Getting Two Hand Playing as One

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

How Two Come to Play As One

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

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

When Thinking Turns to Gold

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

The Fear of Success

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

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

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