Catalogue, then Keep Score

Yesterday I wrote of Kreutzer #1. Today I spent time whirling through #23, a close cousin. You might call this Caprice, ‘flights of fancy.’

The utility of it is in developing skills for cadenza playing. Held notes, with fermatas over them, are followed by extended flurries, sometimes called ‘melismas’.

Many require quick shifts of the hand. Many have an abundance of fast string crossings. And all must come off fluidly and effortlessly.

The game of mastering #23, and I assure you it’s a lot of fun to play, has two parts. One, is take the ‘flurries’ apart, piece by piece, catalogue them, and store them up in your mind.

Part two has to do with keeping score.

When it’s time to put all the pieces together and give it a whirl, you’ve just to conjure those catalogued ‘bits’ and tick each one off as it flies by.

‘But I’m sure it’s not so easy as all that,’ I hear you object.

Well, not quite. You DO have to understand how to shift with absolute efficiency. You DO need to know how to cross strings without creating huge waves in your wake. And you DO need to understand some rather important things about bow control and finger velocity.

But those secrets are the very stuff of Kreutzer for Violin Mastery volumes 3 and 4.

Now there IS a small fee involved, ‘tis true. But violinists of a certain accomplishment, who nonetheless lack critical bits of insight, will find them worth every shekel.

And, as I said yesterday, there’re another 20 Caprices in the volumes. Should keep you growing as a violinist for some time to come.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. After getting my juices flowing on old #23 I skipped over to Paganini #16 and had a more stormy romp. Got some secrets to share with you on that in Paganini for Violin Virtuosity, Vol. 1. Are you game?

What Is Your Range of Expression

This past Sunday I opened the door to a violinist come all the way from Hartford, Conn.. Two flights and a night in a local hotel were just part of the admission price, but she wasn’t agoin’ to allow anything to stand in the way of her pursuit of excellence.

I felt honored and inspired to give her the best I have to offer.

She’d brought two exquisite Caprices of Kreutzer to play as well as the Joachim cadenza to the Mozart A Major. I say ‘caprices’ because Kreutzer himself titled his best-known opus ’42 etudes or caprices’. These two, #1 and #23, are most definitely in the category of the latter.

Oh, and in case you don’t know. A caprice is more than an etude. A caprice has Musical value, and as such is often worthy of concert performance.

Kreutzer #1 is extraordinary. Technically it requires tremendous bow arm and left hand control.

The tempo is Adagio Sostenuto. The phrases unfold in slow motion. A player must possess extreme patience, self-discipline and pin-point accuracy.

This caprice begs every ounce of passion a soul can offer, but while doing so he must account for every millimeter of bow spent, every gram of arm weight applied, and every meeting of finger and string.

The faint of heart stand will forever remain on the surface, like little water bugs flitting about the surface of a pond. The reckless, who greedily plunge into the waters like hungry ducklings, will find themselves quickly bobbing back to the surface gasping for air.

Kreutzer #1 is for the sober minded; for the violinist with deep, self-directed passions. And it’s for the violinist with a keen appreciation for detail, subtlety, grace and nuance.

In volume 3 of Kreutzer for Violin Mastery I share a great deal of the wisdom I shared on Sunday morning. No, I won’t lie and say it’s Everything I can say in a 2 and 1/2 hour ‘intensive’, but it will surely get you well on your way.

AND you have the benefit of going on to great coaching on 20 additional etudes and caprices.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Yesterday month 7 of the Violin Mastery Beginners Circle program went out, This month it’s vibrato, third position, and entry level shifting that’s filling the instructional DVD and notes. And any new comers who invest in a one year subscription can have this and all the previous 6 months sent out together in one, arm-straining package

A Well Disciplined Ego

Yesterday I received an email that got me to thinking. It seems one our subscribers has a little challenge with nerves. Well, maybe it’s not so little.

His bow not only shakes, his right hand has a rather distressing way of creeping up the bow while he is playing – must admit, this is a new one for me.

In any case, this certainly doesn’t sound like a very enjoyable experience.

So what is this thing with nerves that gives so many of us trouble.

This morning it hit me.

It’s a Lack of Self Discipline.

Alright, alright, don’t get all upset at me now, most of us DO feel nervous before a crowd of listeners. For some it takes only one.

But the fact remains that the fear of judgment can only exist where ego exists. And what good is an ego doing you if it’s causing you the loss of pleasure, just because some Jack or Jill is within earshot?

Not much.

So let’s get rid of them I say. They represent wrong seeing. A mistaken set of priorities. A misunderstanding of self worth.

Everyday you practice, seek only after joy. Don’t be content with mere self-satisfaction.

True Joy is untouchable by ego. It vibrates on another level. In order to experience joy you cannot be in conflict. You cannot compare your accomplishment against another’s.

Therefore you exist in a state of peace.

