How a Violinist ‘Holds an Edge’

Last night my wife and I watched the Ladies ‘Long Program’ from the World Championship of Figure Skating. As always, we saw some great stuff. And let me tell you, figure skating has a lot to teach violinists. Here’s why.

One of the most important fundamentals of figure skating is having the ability to ‘hold an edge.’ As you must know, a figure skate is ground flat on the bottom, producing two edges, an inside edge and an outside edge.

If you’ve ever observed first-time skaters – or been one yourself – you’ll remember the shuffling/walking kind of step of the complete neophyte.

The body is rigid and straight up and down. There’s about as much real contact with the ice as my daughter had with the strings of her violin the first day I gave it to her.

Only with time and practice does a skater learn to lean, and begin to exploit the skate’s edges.

The next step is to truly get ‘into the knees’, and this too requires control and practice.

Well guess what, my friends. Gliding beautifully across the ice holding an edge ‘deep in the knees’ is so analogous to producing a glorious tone on the violin it gives me shivers.

Getting ‘into your knees’ is the equivalent of bending the stick of the bow. Not with tension and muscle force, mind you. With relaxed arm weight, augmented when needing with smooth, controlled, and specific muscle contractions – can’t stress enough how proper breathing helps this.

‘Holding an edge’ is the slight tilting of the bow, and the conscious, seamless, and continuous horizontal drawing of the right hand through space.

Now, this morning I was also preparing for an ‘intensive’ on the first movement of the Mendelssohn Concerto. What a great piece to bring this kind of tone production to.

Just think of the flowing eighth notes that begin the development section and you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.

But the absolute masterpiece for cultivating the ABILITY to ‘hold an edge’ and ‘get into your knees’ where tone production is concerned, is Kreutzer #1.

And to think many violinists never even PLAY it.

Well, I do. And when I do it requires about 10 minutes to go through it once. It’s that slow. And it should give you some idea of the ‘edge control’ needed.

Granted, old #1 is a pretty advanced exercise. So much so that I’ve saved it for Volume 3 of ‘Kreutzer for Violin Mastery.’

So if you’ve been wanting to improve your tone production and need some real insights to make it happen. Here’s the link to get you on the edge, but not over!

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. I’ve got my web master working furiously to get my new lower intermediate monthly program up on the web site. I should have some news in this regard later this afternoon – keep an eye on that in-box.

Get a Beginner’s Mind

Yesterday afternoon I spent the better half of the afternoon biking through the rural mountains of Western North Carolina. To say it was picturesque would be an understatement.

But there was something that occurred to me in the midst of all the beauty that I thought to share with you.

You see, at a certain point I noticed that the spiritual high induced by the vistas and floral display was growing dim. It was the less-than-pleasant feeling in my legs that was holding sway in my consciousness.

Now, you may be thinking, ‘why didn’t you just stop, and give your pins a rest?’

A good point, but the situation was this. I was riding with a friend who is training for an ultra-distance race. I didn’t want to interrupt what was for him a training ride, albeit a light one.

Well, anyhow, I realized that I had to not just exercise my legs, I needed to stretch forth my inner discipline.

When we had reached the first vista of the ride I’d seen it with what your could call a ‘beginner’s mind.’ A mind fresh, and non-judgmental. As I got into the ride that mind began making judgments as to what should or should not be of importance.

And it was siding with my legs and lungs.

Once I saw this, I thought, ‘Hey, this is MY life, and right now I’m going to focus the things I want to see.’

So I burst out laughing, and shouted to my friend – who was a few hundred yards up in front – ‘Hey, isn’t this a sweet ride?’

‘Sure is,’ he returned.

And on we went.

No, the pain in my legs didn’t disappear completely. But I did stop allowing my mind to bitch and moan about it, and I did reach out with my consciousness to visual feast flowing by me.

Now, the same rules apply in violin playing. It is easy to get pulled down when the music’s hard and your back feels like a hot iron’s being pressed against it. Believe me, I’ve been there.

But that’s when you really have to dig deep, set your focus to right, and reposes your ‘beginner’s mind.’

By the way, I did not coin the expression. First time I saw it was in book title by a great Zen master by the name of D. T. Suzuki. Do you know of him?

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. And still speaking of Beginner’s, this morning I had our assistant put together 2 more Beginners Circle courses with the first 6 month’s material. So if you’re ready to adopt a ‘beginner’s mind’ relative to the violin now’s the time to hop to.

When to ‘Take It from the Top’

Ok, got the day right now, so I’m settin’ in the doc’s sky-lit waiting room for my annual check-up and oil change. Thought I’d use the time to talk about ‘taking it from the top.’

