Just spent an hour going back to basics. And I DO mean basics. Open strings, slow scales without vibrato, etc.

Now, before you think, ‘I don’t need this sort of thing, I’m beyond it,’ I’d listen to what you’re going to hear in this newsletter.

99% of violinists playing today would benefit from this kind of review on a regular basis. And I’ll give you an example of why.

In the world of recording for film, ask any concertmaster how to make even whole notes difficult and he or she will say, ‘write ‘solo’ over them.’

Yep, when adrenaline is pumping through your veins, something you’ve taken for granted for years can reach out and bite you, big time. I’ve seen otherwise extraordinary violinists develop ‘the shakes’ over such things.

Now, I can’t tell you how many inquiries I get the have to do with tension, and the results of tension – it’s the over tensing of muscles that gives one the shakes as well as all other many of difficulties on the violin.

In fact, I’d go so far as to say that the violin has 30% to do with learning how to flex muscle and 70% with how to relax muscle.

So if you want to improve, no matter what age you are, concern yourself with relaxation.

This being said let me try to give you some ideas – by the way, these are for my friend asking about ‘the shakes’ during shifts as well the gentleman asking about tremors in his up bow stroke. And, as I’ve said, 99% of anyone else reading this.

Number one, use the power of your breath. Yea, I know, you’ve read this before here. But I’ll bet most of you reading this forget to do it, or haven’t taken the time to master ‘belly-breathing’ away from the violin to the point it is easy to do while playing. Here’s where you can get some specific info on the technique if you need it. http://www.violinmastery.com/order_breathcontrol.htm

Number 2, slow down. Way down. Today I spent most of my session playing 16th notes as if they were half-notes.

Number 3 – and this is a big one – once you’re in motion on a note and breathing from your diaphragm, be alert for muscle contractions that ANTICIPATE your next move. This is the greatest single obstacle you must overcome as you progress.

There are two reasons this is so. Let’s say your first challenge on the violin is to draw open strings with a good tone. The greatest challenge to doing this is at the extremes of the bow, one finds.
And as a result there is a certain amount of apprehension that develops over it.

Apprehension breeds tension. Yet most of us, in the impatience to move forward, find a way to relegate that fear to the unconscious. The tension and poor habit that result for it remain, but the conscious marker of fear has been dismissed.

Then comes string crossing. Again, there is apprehension, which gets sublimated, and the adoption of poor habits, which form as the body compensates for something not fully mastered.

And this process, continued over years of study, in some cases, leads to where you are today. What I see in the form of ‘mannerisms’ in many professionals, even, are the artifacts of missed opportunities, really; that is, missed opportunities to fully ‘listen to’ and address apprehensions fully as we go about learning.

The good news is, it’s never too late to go back and address the effects of ‘bodily apprehensions’, if you will.

As I said above, the first step is getting into a relaxed state to begin with. Hence the breathing.

Then play slowly, and evenly. Yes, my counting technique can be used to excellent effect here. It’s a way of getting yourself focused ‘on the now’ – a rather clichéd expression, but true nonetheless.

Once you’re in this space you can open your feeling sense to the ‘anticipations’ that lead you into tension. Even in attempting to hold a note steady you may find unwanted muscles turning on, especially if you’ve begun entertaining the note to follow.

And there is your opportunity, handed to you as if on a platter. Now you can breathe and exercise the power of your mind to let go.

Be patient, sometimes the offending muscle(s) will come back at you after you initially direct it to relax. This is VERY common.

Once this process becomes a hallmark of your practice your results will skyrocket. And if you’d like a good companion in the process I can’t think of anything better than a review of my Beginners Circle course which, by the way, has just been reduced 11% to make it even more of a value in these challenging times.

All the best,

After the newsletter on vibrato of last week I received a few comments and questions. They’ve prompted me to experiment with my hands in some new ways the past few days.

Here’s what I found.

Well, hang on a sec. The other day I failed to mention another kind of vibrato that is known to the general playing population; the finger vibrato. It’s produced through the controlled flexing of the first knuckle.

As you can imagine it will tend to be narrower than the wrist or arm vibrato and is most effective in the upper positions.

One of the folks who wrote in mentioned that he must rely on this form of vibrato almost exclusively now due to an arthritic condition that’s developed in his wrist.

Another person wondered if I knew anything about a ‘bow vibrato’, something allegedly employed by the famous French violinist, Jacque Thibaud.

Now if Thibaud did use such a technique I rather think it would have been on long notes at the ends of phrases in slow music. The use of it my have evolved out of a bow control exercise some pedagogues teach, where you roll pressure on and off the bow as you draw it down and up the string.

I don’t practice this much myself but I have heard a colleague use it during warm-up. And I could see how one might be tempted to use it in certain musical situations. Yet to me it the calling for it would be very rare indeed, unless one really can’t produce a vibrato on the left side.

But getting back to what I’ve gotten into the past couple of days.

I have found an additional way to vibrato; something I’d call a ‘hand’ vibrato.

The hand vibrato comes about by gently applying and releasing pressure on the string with your left hand fingers. Now, I don’t do this with just the finger so much as with a squeeze of the hand; that is, I’m gently squeezing up from under the violin with my hand as I gently squeeze down from the top with the finger. In effect it’s a relaxed clenching and un-clenching of the hand.

I must say, I started making some nice sounds by using it. Again, it’s not a very wide vibrato, yet it can be very rapid, if one wants it to be.

The thing to remember, if you give a try, is not to release the string so much that you loose control of the note. I guess that goes without saying.

