Masterclass Begins, With Tone

Yes, tonight will find me and several other dedicated players ensconced in the Olmsted room of the beautiful Biltmore Inn enjoying the first of six sessions on all aspects of violin playing. The focus this evening will be on that which makes the violin the most compelling of instruments, its tone.

The kind of tone we will be looking for is the kind that penetrates to the farthest reaches of the human heart.

Needless to say, that kind of tone requires a clear, open channel from the heart of the player.

The challenge many players face is that the mental and physical demands of playing actual music, especially challenging music, often lead to tension. When tension is present the transmissions of the heart are frustrated.

What we are going to do tonight is examine tone production from the ground up with an ear toward clearing the channels, permanently.

We will take a close look at the bow hold, the movements of each component of the right arm, the contact point of hair and string, the importance of proper breathing, and the mental images that support and inform the above.

This process of examination is one I continue to refine year after year. I see myself as a crystal tuned to resonate to the sound of the violin. With each passing day I shape myself to more efficiently accomplish this.

If you are doing likewise in your practice you’re one of a rare breed. You’re also moving toward that place where every note illuminates the heart of your listener. In short, you become the very embodiment of Grace.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Where it comes to the development of tone, for an intermediate/advanced player, there are no better etudes than the double-stop Andante etudes of Kreutzer. They are the focus of Vol. 4 of ”Kreutzer for Violin Mastery”.

Wow, Try This One

I just finished practicing, again. Today I had the brilliant notion to sit on our large, inflatable exercise ball whilst playing. You know the kind I mean, 3 feet in diameter, used for exercising one’s ‘core’ muscles kind-of-a-thing.

Here’s why playing while sitting on one is a good thing.

As I’ve often said, playing the violin is a horizontal game – I think that’s why all you sensual types like it so much!

Seriously though, shifting, and 99% of your right arm movements are about horizontal motion. The vertical movements of string crossings must be so efficient and well timed that virtually no energy gets transferred into the torso.

When you’re sitting on one of those balls any counterproductive motions you make while playing get amplified.

The trick is to put as much, or more, energy than you are now into your playing while staying quiet on the ball. I think you’ll find yourself letting go of a lot of unnecessary tension AND sharpening the timing of your shifts, bow changes and string crossings. Pretty cool.

If you have one of these balls give it a try. After you’ve finished please send me a quick note. I’d like to know how it worked for you.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. The ultimate test, for you aspiring virtuosi, is Paganini #2. If you can get through that Caprice while on the ball, and not eject yourself from the room, you may not need to invest in my Paganini course after all. On the other hand, the low-down on how to play fast scales in tenths, the continuous ricochet in #1, the left hand pizz in #24, and numerous other ‘tricks’ may prove irresistible.

Become a Puppeteer

I just finished practicing. Came to the session feeling very stiff and resistant. Left it playing quite well and feeling loose as a goose.

So what happened?

I became my own puppeteer.

Here’s how it worked. I imagined strings attached to my arms, fingers, shoulders, and head – I was suspended over the floor. No strings attached to my violin. It just rested in my hand and on my shoulder.

Yes, I was a very complicated puppet. Not your usual toy store fare.

Being new to such complicated puppeteering, I had to play myself rather slowly at first. Had to get the feel of each string and how use it to manipulate each body part.

Then, what a feeling I experienced! It was like being in a float-tank and flying at the same time. And no, I wasn’t ‘on’ anything!

You see, one of the biggest difficulties many players face is getting outside of himself. And nobody wants to spend all his or her time stuck within the box of the small mind.

I little exercise like this takes you outside of yourself. Gives you the view looking in. It sure helped me let the stiffness drain out of my body. Also clarified my movements, making me much more creative in the end.

So, how about grabbing the fiddle and doing a little puppeteering of your own. You just might unlock the door to a whole new world of possibilities.

All the best,
Clayton Haslop

P.S. You can also unlock another world of possibilities by loading Kreutzer for Violin Mastery into your DVD player. It’s a puppeteers dream.

Where to Find the Music

Last night my wife Tania and I sat down and enjoyed a movie together. We laughed while trying to recall the last time we had done so.

The film was a Swedish production entitled, ‘As it is in Heaven.’ I don’t think it is even available in this country, which is unfortunate.

It’s a marvelous piece of work.

The plot revolves around a fictitious, world-famous conductor who is forced by stress and poor health to abandon his career. The man decides to return to the small, highly provincial town of his birth where circumstances conspire to make him the Cantor of a small parish church.