Yesterday I received a query – that’s British for question – about whether it’d be appropriate for him to get the Beginner’s Course even though he’s been playing Suzuki for 10 months.

Well, I’ve been thinking about that.

First of all, getting off on the right foot is essential. Can’t stress that enough. Now there are a lot of people out there teaching the violin. Many will be excellent and give you great council.

Unfortunately many will not be. So how does one know the difference.

One good indicator, though it’s not fool-proof, is the teacher’s own playing. If he or she has chops, and plays with passion, chances are she will stand you in good stead.

Another indication of a teacher’s skill is the quality of student coming out of his studio. If you’re wanting to confirm your choice of teacher, go to a student recital – virtually all good studios schedule them every 6 months or so – and ‘take a pulse.’

If you hear confident, well-tuned, easy looking playing, you’re putting your trust in the right place.

On the other hand, if what’s coming out of the students resembles a cross between grandpa’s snoring and a stirred up bee-hive, you might want to steer clear.

But even if you’re relatively confident, I think the Beginner’s Circle a highly valuable supplement to most private study.

The subscriber that wrote in, for instance, is being instructed in the Suzuki program. After 10 months he is still in book 1. In my program players are learning how to shift and play in position at month 6. Next month they begin learning vibrato.

And they are acquiring really good practice habits and fundamental skills along the way. Bare in mind, my course is geared toward adults. Suzuki designed more with kids in mind.

So the bottom line I advice I offered my subscriber friend was this. ‘Seize the bull by the horns’ and purchase the full year of the Violin Mastery Beginners Circle. I’ll send the first 6 months as a package, figuring he could work through them relatively quickly, getting up to speed with my approach and practice techniques.

After that he would at the least have a great supplement to the Suzuki program, and quite possibly a new option giving even better results.

This is the first time I’ve made such an offer. Up until now I’ve only sent out the course monthly in sequence. Now I can see the value of sending 6 months of program at one time, especially to those already up and running.

If this sounds like a good idea for you, either give me a shout on the phone number below, or go ahead and order the full year on line. Then just use the ‘comments’ section to indicate you want the first 6 months as a bundle up front.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. By the way, I’m excited that Beginner’s Circle members will be starting to vibrate next month. Not that we aren’t all doing so anyway. After aren’t we all in essence bundles of vibrating energy? Here’s that link, though, if you want to jump in on the ongoing adventure.

Reaching Beyond the Comfort Zone

Sky’s turned a steely grey outside, temp’s down in the 30’s, a few snow flakes blowin’ past my window.

I guess we’re putting spring on hold here in Western North Carolina.

So what better time to talk about reaching beyond the comfort zone.

This morning I set about pushing outside of mine in Caprice # 17 of Paganini. The middle section has a devilish collection of octaves combined with some tricky bowing requirements.

I wanted to play it faster than I have to date.

But to do that clearly meant taking a couple steps backward before I could move forward. I’d gone as far as I could go with the approach I was using.

A couple days ago I’d overhauled my approach to the bowing and felt pretty confident that it wasn’t the problem.

It was the left hand that was muddying up the waters.

On the surface it would seem that there were only a couple of ways of fingering the octaves. After all, when you’re playing fingered octaves you’re essentially limited to two fingers choices for each note; one and two on the lower notes, and three and four on the uppers.

As I began fooling around, however, I came up with a number of ‘slight of hands’ that either involved combinations of fingered and non-fingered octaves, or quick hops to neighboring strings.

I was truly surprised by the new possibilities.

Wasn’t long before the clear winners emerged, however. And after a little data entry into my grey cells – highly accelerated by counting and breathing – off I went, lickety-split.

The important thing is to keep your focus out in front of where you are, and to stay mentally active where it comes to finding solutions. If you find the trail getting stale or cold, give yourself a break, move to something else, and only return when your mind offers up a fresh image for your hands to chase.

Of course you always want to operate from a position of strength. For that you need strong fundamental skills and learning techniques. These are exactly when you’ll find in the volumes of Kreutzer for Violin Mastery.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. In Paganini for Violin Virtuosity, Vol. 1 you’ll benefit from much insight that came as a result of my 23 years of coaching with Nathan Milstein. We’re talking info that’s difficult to impossible to find anywhere else today.

Was Nathan Milstein a Liar

A couple days ago I sat down to look at emails over my afternoon espresso – I allow myself two a day.

Anywho, there was one from a new subscriber and client that made the contents of my demitasse seem down right freezing.

In fact I almost burst a head-gasket I was so steamed.

It seems my good fellow lives down under, in Australia. The teachers he’s been suffering under, and he tells they are typical there, insist that one play WITH a shoulder pad and NOT hold the bow in the Russian style.

