When I was an even younger bloke, quite a few moons ago, my teachers would often complain that I played too fast. But though I understood the words they were speaking, and would try to oblige them, I usually found myself slipping back up to warp speed before I knew it.

I just couldn’t seem to help myself.

Then, I didn’t know the secret of control. In fast tempos I was like a train on a downhill roll without a brake to pull. And to be honest, a part of me thought that was the way it should be.

You know, I used to think I was getting a compliment when people said things like, ‘Wow, that sounded Hard,’ or, ‘I’m still trying to catch me breath after what your just played.’

But as I grew I finally began to realize that brakes weren’t just for sissies. But I hadn’t found one that never failed me.

Milstein used to say, ‘Vhy you run away. Play the ‘armony.’ And to a degree, and for some music, this helped. But it didn’t solve my little problem completely. In some fast music I just couldn’t seem to grab hold of the harmonies enough to use them effectively, every time.

Then I discovered counting. No, not the toe-tapping kind. No way that could keep the likes of me in check.

What I’m talking about is the real McCoy, the pure, verbalization-of-the-beat kind. It’s the kind that makes you Think, and Keeps you thinking.

Now I’ve got a monster-size brake at my disposal. And when you’ve got a brake, the listener Gets a break, know what I mean?

After all, even the fastest music has cadence and structure. If you’re rushing through it like a run-away train, none of that detail is going to register with the audience. Why, they’ll be too busy praying that when the train jumps the track it won’t take them with it.

Now, you know how I talk about velocity. I’m all for it, believe me. But not when it’s reckless, heedless, or out of control.

And this kind of control is precisely what’s needed in Paganini. You’re going to get it in spades when you spend time with Paganini for Violin Virtuosity, Vol. 1.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. The secret of counting isn’t the only thing an advanced player will take away from the Paganini course. All manner of ‘tricks’ are revealed in ways that make them doable for just about any player.

Yesterday I wrote of Kreutzer #1. Today I spent time whirling through #23, a close cousin. You might call this Caprice, ‘flights of fancy.’

The utility of it is in developing skills for cadenza playing. Held notes, with fermatas over them, are followed by extended flurries, sometimes called ‘melismas’.

Many require quick shifts of the hand. Many have an abundance of fast string crossings. And all must come off fluidly and effortlessly.

The game of mastering #23, and I assure you it’s a lot of fun to play, has two parts. One, is take the ‘flurries’ apart, piece by piece, catalogue them, and store them up in your mind.

Part two has to do with keeping score.

When it’s time to put all the pieces together and give it a whirl, you’ve just to conjure those catalogued ‘bits’ and tick each one off as it flies by.

‘But I’m sure it’s not so easy as all that,’ I hear you object.

Well, not quite. You DO have to understand how to shift with absolute efficiency. You DO need to know how to cross strings without creating huge waves in your wake. And you DO need to understand some rather important things about bow control and finger velocity.

But those secrets are the very stuff of Kreutzer for Violin Mastery volumes 3 and 4.

Now there IS a small fee involved, ‘tis true. But violinists of a certain accomplishment, who nonetheless lack critical bits of insight, will find them worth every shekel.

And, as I said yesterday, there’re another 20 Caprices in the volumes. Should keep you growing as a violinist for some time to come.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. After getting my juices flowing on old #23 I skipped over to Paganini #16 and had a more stormy romp. Got some secrets to share with you on that in Paganini for Violin Virtuosity, Vol. 1. Are you game?

Yesterday I received an email that got me to thinking. It seems one our subscribers has a little challenge with nerves. Well, maybe it’s not so little.

His bow not only shakes, his right hand has a rather distressing way of creeping up the bow while he is playing – must admit, this is a new one for me.

In any case, this certainly doesn’t sound like a very enjoyable experience.

So what is this thing with nerves that gives so many of us trouble.

This morning it hit me.

It’s a Lack of Self Discipline.

Alright, alright, don’t get all upset at me now, most of us DO feel nervous before a crowd of listeners. For some it takes only one.

But the fact remains that the fear of judgment can only exist where ego exists. And what good is an ego doing you if it’s causing you the loss of pleasure, just because some Jack or Jill is within earshot?

Not much.

So let’s get rid of them I say. They represent wrong seeing. A mistaken set of priorities. A misunderstanding of self worth.

Everyday you practice, seek only after joy. Don’t be content with mere self-satisfaction.

True Joy is untouchable by ego. It vibrates on another level. In order to experience joy you cannot be in conflict. You cannot compare your accomplishment against another’s.

Therefore you exist in a state of peace.

It’s all well and good to have goals; to be the best you can be. But if your goals are a sword by which you live, surely you will die by it.

Only a fool rich in pride thinks this becomes a life.

The measure of an artist, in my book, is authenticity. Authenticity is informed by the love of truth.

The truth is that, ultimately, you can take no more credit for drawing a bow across a string than you can the creation of the heavens.

But what you CAN do is allow the bow to be drawn.

Find the spirit, the passion in the music, and allow yourself to be moved by it. At the same time question the Authority of your ego. By what right does seek to censure your true birthright, the expression of joy.