It’s all well and good to have goals; to be the best you can be. But if your goals are a sword by which you live, surely you will die by it.

Only a fool rich in pride thinks this becomes a life.

The measure of an artist, in my book, is authenticity. Authenticity is informed by the love of truth.

The truth is that, ultimately, you can take no more credit for drawing a bow across a string than you can the creation of the heavens.

But what you CAN do is allow the bow to be drawn.

Find the spirit, the passion in the music, and allow yourself to be moved by it. At the same time question the Authority of your ego. By what right does seek to censure your true birthright, the expression of joy.

Now, I know what I’ve just been moved to write is not quite what my subscriber expected from me. But it is truly at the root of his discomfiture.

Naturally it is good and decent to put your best foot forward when you go out to perform. Toward that end you must prepare well. You must warm up before going on stage.

You must breathe.

And you must surrender your ego at the stage door.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Yes, preparation is essential. And many a secret of successful preparation can be found in Kreutzer for Violin Mastery.

From a Resolution Comes the Resolution

I was struck by an interesting thought, just now. You’ve got to GET resolved before you CAN resolve.

For the past several days I’ve been wading into some pretty deep waters, technically speaking. Specifically it’s a brew of Paganini Caprices; V, VII, XI, XV, XVII, XX, and XXI, to be specific.

Yes, I’ve gone through these before, a couple of them in considerable depth. But this time I’m looking to raise the bar a couple of notches.

It’s also said, by the way, that necessity is the mother of invention.

A few days ago it became clear that my body needed better direction from my brain. The input my hands were getting wasn’t sufficient to get the job done with some of this stuff.

Greater powers of resolution were called for.

So I ramped up the fires of my resolve and began SUB-dividing every beat as I played. Even whilst playing FAST. And as I do this I’m being quite decisive about it, let me tell you. There is no question that my hands will not know what to play, and when to play it. Period.

Sometimes counting just the beats isn’t enough. The hands can ‘get lost’ in the in-between notes. So you’ve got to get right in there, at a cellular level, and tell them what you want. And with some Energy behind it.

Go ahead, kick a little rear-end.

If you’re working with one of my courses presently you already know how much stake I put on this. Now I’m encouraging you to ‘ramp it up’, for even greater results.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Now, some of you have a question in your mind as to where you fit in with my various courses. Kreutzer for Violin Mastery is best suited to players beginning to get into the upper positions – fifth and above. Violin Mastery’s Allegro Players is for those becoming familiar with the lower positions. And the Violin Mastery Beginners Circle is for those beginning, or who are familiar with first, and maybe third position.

What I Get From Shadow Playing

You may find this a little hard to believe, but just a few months ago yours truly found himself striding through the hallways of the Tampa ‘Marriott’ working up quite a head of steam, whilst playing through the Bach Chaconne.

Now as odd as that may sound – in the Hallway of a Hotel? – I was doing it without making so much as a peep.

I was, in fact, playing on thin air, not a violin in sight.

I guess you could call it ‘shadow playing.’

But at least I can say this for myself. I wasn’t the only one looking quite silly on that day.

You see, my wife and I were attending a ‘personal development’ seminar. We had been given the assignment to ‘shadow play’ an activity around which we had fears or mental blocks.

For 15 full minutes we all scattered ourselves around the ballroom and immediate hallways gesticulating in all manner of silly ways.

Writers were pounding away on imaginary keyboards; fearful public speakers were giving silent orations, arms sweeping to and fro.

And then there was the violin player.

At first I was astonished at how foolish and awkward I felt. After a minute or two I dropped my arms with the thought, ‘this is too ridiculous’.

But then, looking around and seeing the others still going at it, I shouldered my imaginary violin once again.

This time I exercised myself on that invisible fiddle. I willed every note into being. I felt the bow travel over the strings. I put my vibrato on ‘ultra-passionate’ mode. And the fingers of my left hand were held accountable for every note of every chord.

Let me tell you, I worked up quite a sweat in those few minutes.

I also exposed many a weak spot in my armor. I thought I KNEW the Chaconne when I started. But I was forced to concede that I didn’t know it beyond a ‘shadow’ of a doubt.

If you think you know a piece of music, try putting you violin aside and shadow playing it with every finger placement and bow stroke in place. You just might be in for quite a surprise.

Now I’ve found this to be a powerful exercise to use at all stages of learning a piece.

If you give it a try, don’t be discouraged if you find it difficult at first. But do ‘hold your feet to the fire’, as it were. It takes a lot of mental toughness to move your fingers correctly with a violin in place. It’s even tougher to do it without.

But the payoff can be huge.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Speaking of big payoffs. I’m just putting the finishing touches on the 1st month of the ”Allegro Players” intermediate program. It’s still not too late to be part of the vanguard of players who will bene

How to Sound Like a Pro Wrestler

Last night my wife and I were at it again. No, not being disagreeable to each other; and not getting all lovey-dovey neither. We were in front of the old teevee watching skaters.