Now dealing with amateur musicians, he is forced to reinvent his whole approach to communicating through music.

There were a few things said by the main character that really struck me.

At one point during a rehearsal, he says to his little group, ‘We are here to listen. The music surrounds us all, and it is our job to open our ears to it.’

‘So, how do you know when you’ve heard it?’ you may ask.

Your heart and soul are stirred.

It’s that simple, really. Now, getting the music out through the ‘f’ holes of a violin might seem rather more complicated.

It is not.

Two things are needed. One, a player must ‘listen’ to his or her body. He must listen to his body and its movements for what is extraneous to the music. And let these things go.

Second, she must listen to her body for what are pure, affecting, and effective movements in bringing forth the music. And practice them in a way they become not second nature, but first nature.

This is not to say that a good coach, or teacher, can’t be of considerable assistance; first to accelerate the process of learning good fundamental skills, and second in raising the listening bar higher and higher.

I am thrilled that literally hundreds of players world-wide have found my courses and masterclasses helpful in these regards. Here’s a nice little comment I received over the weekend.

‘Because of your Kreutzer course, I am now playing with less effort, more relaxed and focused. And you’re right on about the breathing correctly.’ Rodney, Lebanon, Tenn..

So if you’re new to the newsletter, an intermediate violinist, and ready to lift yourself out of the doldrums of rote repetition, then Kreutzer for Violin Masteryis your ticket.

All the best,
Clayton Haslop

P.S. Now, if you’re an advanced player, but still wanting for new vision and insight, come refresh yourself with Paganini for Violin Virtuosity, Vol. 1.

In Tune and In Time

It’s a catchy little phrase I see over the door of the music dept. each time I visit Fox studios for film sessions. And it certainly speaks to two of a string player’s largest concerns.

So how to get ‘in tune’? Why, increase the use of your creative powers of visualization when you practice. It should be fun and relaxing if, that is, you let go of expectations of perfection that get you nowhere, and fast.

When you play a note out of tune you merely see it as an opportunity to better learn the location of that note. Once you have it, take a mental picture of how the hand and fingertip feel resting on the correct pitch.

Next time around be sure to have that image in mind as you come to the note. Yes, it can take a few tries. But on each attempt you merely add enthusiasm – another word for focus – to the image until you have it.

Matter of fact, one of the very best things you can do for your playing is to spend quality time playing at a tempo you can visualize each and every note before you play it.

Those of you who have ”Kreutzer for Violin Mastery” know just what information the visual image should contain.

Speaking of such, the PAGANINI course will be shipping in today’s mail to all that have ordered it. I wish you much success with it. And please, keep me posted as to your results.

All the best,
Clayton Haslop

The Last Stage of Preparation

When I put a new piece of music on my stand I recognize that I will go through 4 stages before I take it out to perform.

In the initial phase I’m just putting my hands on the notes, so to speak. I’m getting a very general sense of the music and enjoying the thrill of exploration that comes with it.

During this process I become aware of where the particular challenges are. And the next phase involves getting under the hood – or bonnet, if your of the English persuasion – taking each of these sections apart and becoming intimately familiar with every detail.

Once I’m ready to begin putting it all back together it’s time to take a look at the big picture, to begin telling a story or creating an interesting aural canvas.

Finally, and this is a very crucial juncture, I must enter the last stage of preparation. This is where I bring the work before an audience.

Not a real audience, mind you, an audience held in my mind’s eye.

When at first I visualize real people sitting in quiet expectation before me, the ‘butterflies’ begin their dance. The last phase of preparation is an act of alchemy. It is where fear-based nervous energy gets reversed and transformed into joy-filled anticipation.

‘So how is this done,’ you might ask.

You go back through your practice, all three stages, and you check your work – while visualizing an audience present. If you’ve done you homework well the final stage will be a breeze, and you can count on acing the test. If you’ve missed things, they will be revealed in the bright light the audience radiates.

I recommend getting to this stage as early as you can. That way you have all the time, and more that you need to make success the only possible outcome.

And don’t forget, there are few people in this world that don’t enjoy having a violin played for them. And there are a few, in that majority, whose lives might be positively affected in a profound way by what you do.