Now, I know what I’ve just been moved to write is not quite what my subscriber expected from me. But it is truly at the root of his discomfiture.

Naturally it is good and decent to put your best foot forward when you go out to perform. Toward that end you must prepare well. You must warm up before going on stage.

You must breathe.

And you must surrender your ego at the stage door.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Yes, preparation is essential. And many a secret of successful preparation can be found in Kreutzer for Violin Mastery.

You may find this a little hard to believe, but just a few months ago yours truly found himself striding through the hallways of the Tampa ‘Marriott’ working up quite a head of steam, whilst playing through the Bach Chaconne.

Now as odd as that may sound – in the Hallway of a Hotel? – I was doing it without making so much as a peep.

I was, in fact, playing on thin air, not a violin in sight.

I guess you could call it ‘shadow playing.’

But at least I can say this for myself. I wasn’t the only one looking quite silly on that day.

You see, my wife and I were attending a ‘personal development’ seminar. We had been given the assignment to ‘shadow play’ an activity around which we had fears or mental blocks.

For 15 full minutes we all scattered ourselves around the ballroom and immediate hallways gesticulating in all manner of silly ways.

Writers were pounding away on imaginary keyboards; fearful public speakers were giving silent orations, arms sweeping to and fro.

And then there was the violin player.

At first I was astonished at how foolish and awkward I felt. After a minute or two I dropped my arms with the thought, ‘this is too ridiculous’.

But then, looking around and seeing the others still going at it, I shouldered my imaginary violin once again.

This time I exercised myself on that invisible fiddle. I willed every note into being. I felt the bow travel over the strings. I put my vibrato on ‘ultra-passionate’ mode. And the fingers of my left hand were held accountable for every note of every chord.

Let me tell you, I worked up quite a sweat in those few minutes.

I also exposed many a weak spot in my armor. I thought I KNEW the Chaconne when I started. But I was forced to concede that I didn’t know it beyond a ‘shadow’ of a doubt.

If you think you know a piece of music, try putting you violin aside and shadow playing it with every finger placement and bow stroke in place. You just might be in for quite a surprise.

Now I’ve found this to be a powerful exercise to use at all stages of learning a piece.

If you give it a try, don’t be discouraged if you find it difficult at first. But do ‘hold your feet to the fire’, as it were. It takes a lot of mental toughness to move your fingers correctly with a violin in place. It’s even tougher to do it without.

But the payoff can be huge.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Speaking of big payoffs. I’m just putting the finishing touches on the 1st month of the ”Allegro Players” intermediate program. It’s still not too late to be part of the vanguard of players who will bene

Most all of us have been told, at some time or another, that ‘you’ve just got to feel the music.’ Now, I don’t know about you, but on the occasions I’ve had this said to me I felt more confused than enlightened.

You see, many teachers, who more likely than not possess a rather limited teaching vocabulary, resort to such statements when they run out of things to say. In such cases a better alternative would be the more honest statement, ‘I don’t know what to tell you.’

It’s much different to feel music as a listener, which is a emotional response, than it is to EXPRESS music as a player. A player must have tools with which to translate the emotions he or she might feel as a listener into physical sensations and actions taken on the violin.

In fact it is just this complex dance that makes playing the violin one of the most challenging things to do; one of the most engrossing things to do; and ultimately one of the most satisfying things to do.

So you’ve got to have technique.

So how do you get technique. Well, you get technique by feeling, actually.

‘Now, wait just a doggone moment,’ you say. ‘You just said before that being told to ‘feel the music’ made you confused. Now you’re as bad as the teachers you just talked about.’

Hang on, hang on, I’m talking about feeling in a very different way. I’m talking about taking the time to FEEL THE PROCESS of playing the music, not the feelings that arise out of the music BEING PLAYED.

You see, the feelings that arise from the music are based on past events. The feelings of process HAPPEN IN THE MOMENT.

This is why many violinists get stuck in their playing. Either out of lack of patience, lack of focus, or lack of knowledge, they try to jump into the future – the LA-LA land of emotional feeling.

It’ll never work.

And similarly, when someone says, ‘you’re thinking too much.’ It can only mean ‘you’re thinking wishfully,’ which is not really thinking at all.

It’s daydreaming.

Nobody’s playing EVER suffered from an over abundance of ‘process thinking.’ Process thinking is about visualization and intention. It’s about discipline and self-direction.

If you’re still with me, let me say one more thing about all this. Most of us do need direction. We need help figuring out What to Feel and What to Think to play effectively.

After all, I spent 3 years chasing Milstein around the world for just such help.

Fortunately for you there’s a better alternative. Specifically in the form of the instructional DVD courses I’ve created for you.

And the latest of these is a terrific, new monthly program of study for lower intermediate players. Just yesterday my web master put a whole blurb on the website about it. Why not take a look. It may be just what you need to break through to a whole new level of playing.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. And don’t forget. If you’re in the very beginning stages of playing there’s the Violin Mastery Beginners Circle. Because getting started on the right foot sure beats the alternative.