guiding light’ to all of this must be your musical vision. You can help inform that vision by breathing well, just as a good vocalist would do. It feels good and immediately transforms what comes out of your instrument.

In the course of the 3 hour ‘intensive’ we went considerably further than what I’ve just outlined. In fact, due to my new friends interest, he went from a ‘Franco-Belgian’ bow hold to a ‘Russian’ bow hold within the course of the lesson.

It was quite a transformation and one he was thrilled about.

In short, this is the kind of progress that comes from both the three-hour intensives, and the masterclasses.

The Novice/Intermediate masterclass is well on its way to selling out. So if you are serious about your playing and are still contemplating where you want to be come January 10, 2008, I’d get off the fence now and secure your seat.

We are going to have a great time!

A Trail Lesson

Yesterday I arrived in Vermont to begin final preparations for the 5 consecutive days of concerts I will play beginning on Wednesday evening. Actually on Sunday I play two different performances, so in all it’s actually six concerts and some ten or so rehearsals.

If you’ve been reading lately you already know something of the solo, chamber, and orchestral repertoire I have to look forward to.

Today was my day of rest before the madness begins.

So, after a good practice session what better way of relaxing than by hitting the trail, and summating Vermont’s highest peak in the bargain. The trail was quite steep and exceedingly rocky, with water on it much of the way – one ascends roughly 2,700’ in less than 3 miles. Suffice it to say, on this trail you’d better mind your footing at all times.

As a climbed I played through some of the repertoire in my head.

Now, the demands of the trail made this rather challenging, especially since I was visualizing the actual notes as I did so.

There was, however, one practice habit I share with many of you that made this possible.

All the extra ‘brain power’ that came from verbalizing the beats in practice was available to me as I played passage after passage in my head, and simultaneously scanned the trail several yards ahead.

And given the steepness of the trail I was breathing pretty hard, full diaphragm breaths going right down to the navel. Just the kind you’re going to need playing at full tilt on the last page of the Mendelssohn Concerto.

Got back to the hotel room around six, made some supper, and did some more practice.

All in all this made for quite a beautiful day. The kind of day every violin lover should be enjoying with regularity.

Move Through Your Fear

I understand that one of the great fears many people have today is that of performing before other people.

A couple weeks ago, just days prior to the Novice/Intermediate masterclass, I received a phone call from a participant who was having a severe case of cold feet over this very thing.

Naturally I persuaded him to take the plunge. And he came out the other side feeling better than ever about playing.

You see, performing in public is no different than executing any task you set for yourself. And when we fail at it, it is due to one of two reasons. Either we did not prepare well enough, or we allowed past feelings of inadequacy to spoil the show.

Actually, I find that most people have some combination of both.

My masterclasses are as supportive an environment for growth as you are likely to find anywhere. Why? Because first and foremost it is about getting the goals you have set for yourself accomplished.

Once you see the magic and exhilaration that comes with ‘slam-dunk’ preparation, the little monkey of self-defeatism on your right shoulder just slinks down your back and hightails it for the nearest zoo.

Some of the real highlights at the classes are when a player does something with real purpose and conviction, and simultaneously gains renewed confidence by seeing the response of the other players in the room.

Yesterday I announced the dates and special tuition rate available to the first six to sign up in each class. As I write this we have three seats left at the special rate for the Novice/Intermediate class and five seats left at the Advanced class.

Don’t let these rates slip away, now’s the time to act!