Never mind that he’s expressed a preference for the Russian bow hold and is more comfortable SANS shoulder rest – that’s WITHOUT, if your sipping French roast – than with.

And when my new friend pointed out that Milstein advised producing certain bow strokes ‘from the shoulder’ (meaning with the upper arm), one of his teachers accused Milstein of LYING about his own technique!

Now that’s chutzpah for you.

You see, Milstein was about 5 feet, 4 inches tall, and his arms were short. He played using the upper arm because it was expedient for him to do so in many situations. He also used his upper arm to produce a wonderful spiccato stroke – I watched him do it on more occasions than I can shake a stick at.

So calling Milstein a Liar, I mean really.

The good news is that the Milstein legacy is being preserved by quite a number of Violin Mastery clients in Australia. My new friend has himself just acquired Kreutzer for Violin Mastery, ‘Bach and Kreisler for Violin Artistry’, AND Paganini for Violin Virtuosity, Vol. 1.

Now that’s a trio that’ll keep a fiddler engaged for quite some time – and go a long way toward silencing trash-talking, no respecting, self-glorifying pedagogues.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Mind you, it’s not just in Australia that you find misguided violin instruction. And I think the best way to protect yourself from it is with an elegantly efficient, stood-the-test-of-time approach to violin playing. Here’s the course that gives you exactly that.

And This, Is What I Said

Last week I was invited for an interview on a new online radio show It features guests who are walking through life ‘off the beaten path.’

I guess playing the violin these days qualifies one for such distinction.

Well I’m game for just about anything, so I agreed without hesitation.

The conversation covered quite a bit of ground; my early experiences with the violin, life in Hollywood, feelings about music, studies with Milstein, and more. After the fact, the show’s producer interspersed the interview with samples of my playing.

Last night I received a link to the program.

Now, my first instinct was to hit the delete key. In the past I’d usually felt awkward in interviews. I was afraid of finding myself sounding this way again.

But then I recalled the feelings I had during the interview. I wasn’t anxious or nervous. I felt calm, happy, and at times inspired.

After all, I thought to myself, I do LIKE what I’m doing in life.

So, I sat down and listened.

Yep, it was good. At least it was from my perspective. In fact I was so pleased at the way the message came across – the musical bits add so much – I’m going to give you the opportunity to tune in as well. You can do so right now, in fact, by going to http://www.webtalkradio.net/content/view/326/30/.

One last little secret I’ll let you in on. The host and producer is none other than Tania Gabrielle, my wife and life-long companion. And what a gifted interviewer she is!

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Once you’ve heard the show you may just want to get a course of mine that you’ve had your eyes on for some time.

Why You Can’t Play Angry

Here it is a beautiful Saturday morning. Sun’s out, sky’s blue, and I’m here writing to you. Must be something on my mind.

I’ll get right to it.

This morning I started my day with a practice session. Well, actually I made a quick foray to Starbucks first. But never mind that.

I got into the practice right away. Yet when I had exercised myself for some hour and a half – my mind, emotions, AND hands – I ran into a snag with something I was doing.

Now, I’d run into a few other snags in the course of things, but for some reason I let this one get to me, and for a couple of moments I was angry.

In recent days I’ve been watching myself much more closely than usual. So when the emotion of anger then reared up suddenly I observed the result with detachment.

It was immediately clear that the feeling was the result of a judgment made against myself – anger always is, in spite of what we think may be the case.

But boy did it drain the life force from me. It was like being in a car traveling at 70 miles an hour, and suddenly someone turns the engine off.

All creativity and productivity came to a screeching halt.

Now as I said, I’ve been watching myself closely of late. So I caught this lapse into insanity quickly.

First I looked to my breath, and took a nice deep one – you know the kind I’m talking about. Then I willed my mind to think through, in great detail, the passage I had just misplayed. Once I found the soft spots in my mental images I added more detail to them, and I ran them back and forth in my head a few times.

Then I put the fiddle under my chin and led my hands through the passage with the absolute minimum of vertical energy on the strings.

Mind you, I DID play the notes, and accurately, I just did them as a ghost would glide over good old terra firma.

Finally, I summoned up my full passion and hit the thing head on. I gave it both barrels. But anger was not invited to the party.

The result? Well, I wish you’d been here to hear it.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Remember, ‘there is no try, only do.’ So if you’re having trouble ‘doing’, ramp up the will, and squeeze out the self-censure. Oh, and perhaps my ’best seller’ would be a little helpful to you as well.

