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.