All the best,
Clayton Haslop

P.S. Two time-tested, wonderful works to bring before any group of listeners are Bach’s E Major ‘Preludio’, and Kreisler’s ‘Praeludium and Allegro.’ The course I have on these two masterpieces leaves no stone unturned so you’ll arrive at the last stage of preparation at the head of the class.

How to Think a Down Bow

Being, as I am, between playing obligations, my practice sessions have had a particular freedom and relaxation about them recently. This has led to some very satisfying insights. There is one that’s hung around for several days, and I’d like to share it with you.

Now, you’d think after several decades playing the violin that my practice wouldn’t show a great deal of variation – that I would know just about everything there is for me to know. The beauty of a violin practice, however, is that there is almost infinite opportunity for insight. And thankfully so.

So let’s get down to business. You may have heard people talk about ‘pulling a tone out of the violin.’ I’ve heard the expression, or slight variations like ‘draw a tone’, many times over the years.

Last night it struck me why I’ve never cared much for these descriptions. They simply don’t do the process justice.

Hears why.

When I hear the word ‘pull’, as it would apply to moving a bow across a string, I think of muscular effort. I think of producing vertical pressure, and I feel my upper arm and shoulder muscles begin to contract at the suggestion.

Now, you may be able to produce a tone, even a beautiful tone, this way, but you’re also going to restrict your ability to haul arse when the time comes. And you’re also running the risk of coming off rather ‘earthbound’ and pedestrian in the music of, say, Schubert or Mozart.

What I focus on is this. I expel the bow outward on a down-bow, just as I expel air from my lungs. The difference between my way of thinking and the ‘pulling’ image is the difference between life-force versus brute-force. And when my breath exits and enters my body it does it horizontally – just the way I want my bow traveling across the strings.

All the best,
Clayton Haslop

P.S. If you want to really go deeply into this and just about every other fundamental technique having to do with violin playing at the highest level, I suggest you hop over a get a copy of ”Kreutzer for Violin Mastery” today. Your shoulders and arms will thank you for many years to come.

Having the Fewest Moving Parts

One of the reasons that air travel became relatively safer in the later half of the 20th century was due to the adoption of jet engines as the power source of choice for airlines.

‘So what has that to do with violin playing,’ you ask.

Plenty, as it turns out.

You see, the reason a jet engine is inherently safer is due to the fact that there are fewer moving parts – fewer moving parts, less opportunity for failure.

Perhaps now the picture becomes clearer. The purest fundamentals, and the ones you will find me coaching you toward, simply contain the fewest moving body parts.

Earlier today I happened to be browsing through another violin website – one of those ‘talking kind’, as a matter of fact. Anywho, the hostess began going on about how to move the body while playing – I found myself reaching for the mouse with great haste.

Quiet body, active mind, is my way of thinking.

Recently I spoke of the ‘4 theatres of movement’. If you recall I reduced violin playing to left-hand finger movements, left forearm movements, right forearm movements, and right upper arm movements. That’s it, unless you want to count the movement of your diaphragm, which should be working in any case!

Now, I’m not saying there isn’t a certain degree of complexity and subtlety to violin playing. After all, with four elements you can construct the human genome.

What I am saying is that when all else is relaxed and merely responding to the movements of the above, you will have the makings of excellent violin playing.

So next time a violin ‘authority’ tells you that you must use a very elaborate combination of fingers, wrist, and arm to change bow directions smoothly, you can respond with Joseph Silverstein’s quip, ‘I just play up bow until I play down bow.’

All the best,
Clayton Haslop

P.S. Milstein was regarded as ‘a violinist’s violinist’ particularly for the efficiency with which he play. If you want to cultivate more of this beauty in motion into what you do on the violin then ”Kreutzer for Violin Mastery” is for you.

P.P.S. You say you’ve covered Kreutzer and are ready for something more ambitious? Come reserve a copy of ”Paganini for Violin Virtuosity, Vol. 1”. A geneticist would be envious of the wonders you’ll create.

The Treatise Paganini Never Wrote

Last night I was reading from Leslie Sheppard and Dr. Herbert R. Axelrod’s comprehensive biography entitled ‘Paganini.’ It’s a wonderful resource and well worth owning.

There were two things that caught my attention.

In 1797, while Paganini was yet a boy of 16, he had the opportunity to play for the much more recognized Rudolphe Kreutzer, who was 30 at the time. Apparently Kreutzer was extremely taken with what he heard, and his words of encouragement were a great source of inspiration to young Nicolo.

