How Orchs Can Ruin Your Day

It’s a dirty little secret conductors don’t want you to know; playing in an orchestra can have a deleterious effect on your violin playing.

Now granted, under a particularly excellent conductor the gravitational effects will occur somewhat slowly and unnoticeably.

But after a while you awake to find your intonation is no longer pure and sparkling. Your tone seems to have taken on an uncharacteristic roughness. Much of the subtlety and nuance is gone from your playing.

Under a particularly bad conductor the downward spiral can resemble free-fall from a high building. Believe me, I’ve been there.

The good news is we can, with vigilance and commitment, defend against and, if necessary, reverse the course of events.

It’s somewhat like maintaining a garden – think Chauncey Gardener in the terrific movie ‘Being There’. ‘A garden must be cared for. All of the plants in the garden need water’ – If you haven’t seen the movie it’s a must.

Now, I don’t know about you, but the time I spend pruning, weeding, and watering my garden is time well spent – I’ll be pruning raspberry plants as soon as I send this off to you.

And there isn’t any better way to keep the garden of your violin playing healthy and in tip-top condition than with Kreutzer. Especially if you approach them creatively, with insight and purpose.

So if you’re playing is showing the effects of orchestral wear and tear, come pick up the antidote that’ll have you in the playing shape of your life, Presto.

You’re stand partner will love you for it

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. I began recording the instructional portion of Vol. 4 this morning. I’m talking etudes 32-42. They’re as good a preparation for Bach Fugues as you can find. Really great stuff.