The Fantasy of Desire

Last night, after a visit with a good friend, I walked out to my car, opened the door, sat down, swung my legs in, and turned on the ignition. I was greeted by the radio booming the most climatic moment of one of the most dramatic chamber music masterpieces ever written – the ‘B’ section of the final movement of the Brahms Piano Quintet in F Minor.

I’ll tell you, the emotional impact of the music hit me like a tidal wave. WHAM.

As I continued listening I realized it was also an exceptionally good recording; emotionally charged, well paced, well tuned, beautifully nuanced, just brilliant.

Of course, having played to piece on many occasions, I had the immediate, clear and present DESIRE to do so again.

I could Feel my hands on the notes, the shifts, and bow strokes as they came through the speakers. I wanted to shout, cry, laugh, all at the same time.

At the end, after cooling off for a few minutes, I realized that my desire was going to remain just that. Desire.

At least for now.

You see, I realized that I had a decision to make, to bring my will power to bear on the notion, and move forward with it decisively, or to let it go without regret.

I chose the latter.

You see, my will power is quite engaged acting on other desires. It’s busy creating and placing powerful images in my mind that pull me toward the satisfaction of these desires.

These are the ones that won’t be surrendered. That won’t fall into the dustbin of fantasy.

If mastering the violin is one of your great desires, and you’ve made the decision to act, then you want to support the power of your will with the best images you mind can entertain.

I think you’ll find many of them in the programs for self-study that I offer on my website. For a complete list you’ve only to click over to my home page at http://www.violinmastery.com/index.htm

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Recently I was asked how to improve one’s vibrato. Kreutzer, Vol. 3 has a good deal to say about this important expressive device. And there’s an excellent exercise I provide for making it happen.

What Harrison Ford Thinks About Music

A couple days ago my wife and I were sitting at the dining table talking about the ‘Indi IV’ scoring sessions. She asked if Harrison Ford had come to any of them.

‘In fact he did,’ I said. ‘And he caused quite a stir.’

We were just back from our first break – we take 10 minute breaks each hour – when in walks this guy bowing and scraping up to John Williams. Naturally we all recognized him right off.

John Williams quickly reached out his hand to Harrison and said, ‘We should be bowing to you, after all, without you we wouldn’t be here.’

‘And without you and your colleagues, I wouldn’t be up there for very long,’ he fired back – he was pointing to the screen.

It was indeed a warm moment. And certainly heartfelt on Harrison’s part.

The fact is the Indiana Jones films have wall to wall music, as I’ve said previously. The scores remind me of opera in many respects; the detail in them is quite extraordinary.

In any case, Tania thought I should relate this little encounter and now you have it.

And speaking of detail, in my Violin Mastery Beginners Circle program you’ll get all the detail you need to emerge a real player at the day.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

How to Create Useful Memories

Today I’m enjoying an unexpected day off. Turns out we ripped through the music for ‘Indiana Jones IV’ in record time.

So this morning I’m back on a bar stool at the out-door kitchen of my sister’s home giving you a holler.

One could get used to this So Cal sun in a real hurry.

But yesterday I was yet ‘in the trenches’ with my friend Kenny. During some of the breaks we were comparing notes, literally, on Caprice #17 of Paganini.

At the end of the ‘A’ section there is a very fast chromatic passage that takes your hand from first position on the A string down chromatically to the D string, quickly up diatonically high on the E string and right back down to the A string in first position.

As I said, this takes place at breakneck speed.

Now, the ability to do it cleanly does not just rely on quick fingers. Even Kenny, the man with greased lightning hands, agrees on this.

No, lesser mortals and speed demons alike must get the grey cells into the action big-time to get consistent, clean result with such a passage.

Enter memory.

Specifically the use of the memory to create detailed mental pictures that inspire the hand and fingers in real time.

Interesting choice of word, Inspire. Kind of makes you want to take out the fiddle and set about visualizing, does it not?

Of course you must find images to hold that are truly useful. In the passage I’m describing the images will contain notes, rhythmic cues, shift, and fingerings.

Coming to a set of images that ‘get it all done’ within the time limits allowed can take some practice, naturally.

Note that most of this ‘practice’ takes place of your nice, big noodle. That’s the real secret that many people never FULLY get.

The mind is powerful indeed.

Granted, a lot of time can be saved when a truly experienced player helps you cultivate worthwhile images. In fact I’d say that’s 52% of what makes my courses so valuable.

As for what’s in the other 59%, you’ll have to get one and be pleasantly surprised. Since we’ve been talking Paganini today why don’t you you get right to it?

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Oh, think I did the math wrong? No way, I shoot for giving you 150% of what you need to get the job done. That way if I manage only 107% I’m still ahead of the game. Intermediate players will find their heads full of inspiration with Kreutzer for Violin Mastery.