Naturally I enjoyed reading of this connection between Kreutzer and the Great One. But there is something else I came across that aroused my interest even more.

Paganini made a promise during his lifetime that he never realized. That promise was to create a treatise on violin playing that would enable violinists to become virtuosi in a relatively short amount of time.

What excited me about his promise was the implication that the learning of a skill can be greatly accelerated when a certain kind of ‘know how’ is present. I’d bet my last dollar that his ‘know how’ was both physical AND mental.

So, why didn’t the course materialize? Perhaps it was due to the fact that he didn’t have the advantages of digital technology. After all words alone are rather inefficient for communicating physical processes.

But with the digital technology of today a thing can be explained and demonstrated various ways and a person may easily review the material again and again until its fully digested. It’s so easy and efficient.

When I had the inspiration to create ‘Kreutzer for Violin Mastery’ it was with digital technology in mind. I felt that Milstein had bequeathed me the vital ‘tools’, and digital technology enabled them to be communicated efficiently and effectively.

Now, with ”Paganini for Violin Virtuosity”, the bar has been raised to the level of true virtuosity. Come reserve your copy and reap the benefits of this powerful program.

All the best,
Clayton Haslop

POSTED BY CLAYTON HASLOP AT 8:11 PM 0 COMMENTS

MONDAY, MAY 28, 2007

How Paganini Delights the Ear

He wasn’t the contrapuntalist that Bach was. His music lacked the formal cohesion and structure of Beethoven. His use of harmony wasn’t as developed as Liszt.

Yet when played with imagination and passion it entertains and delights the most discriminating listener.

What Paganini did possess was a terrific sense of gesture, of musical effect, of color, and of melody. Had he not pursued a career as a composer/virtuoso he could today just as easily be remembered as a composer of opera rivaling the likes of Rossini.

To see Paganini as only the creator of highly technical music is to miss the mark by almost 180 degrees. He was first and foremost an entertainer – therein lies his charm, appeal, AND, to a violinist, challenge.

If you want to hear a fine Paganini player – aside from yours truly, of course! – listen to Gideon Kramer play this music. It’s the same kind of imaginative playing that serves the music of Schubert and Mozart, I might add.

So when I am guiding you through the technical challenges in the instructional DVDs I am also trying to enliven your imagination and creative juices. In this way when it comes time to entertain an audience or a living room of friends they won’t let you put the violin down all night.

All the best,
Clayton Haslop

P.S. I had a terrific first day with ”Paganini for Violin Virtuosity, Vol. 1. For those of you still thinking about the investment in this course, bare in mind that each Caprice represents an investment of only $35.00. For the amount of detailed coaching you receive, 4 DVDs worth, this is a give-away.

The Intelligence of Your Fingers

In the Waldorf philosophy of education – if you haven’t heard about Wardorf, it’s an approach toward education based on the teachings of a brilliant philosopher by the name of Rudolphe Steiner – a great emphasis is placed on developing the young mind through the skilled use of the hands.

In short, clever hands make for clever minds.

I don’t believe this notion stops with children. Increasing your fine motor control at any age is excellent conditioning for the brain.

So I began reflecting on this last night after doing some instructional taping on the second Caprice of Paganini. It’s a piece of music requiring the finest control over the digits of the left hand of anything you are ever likely to do, short of brain surgery perhaps.

Actually, Kreutzer numbers 28 and 29 require a similar kind of finger dexterity and are an excellent warm-up for this Caprice.

In any case, what occurred to me in the exercise of recording was the importance of cultivating this ‘tactile intelligence’ in one’s practice. It’s something you can do, really, any time the violin is in your hand.

Now let me give you a little image to go with it. Image that your fingerboard has little magnets embedded in it at each pitch location you are about to play. Now imagine that each of your fingertips has a bit of iron in it.

My, oh my, the closer you finger gets to the note, the stronger the attractive force. The keys to success, in the proceeding image are 2 things. Your mind must place the magnets in the right places, duh, and you must relax your left hand completely so as not to compete against the attractive force of the magnets.

It’s a win-win situation. Your mind is activated and your hand is relaxed. What a beautiful way to practice the violin.

One last thing, do this SLOWLY until you really get the hang of it.

All the best,
Clayton Haslop

P.S. Volumes 3 and 4 of ”Kreutzer for Violin Mastery”, have many, many important and useful insights and demonstrations on the movements of the left hand and arm. There is no better time to get this dynamite material into your DVD player than today.