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.