It was the men’s ‘long program’, we’d taped from the International Championships a couple of weeks ago.

Now, if you’ve ever tuned in to figure skating, you’ll notice that they often skate to violin music. Small wonder when you think about it – bow flowing over strings, skates gliding across ice, nothing could be more appropriate.

So last night one of the skaters chose ‘Winter’, from Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons.’ You’d think it’d be a good choice except for the fact that the last moment portrays skaters falling to the ice – I doubt many in the audience caught the irony.

But that wasn’t the only disconnect for me. I had a problem with the way the violinist body-slammed his or her way through the piece.

It’s not to say the mystery violinist couldn’t get around the notes. He did, with tremendous velocity.

But she – I have to switch genders so’s not to come off sexist in my criticism – had an unfortunate way of slamming the bow into the string to make accents.

So yea, if you want to play like a professional wrestler get in the habit of doing the same. Start with the bow, oh, some ten to twelve inches above the string and slam it down on the string as you begin the bow stroke.

If you do it just right, in fact, you’ll produce a fast, ripping scratch before any tone manages to surface.

Ah, what joy!

Allrighty, enough sarcasm for one day. Let’s get serious.

First off let me say that this kind of a stroke CAN make sense in some more hard-edged 20th century music – Bartok, Dohnanyi come to mind. But in the Baroque, no way.

You see, in Vivaldi’s day the bow itself was shaped differently than the modern bow. Try what the mystery-man was doing with one of those and you might break your nose when the bow rebounds back off the string.

Further, to me this is the lazy person’s way of making an accent. It sound’s so careless and uncultivated.

Now, correcting this habit would take a little patience and some slow practice. It’s an art to PLACE the bow on the string just prior to the outward FIRING of the bow.

Off hand there are two courses of mine I can think of that specifically address this form of bow control. One is in ‘Bach and Kreisler for Violin Artistry’ – at the end of the Allegro section of ‘Praeludium and Allegro.’

The other is in the 8th variation of Caprice #24 which you can find in Paganini for Violin Virtuosity, Vol. 1.

But just to get you started, remember this. Violin playing, as I’ve written before, is largely a horizontal game. You get scratch, not tone, when the bow is propelled vertically to the string. You need timing in combination with relaxation to place the bow in contact with the string at the instant just prior to the firing of the bow.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. This kind of bow control will certainly be part of the Violin Mastery’s Allegro Players program that is just getting started.

What It Really Means to ‘Feel the Music’

Most all of us have been told, at some time or another, that ‘you’ve just got to feel the music.’ Now, I don’t know about you, but on the occasions I’ve had this said to me I felt more confused than enlightened.

You see, many teachers, who more likely than not possess a rather limited teaching vocabulary, resort to such statements when they run out of things to say. In such cases a better alternative would be the more honest statement, ‘I don’t know what to tell you.’

It’s much different to feel music as a listener, which is a emotional response, than it is to EXPRESS music as a player. A player must have tools with which to translate the emotions he or she might feel as a listener into physical sensations and actions taken on the violin.

In fact it is just this complex dance that makes playing the violin one of the most challenging things to do; one of the most engrossing things to do; and ultimately one of the most satisfying things to do.

So you’ve got to have technique.

So how do you get technique. Well, you get technique by feeling, actually.

‘Now, wait just a doggone moment,’ you say. ‘You just said before that being told to ‘feel the music’ made you confused. Now you’re as bad as the teachers you just talked about.’

Hang on, hang on, I’m talking about feeling in a very different way. I’m talking about taking the time to FEEL THE PROCESS of playing the music, not the feelings that arise out of the music BEING PLAYED.

You see, the feelings that arise from the music are based on past events. The feelings of process HAPPEN IN THE MOMENT.

This is why many violinists get stuck in their playing. Either out of lack of patience, lack of focus, or lack of knowledge, they try to jump into the future – the LA-LA land of emotional feeling.

It’ll never work.

And similarly, when someone says, ‘you’re thinking too much.’ It can only mean ‘you’re thinking wishfully,’ which is not really thinking at all.

It’s daydreaming.

Nobody’s playing EVER suffered from an over abundance of ‘process thinking.’ Process thinking is about visualization and intention. It’s about discipline and self-direction.

If you’re still with me, let me say one more thing about all this. Most of us do need direction. We need help figuring out What to Feel and What to Think to play effectively.

After all, I spent 3 years chasing Milstein around the world for just such help.

Fortunately for you there’s a better alternative. Specifically in the form of the instructional DVD courses I’ve created for you.