So while the bow vibrato and the hand vibrato are interesting things to fool around with as you warm up, they’re not going to revolutionize the way the violin is played. Just some fun and games and a new way to stretch yourself in a practice.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. In case you missed yesterday’s newsletter, here’s the link to the grand-daddy of violin master classes; a place where you can spend 3 days transforming your violin playing in awesomely beautiful surroundings.

Wouldn’t you know, I’ve been asked, once again, to comment on how I recommend cultivating that warm, rich, even vibrato that everyone wants to have.

It’s tempting to begin by saying it’s a skill somewhat akin to riding a bicycle; once learned, never forgotten. Yet in my experience it’s a little more complicated, rather like riding a unicycle – funny how THAT came to mind.

Unlike a bicycle, riding a unicycle requires a more constant presence of mind. A truly effective vibrato does too, at least in my experience.

It’s not something to just turn on like a light switch. It is, after all, an expressive device. And I like being as much in control of my expressive devices as possible.

This being said, there is, I admit, a reflexive or automatic component that must kick in, at a certain point. The thing is, though, many folks try to force the issue, way before they’ve trained their arm, wrist and hand in the proper form.

So what’s the proper form.

First, a good vibrato starts from the pitch, and oscillates down some fraction of a step before returning back to the original pitch. It does not go above the pitch; unless you want your listener’s hair standing on end.

Number two, the motion must be even throughout, like a nice sine wave.

Most teachers have students begin learning vibrato in 3rd position, and I agree with this. The reason for this is, the wrist can be lightly in contact with the rib of the violin and used to keep the wrist from wiggling back and forth during the motion; and you want the wrist to be stable, it’s just the hand that moves.

Now, there is something called an arm vibrato, which some people find easier than a wrist vibrato. The only problem with using this type, however, is that I find folks who rely on it often vibrate above the pitch, producing that hair-raising effect I mentioned above.

But getting back to the wrist vibrato, let me say something about the patience and mindfulness that goes into it. One must first understand the motion in detail, something I can’t do in an email but I demonstrate in months 7 and 8 of ‘Beginners Circle.’

Suffice it to say, relaxation is key. As is a well-formed hand and a soft touch with the left hand, particularly until the motion is well understood by the body.

As you will notice with anybody demonstrating a good wrist vibrato there is some flexibility required of the first knuckle of the fingers. This is something one might need some SLOW PRACTICE to acquire.

And as you gently urge the hand into more accelerated movements you must not push beyond your ability to hold form. Ultimately you arrive a combination of reflexive movement and consciously directed movement.

You’ve got to have the ability to change, at will, the width and speed of your vibrato in producing the various colors actual music demands.

In my ‘Beginners Circle’ program I allocate a considerable amount of time to demonstrating and assigning exercises to develop a fine wrist vibrato. And though I’ve been known to send these months out separately, on occasion, experience has shown that folks needing help with vibrato can also benefit in big ways with other technical aspects of violin playing.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Once again, here’s the link to get started with Beginners Circle’ on either a monthly or an annual basis.

A few days ago I received an email asking my advice for ‘nerves.’ It was timely, really, as the next day I learned that I will be playing a beautiful solo from the score to the movie ‘Defiance’ on Oscar night – with over a billion people tuned in.

So here’s what I’m doing now, and what I will do Sunday night – by the way, it will come some two thirds the way through the 3 1/2 hour show, when the orchestra performs a medley of the ‘best musical score’ nominations.

First, I memorized the thing, wasn’t difficult as it’s only some 30 seconds in length.

Next, I explored all the fingering choices available to find those that suit the expressive content of the music AND capitalize on the remaining strengths, and newly found strengths, of my technique – bear in mind, my left side is not what it was even a year ago, and I must do things differently to compensate.

Now that I’ve got my hands on it, I’m practicing it in; that is, playing through while I take as many positive mental notes, or pictures, of myself as possible. I’ll be using these images to lead myself all the way through the thing on Sunday.

Let me explain a little more fully how this plays out.

The solo begins with a down bow quarter note E on the D string. In my headset I will be hearing quarter note ‘Clicks’ to which I am to conform; with some artistic license.

As I listen to the 2 clicks before I enter, I will be ‘seeing’ myself play that down-bow E. I’ll be ‘feeling’ the frog of the bow traveling away from my body in a horizontal plane, and my first finger resting easily on the D string.

When I’ve begun the down-bow I will have the next beat playing in my head the same way; and so on, and so on. Right through to the end.

As I do this I’ll be staying mindful of my breathing. Nice, deep belly breaths that relax my neck, shoulders, arms and hands – if you want a little more information on how I do this you can check out my little DVD called Dynamic Breath Control for Violinists.

And finally, I’ll ask myself to verbalize the beats – just in my head, not out loud. Now, as I said above, there will be a ‘click’ going in my headset. You may wonder why I would need to do this.

It’s not to ‘beat time.’

I do it as a further way of keeping myself in the moment; of focusing my mind on the job that I’m doing Right Now. The last thing I want is to allow my imagination to dwell on thoughts such as, ‘Gee, a billion people, that’s sure a lot.’

Now, having taken you through all this there is one more thing to add. What I will play is a gorgeous, heartfelt bit of writing. And the whole point of it is to arose an emotional response in the listener.

So all the preparation I do is really to free myself from ‘me’ and enter a space beyond; the space all those ‘listeners; inhabit. Yet at the same time, as the one playing, I recognize the need for support and control.

And that is what ‘practice’ is all about. Giving yourself the support you need to express yourself fully no matter the circumstance.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. So the short of it is to use your imagination to create positive, accurate images of what you want; find mental tools to keep yourself in the moment and ‘listening’ to them; and breathe life from beginning to end. Now go practice.