Are You REALLY Hearing Your Tone?

Wow, what a competition it was. Women’s all around gymnastics final, not determined by mistakes made, but rather by one young lady’s brilliance outshining the rest of the field.

Nastia peaked at the absolute perfect time. Flawless form, breath taking grace and amazing difficulty coming together in a way that left my heart soaring and my pulse racing.

Awesome.

Now, this morning I was transported to lofty heights myself. And guess what, I was only playing a couple etudes from Kayser, book 1.

Hold on, before you think, ‘this guy must be deluding himself – you can’t reach ‘lofty heights’ with the likes of Kayser etudes,’ hear me out.

First of all, H. E. Kayser was a master violinist and a very gifted composer. His etudes have formal integrity as well as harmonic, contrapuntal, AND dramatic interest. Makes them quite rewarding and fun to play.

Second, when the fullness of one’s Attention is combined with the maximum of one’s Intention, and both are brought to bear on the sonority of one’s sound, well, one is hard pressed NOT to become transported into ethereal realms.

And I mean that.

Now the question is, are you ‘hearing’ your tone in the fullest sense of the word. Doing so implies you’re allowing yourself to be a resonator, right along with the violin itself. At the same time you must also be an activator; the one ‘driving’ the tone forward from moment to moment.

Once that connection is established one has only to add fuel to the fire.

One’s ‘hearing’ expands outward and inward looking for increasingly agreeable and efficient ways of getting to the core of the tone. When resistance is located, light is shed on it and solutions are found; usually through relaxation and increased clarity on how the bow is being moved across the strings and the fingers of the left hand are being brought into contact with the strings.

When I began the practice session, the pain, stiffness, and restriction lingering from my shoulder injury were intimidating. I didn’t know if I could get anywhere.

Yet after 45 minutes with Herr Kayser and the mindset outlined above, I felt like a different person. Yes, there was soreness and muscle fatigue. But a wonderfully beauteous light had pierced through the heavy fog of discomfort; right to the inner recesses of my soul.

Naturally what I’m saying here would Seem to speak more to a developing player than one considering him or herself to be ‘accomplished’. Yet beware, many are the players that become complacent, take too much for granted, and in the bargain break connection with a sacred, and dynamic Law of Creativity.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. The real ‘nuts and bolts’ behind today’s observations will be found in the soon-to-be-released Month 5 of my Allegro Players. And a word to the wise. What with the packed instructional DVDs, accompaniment CDs, music and written notes that go into each and every month’s installment, the tuition for this program won’t remain where it is much longer. I’d jump on board Right Now if you even SUSPECT it is right for you. You may always cancel at any time should your trust prove unfounded. I doubt it’s going to happen.