And the latest of these is a terrific, new monthly program of study for lower intermediate players. Just yesterday my web master put a whole blurb on the website about it. Why not take a look. It may be just what you need to break through to a whole new level of playing.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. And don’t forget. If you’re in the very beginning stages of playing there’s the Violin Mastery Beginners Circle. Because getting started on the right foot sure beats the alternative.

Why These 2 Are ‘Must Dos’

Sir Thomas Beecham was an interesting case. He came from a family with oodles of munny – ever heard of Beecham gum? – and he found a most unique way to spend his inheritance.

He used it to create orchestras

Which he then conducted.

By the early 1960’s London had 5 major orchestras. Sir Thomas had founded 3 of them. While he was at it he became the most celebrated English conductor of the 20th century. And certainly it’s most colorful and charismatic.

‘So why,’ you’re wondering, ‘are you talking about bygone English music history?’

Well, because Sir Thomas said something very interesting. He said, ‘A great musician must combine the maximum of virility with the absolute of sensitivity.’

Now I think that statement can be taken many ways.

Virility certainly has to do with libido, which has to do with the drive to DO, which has to do with intense focus.

Sensitivity has to do with receptivity, which has to do with letting go, which has to do with relaxation.

The two are seemingly diametrically opposed, it would seem. How can we have BOTH at the same instant?

Because we MUST.

But not always in the same measure, mind you.

If you’re familiar with the symbol on the Korean flag you’ll remember it as the symbol of yin and yang. Within a circle are 2 paisleys of opposite color; one yin, one yang. And within each paisley is another small circle of its opposite’s color.

This symbol shows that even in a moment of maximum yin energy, there exists an element of its opposite, yang.

Now getting back to the violin. Today I was playing some highly virile music. Music that could easily tie me up in knots of tension, were I not ‘letting go,’ breathing, and otherwise maintaining myself in a relaxed state.

I’ve watched a lot of people ‘practice’ the violin, over the years. And I’ve seen many lose focus – i.e. virility – in slow music, and lose their composure in dramatic, or virtuosic music.

This is way I liken the ‘practice’ of the violin, whether in performance or in your living room, to a meditation. Both combine discipline and focus with relaxation and receptivity.

Becoming skilled at ‘violin meditation’ requires practice and know-how. Each of my ‘learning the violin courses’ provides the know-how needed by players of a specific level. This morning a strong intermediate player made an excellent choice by acquiring all 4 volumes of Kreutzer for Violin Mastery.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. If it seems I talk about meditation a lot relative to violin playing. It’s because it’s the way I experience it, each and every day.

How a Violinist ‘Holds an Edge’

Last night my wife and I watched the Ladies ‘Long Program’ from the World Championship of Figure Skating. As always, we saw some great stuff. And let me tell you, figure skating has a lot to teach violinists. Here’s why.

One of the most important fundamentals of figure skating is having the ability to ‘hold an edge.’ As you must know, a figure skate is ground flat on the bottom, producing two edges, an inside edge and an outside edge.

If you’ve ever observed first-time skaters – or been one yourself – you’ll remember the shuffling/walking kind of step of the complete neophyte.

The body is rigid and straight up and down. There’s about as much real contact with the ice as my daughter had with the strings of her violin the first day I gave it to her.

Only with time and practice does a skater learn to lean, and begin to exploit the skate’s edges.

The next step is to truly get ‘into the knees’, and this too requires control and practice.

Well guess what, my friends. Gliding beautifully across the ice holding an edge ‘deep in the knees’ is so analogous to producing a glorious tone on the violin it gives me shivers.

Getting ‘into your knees’ is the equivalent of bending the stick of the bow. Not with tension and muscle force, mind you. With relaxed arm weight, augmented when needing with smooth, controlled, and specific muscle contractions – can’t stress enough how proper breathing helps this.

‘Holding an edge’ is the slight tilting of the bow, and the conscious, seamless, and continuous horizontal drawing of the right hand through space.

Now, this morning I was also preparing for an ‘intensive’ on the first movement of the Mendelssohn Concerto. What a great piece to bring this kind of tone production to.

Just think of the flowing eighth notes that begin the development section and you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.

But the absolute masterpiece for cultivating the ABILITY to ‘hold an edge’ and ‘get into your knees’ where tone production is concerned, is Kreutzer #1.

And to think many violinists never even PLAY it.

Well, I do. And when I do it requires about 10 minutes to go through it once. It’s that slow. And it should give you some idea of the ‘edge control’ needed.

Granted, old #1 is a pretty advanced exercise. So much so that I’ve saved it for Volume 3 of ‘Kreutzer for Violin Mastery.’

So if you’ve been wanting to improve your tone production and need some real insights to make it happen. Here’s the link to get you on the edge, but not over!

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. I’ve got my web master working furiously to get my new lower intermediate monthly program up on the web site. I should have some news in this regard later this afternoon – keep an eye on that in-box.