6 Solutions To Playing Snags

I read a wonderful little Kreisler anecdote last night. Let me begin with it.

A woman comes backstage after one of his concerts and says. ‘I’d give my life to play like that.’ Kreisler responds, ‘I did.’

Well, there’s no getting around it, I guess. If you want to be one of the greatest of all time, you WILL devote your life to it. If, on the other hand, you just want to derive a great deal of pleasure and a good measure of personal growth out of it, you can give a wee bit less.

OK, so what are the 6 ways to deal with ‘snags’ as you come to terms with a new piece of music:

1. Verify that your playing mechanics are as absolutely pure and efficient. The 2 Kreutzer volumes that are available to date can greatly assist in this regard.

2. Engage your power of visualization. Often the body reflexively avoids what is awkward and rushes through it. Your mind can go a long way toward overcoming this self-defeating tendency. Again, something that is covered in the Kreutzer course.

3. Investigate alternative fingering possibilities. It is remarkable how effective a fingering change can smooth out some passages. Though each situation is unique there are certain fingering basics that hold true most of the time. You can bet many will be discussed during the masterclass.

5. Look at bowing alternatives. For instance, going from an
up bow on a low string to a down bow on a high string is more awkward than doing the reverse – going from a down bow on a low string to an up bow on a high string.

5. Employ the creative use of ‘rubato’. Occasionally this can be a very effective way to get around a problem spot. Of course, the ‘time bending’ must not be contrary to the musical intent of the piece.

6. Change the music. Yes, you are reading correctly. You job is to entertain, enliven, and enlighten your audience. Being faithful to the composer’s intentions runs a close second. Altering a bit of a composers work is permissible in the course of meeting those two objectives. Milstein did it; Heifetz did it; Kreisler did it.

So there you have them. I will try to shed more light on items 3 and 4 as I bring out more DVD courses. To really get the ‘skinny’ on items 3 through 6 as they pertain to the repertoire you want to master you really owe it to yourself to visit beautiful Western North Carolina next month and spend some super quality time with your violin.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop