The Fear of Success

A few days ago I wrote about some of the challenges and, ironically, opportunities arising from Beethoven’s loss of hearing; specifically as it impacted his spiritual life. And, as I said, the source for these thoughts was J.W.N. Sullivan’s book wonderful book of 1927, ‘Beethoven, His Spiritual Development.’

Well, what I really meant to get to, and what I got pulled away from as soon as I started writing, was how the fears arising from an attachment to selfhood can keep one in shackles in the best of circumstances, when success is there for the taking.

On many an occasion I’ve coached violinists who produce quite wonderful playing when provoked, prodded or otherwise coerced, only to fall back into their business-as-usual ways after walking out the door.

I’ve often wondered WHY THAT IS. Fact is, I’ve been guilty of it myself.

Now I think I can see things a little more clearly.

The opportunity of change, even positive change, is a challenge to the equilibrium our sense of selfhood is constantly seeking to maintain.

In effect we become bound to comfort zones of our own making.

Now, a lot of ‘new age’ thinkers talk about ‘visualizing’ yourself in the new reality you want to inhabit. And I don’t have a problem with that, other than it is likely to be wishful thinking unless backed up by something more substantive.

Real, lasting changes have to take place in long-term memory. And there is a physical transfer that must occur in the brain. We have areas in the brain for short-term memories, and other areas for long-term.

If you do not instruct the brain to remember, not by wishful thinking or saying to yourself ‘please remember this,’ but by DOING with conscious knowledge of the doing, repeatedly, no fundamental change will take place; at least not on the violin.

Today I worked quite specifically with the mechanics of my left hand. For reasons I won’t go into – injury related – I’ve been experiencing a temporary deficit in the execution of certain finger patterns.

Now that I see exactly where the solution lies – reasserting conscious control of lifting specific fingers – I’m making strong headway in rectifying matters. Mind you, these are things I haven’t had to think about this since I was 8 years old. Now, until neural networks and long-term memory are rebuilt, I do.

You know, it feels great to find solutions, and to literally feel the changes taking place as they become hard-wired into the mind. Incidentally, perhaps you notice this too, I am often aware of a pleasant sensation just inside my forehead during this work.

Yet for any of it to happen there must be a shift, from passive ‘selfhood-consciousness’, to ‘mind-linked-to-body-doing’ consciousness. And when this happens, all fears connected to self-preservation disappear like magic.

A nice bonus.

Now before I go, I’d like to mention that I have lowered the tuition rates on the monthly subscriptions to ‘Beginners Circle’ and ‘Allegro Players’ by 20% from the regular price in 2009. Even if you are currently subscribed on a monthly basis at the old rates you should see a reduction in your monthly billing from now on. Good news!

All the best, Clayton Haslop

A Major Player in the Milstein Tone

Before getting to the subject of my newsletter today I want to let you know that I am donating 10% of what comes in to Violin Mastery this month toward the relief efforts in Haiti. After all that country has been through in recent decades, and now this. It just boggles my mind and breaks my heart.

Now, let’s talk about something that soothes the care-worn mind and restores the broken heart; the uniquely noble and pure tone of a violin drawn by a master such as Nathan Milstein.

When I think of Milstein’s bow arm and the tone it brought out of his beautiful ‘golden period’ Stradivarius one word comes to mind, and it may surprise you; ‘sweep.’

You know it’s kind of ironic, in a way, yet there used to be a little running joke between my wife and I having to do with ‘sweep’ and it certainly ties in nicely with what I have to say.

She used to laugh at how I often seem to have a broom in hand tidying up around our place. And she felt it was something shared with my father, as he often can be found in the same activity.

Well, guilty as charged. I certainly do like moving dirt, leaves, and the like toward a destination of my choosing. And I’m certainly not one to reach for a leaf-blower for my outdoor cleanup.

Nope, rakes and brooms are my thing.

And if you ask me the secret of a good sweeping technique I’d say it resembles good bowing technique very closely. When raking I want to get the dirt moving as quickly and efficiently as possible and keep it moving.

Now to move dirt horizontally is much the same moving a string horizontally. You want to minimize the vertical pressure needed while maximizing the horizontal movements of the string.

When I use a broom, rake, or bow for that matter, you will not see me poking around, or stabbing at the subject matter with little, pointed strokes. Nor with you see me micro-managing the implement with fingers or wrist.

You WILL see decisive horizontal strokes of the fore and upper arm – being right-handed it’s my ‘stroking arm’ – that get things moving quickly and keep them moving.

Another image can be the spreading of paint on a large canvas or wall. You are not going to dab and flick paint around with cutesy little finger movements, you’re going to take the brush in hand, laden with paint, and put some ‘sweep’ behind it.

And when I think of holding such a brush, I will grasp it as lightly as needed, with as much flesh-to-handle contact as can be allowed, and with equal participation from all five digits.

It’s simple, and it’s effective.

The fingers and hand, in other words, are merely the means for my arm to interface with the tool, that’s it.

Now in violin playing, the wrist, elbow and shoulder joints must be free of constriction; also true of painting, not necessarily true of sweeping and raking where the wrist is concerned.

And, in violin playing, all the elements of the bow arm – the hand, forearm and upper arm – inhabit a plane of two dimensions.

If you’re wrist, elbow or shoulder is raising and lower during the strokes – breaking the plane – you are losing efficiency and, chances are, tone. So you might want to take a look in the mirror now and again to see what they are really up to.

So you see, getting a good, fundamental ‘sweeping technique’ is as important to violin playing as it is to house work. Come to think of it, if this Violin Mastery thing doesn’t work out for me, maybe there’s a future for me in training the future house cleaners of the world. I’ll have to think about that.

All the best, Clayton Haslop

P.S. With the recent reduction in the rate for my ‘Beginners Circle,’ the newcomer to violin playing can get ALL the fundamentals of violin excellence in easy to digest weekly lessons for right around $14.00 per lesson. I’d say that’s a whale of a good deal.

The Book I Received for Xmas

A few days ago, after our return from California and just before undressing our little Christmas tree, I noticed that there were in fact 3 little presents that hadn’t been unwrapped.

They were all from our assistant and friend, Heidii Ash.

The one with my name on it contained a little book entitled, ‘Beethoven – His Spiritual Development.’ The author, a mathematician, philosopher of science, and reviewer for the ‘The Times’ – London, was J.W.N. Sullivan. And though worth its weight in gold many times over, you will not find it on any best seller list of today. I can guarantee that.

It was written in 1927.

How Heidii managed to find this book I’ve no idea, I have yet to ask her. It is, nonetheless, the singly most timely gift ever made to me, and I will thank her for it for many years to come.

So today I’m going to share something I have found very inspiring. Something I genuinely hope will affect you in a positive way as well, not only in your quest for violin excellence, but also in your quest to understand the nature of our common human truth.

Now you may object to some of what I’m about to say on religious grounds, and that will meet with no argument with me. Each to his or her heart be true, for the heart is indeed the most important sense organ we possess, in my opinion.

So here goes.

As you know Beethoven began going deaf at the age of 28. At the time he was already a celebrated, if somewhat controversial, pianist and composer in Viennese society; recognized as a true genius by most of the literati of the day.

As the condition worsened Beethoven became frantic with fear and loathing, avoiding all but the most essential contact with the outside world. He regarded his condition as the most humiliating calamity that could befall a composer; one that would carry with it intolerable pity on the part of his supporters and endless gloating from his detractors.

Yet, at a certain defining moment, when all hope of recovery had been lost, Beethoven came through a profound transformation.

In the process three things happened. One, he surrendered his ego utterly; two, he lost all fear of what lay before him; and three, he recognized the independence of ‘giftedness’ from any sense of self-hood.

This was a pretty tall order from a person recognized in his early years as the very epitome of conceit, even by many of his friends.

In any case, as a result of his ‘rebirth in spirit,’ Beethoven did not give up on life or composition. Nor did he succumb to writing music full of sadness and longing, as many a lesser man might have done.

What is found in the late quartets, and elsewhere, is music that, while acknowledging the presence and fact of suffering, is nonetheless unattached to it; music representative of the entire range of pure, genuine and honest human experience.

This was his triumph, and this our challenge, each in our own way with whatever tools we may – or may not – find or develop along the way.

All the best, Clayton Haslop

A Look Under the Neck of My Violin

Today I’m going to tell you what goes on up close and personal under the neck of my instrument. After all, these things probably constitute 60-70% of one’s left hand technique.

And they have everything to do with how you support the weight of the violin.

To begin with, let’s dispense with the notion of a violin ‘hold.’ Words like ‘suspended,’ ‘supported,’ ‘cradled’, and ‘floated’ are perhaps more apt, really.

On the chin rest side, the lower left back of the fiddle is resting on the shoulder and collar-bone. That’s now a given.

Under the neck is a cradle fashioned by the thumb and base joint of the index finger. Specifically, the neck actually rests just above the first joint of the thumb and the base joint of the index finger.

One thing you want to avoid, though there is no need for panic should this happen, is for the neck to slip down into the clef formed by the thumb and hand.

And bear in mind, the ‘cradle’ uses the absolute minimum of energy to keep the neck from falling farther down into the hand.

Do not squeeze the neck.

If you look at my thumb you will see that, generally speaking, the tip is pointed outward, away from the neck. In other words, it is not bent at the first joint.

Now, the cradle can be rocked back and forth with the upper arm. As you move the upper arm to the right across your body – as you would, say, to play for an extended time on the G string – the neck of the fiddle will rest more fully on the flesh of the thumb.

This is also true as you ascend above 4th position. In fact, once you pass through 4th position you will find that the thumb becomes the only support for the neck.

Again, bear in mind that the Upper Arm is responsible for ‘rocking the cradle,’ as it were. You’re not doing funny little distortions with the wrist for this.

Wait a minute, ALMOST never. There are exceptions to about everything, after all. In the case of some triple and quadruple chords you MAY find that the wrist needs to assume an unusual position in order for the fingers to reach all the notes.

Okay, so that’s the exception that proves the rule.

Now before I go further, and in case I forget to mention this tomorrow, I want you to know that I reach with my fingers across strings quite a bit. In other words, I’m not throwing my arm back and forth for every change of string that comes along.

Yet, as I say, if I’m on the G string for more than a couple of notes you will see my upper arm move across my body slightly to allow my fingers greater access.

The point is to do what is most efficient and/or promotes the greatest ease in playing.

Let’s move on to shifting.

As the hand is brought up the string between 1st and 4th position there is, first and foremost, movement in the forearm. As you reach 5th position and above, however, the upper arm really begins to get involved, moving to the right across the body so the hand can clear the sides of the instrument.

You will notice that by sliding the elbow to the right the ‘cradle’ is repositioned so the neck now rests on the thumb.

What movement there is in the wrist is minimal, purely to accommodate the sides on the violin as you begin reaching upward.

Now if you’re practicing with my Allegro Players course much of this will be familiar to you – at least from month 6 or 7 onward.

If you are not yet working with this program I will just mention that in it I have developed a whole ‘glissando technique’ around the fluid integration of the hand-forearm-upper arm. This is the secret to mastering the entire length of the fingerboard; to having known, consistent positions for each and every note and/or position there is.

After all, there comes a time when ‘guess work’ gets a little old and ‘like the back of your hand’ becomes welcome indeed.

All the best, Clayton Haslop

P.S. Now, the link I’ve provided above is for intermediate players, really. If you are not yet playing in position, or think a review of first fundamentals would be beneficial, my Beginners Circle program is just the ticket.

5 Benefits of a Left Hand Hold

As you may be aware, the movie AVATAR is now in release, almost around the globe I believe. I mention it for two reasons. I saw this spectacular film on Saturday with my wife and a couple friends. And I happened to be concertmaster of the orchestra that assisted James Horner in recording his highly effective score.

If you love film making on an epic scale, have a weakness for sci-fi, are any kind of a techno-geek, or just appreciate a well-spun yarn, this is a must see.

Unfortunately we do not have a theatre capable of 3-D projection here in Sedona. Rest assured, however, on my next trip to LA I’ll be in one to experience the turbo-charged version of this creative wonder.

And speaking of wonder, I had a fellow write in who has been wondering about the left hand violin hold I so vociferously defend. And over the next couple days I’ll be spending some time talking about it.

Yet today I thought I’d just give out 5 good reasons for moving in this direction, if you are not already there.

One, your hand is a lot more tactilely aware than your shoulder or chin. Anything you do to create a more sensual relationship with the neck and body of the instrument cannot help but translate into increased warmth and expression in your playing.

Two, releasing the clench of shoulder and chin necessitates greater relaxation and pliancy of the hand; in itself a good thing, yet also leading to:

Three, increased fluidity in your playing. This is so because the fingers will become more balanced and efficient in the bargain.

Four, a hand that is more balanced, efficient and tactile is a more nuanced hand; a more sophisticated hand. You see, the more you are simultaneously supporting the violin AND articulating the notes, the more clever the hand needs to be. The more clever YOU need to be.

It’s a mistake to assume the violin is difficult enough without imposing this challenge on it. Why, because this challenge is at the heart of violin playing. Physically we tend to ‘take possession’ of things with our hands. This is exactly what you do with a left hand hold.

Simply, the violin is more a part of you when it is an extension of your hand and fingers than when it is an extension of your neck.

And five, no more clunky shoulder rests falling off the violin at inopportune times. From the case right into your hand. No need for a chair, knees, fresh rubber-bands, or whatever.

Well, I’m joking a little here, really. The point is to MOVE in this direction. Yes, it can be done ‘cold turkey’, if you like. Yet a good intermediary step is to acquire one of those little red, rubber cosmetic sponges used to apply makeup and fix it to the back of the violin with a rubber band.

If you position it just where the shoulder contacts the back of the instrument it will keep the violin from sliding from your shoulder as you begin dissipating the ‘clench.’

More on all this tomorrow.

All the best, Clayton Haslop

P.S. For advanced players looking to cultivate this approach to the left hand I can strongly recommend Kreutzer for Violin Mastery. Not only do I review this approach in living color, I demonstrate how to integrate it using Kreutzer’s marvelous Caprices for left hand dexterity.

How to Massage a Fingerboard

Don’t worry, I’m not suggesting you run out and get a table and massage oil for your violin. Not that they aren’t nice to have at your disposal, along with a massage therapist, for a little after practice deep tissue.

No, what I’m talking about here is a way for the stiff-of-finger, or even just the intonationally-challenged, perhaps, to get those 4 little helpers on your left hand loosened, lubricated, and otherwise 100% at your disposal.

It’s a very simple concept, really. All I’m talking about is taking control of the full range of movement of the finger, in a seamless, continuous way.

To get the feel of it, start with a slow scale; separate bows would be a good idea.

What you want to do is to consciously lift and lower each finger to the string. As the finger touches the string you will continue to draw the finger into the string, gently squeezing the string to the fingerboard.

Once the string is flexed sufficiently to produce a clean tone you consciously maintain it there in this highly dynamic state until the time comes to either lift it from the string or raise and lower the next note.

Incidentally, while the finger is being gently squeezed into the fingerboard your may want to oscillate gently on the fingertip – i.e. introduce a gentle vibrato.

Now to make this experience truly transformative, draw a nice belly breath during the lift of each finger and exhale as you draw the finger down to the string.

You see, many violinists play with a tight, ‘digital’ left hand technique. And the problem with this is that the fine control, the ‘touch’, is missing.

Quite often this leads to a kind of hit-or-miss intonation, and a distinct lack of fluidity in the phrasing.

Once you have this down with separate bows, by the way, you can move to slurring groups of 2, 4, and 8, whilst simultaneously decreasing the range of movement and increasing the velocity.

Then it’s on to repertoire, bringing a whole new level of control and fluency to your music making.

All the best, Clayton Haslop

P.S. As you progress through my ‘Allegro Players’ program, this approach is brought to the systematic mastery of scales and arpeggios in every key. There’s simply no better way to keep your fi

4 Simple Concepts for a Fine Bow Arm

Today during my practice I happened to run through the Bach “Preludio” in E Major. And when I got to the arpeggiated string crossings, around measure 16, I remembered that a fellow had recently written me regarding the technical challenge this passage presents.

Now, as he also informed me he’d just ordered my little coaching program on this very piece, I had only to tell him that help was indeed on the way. All would be abundantly clear in a matter of days.

Yet today as I went through the very passage, it struck me that players with a strong background in ‘traditional’ music styles might actually require more time to master this passage than those coming to it with a classical background.

It’s not that one style of bowing is superior to the other, far from it.

Yet it is true that, generally speaking, the players of each style use the bow quite differently.

In traditional styles the middle of the bow is highly favored, and the wrist and forearm are used, almost exclusively, to execute string-crossing patterns.

A ‘classical’ violinist, however, learns to use the whole bow; and the upper arm enters much more into the equation, with the role of the wrist diminishing substantially.

This is made necessary by at least 3 reasons I can think of.

First, as violinists began playing to larger audiences in the 18th and 19th centuries they needed the additional projection afforded by the use of the full bow.

The upper arm had to become more involved to do this.

Number two, as the music written became more technically demanding – I’m thinking specifically of large, rapid leaps between notes – the limits of wrist, or even forearm to accomplish them became exceeded. Again, time to bring in the upper arm.

Reason number three has to do with what I might call the ‘Law of Efficiency.’ And it’s an important one.

You see once you add a new element into the mix – the upper arm in this case – you must remove some other element. Why, because otherwise you will inevitable find them working at cross purposes to one another.

Play the passage mentioned above with all three arm joints in motion and you can write off ever playing it cleanly.

That’s why if you want an efficient, ‘classical’ bow arm for the concert music written between 1750 and now, you will do well to consider the following four concepts.

One, the wrist is used minimally, it flexes forward and backward as the bow travels up and down the string; and never for string crossing.

Two, the elbow joint is GENERALLY used to move the forearm horizontally – only rarely do I rely on the forearm for string crossings, and them only for rapid oscillations between two adjacent strings.

Three, the upper arm LARGELY controls string crossings. And its ‘vertical controller’ function is INDEPENDENT of any horizontal movements it may make.

And four, the upper arm is simultaneously free, at all times, to move horizontally at the two extremes of the bow.

So there you have it, some real great advice to get your bow arm in tip-top form.

Now the intermediate player may yet have some questions over how to knit the right arm and the left hand together, especially in complicated passages.

And for that I refer you to ‘Kreutzer for Violin Mastery’, particularly volume 1, which gives you the same techniques I’ve to master all manner of virtuosic repertoire.

All the best, Clayton Haslop

That Elusive Spiccato, Part 2

This morning I was fooling around a little more with the spiccato groove. Something additional came to me that I can add to yesterday’s comments.

I said that the detache is the basis of spiccato; true. I also said that it is very useful to ‘condense’ your detache, and PURPOSELY confine it to the string, an excellent practice.

Now, once you’ve gotten this – stroking back and forth with a small amount of bow somewhere near the middle, very horizontal and in the string – try moving the bow a little toward the frog and, if the following doesn’t happen, back toward the tip. Depending on the speed and pressure you are using, in one direction or the other you are going to find that the stick begins to jump.

Excellent.

Return now to confining the bow to the string, right where you are. Now release the pressure slightly so it jumps again. Back and forth you go between jumping and not jumping.

Such is the way of getting consummate control of this stroke. Once you have it in one spot, change the speed and/or pressure, confine it to the string, and move around to find a new jumping point.

Pretty soon you will have a repertoire of speeds and dynamics for this stroke. The final step is to move fluidly through them, with no interruption in the action of the stick.

One last thing, if control between the hands is an issue, lock the two together by playing slowly, counting and breathing while using the same confined, concentrated, in the string stroking you began with; exactly in the location where you plan to play ‘at tempo.’

This should lock things up in no time.

All the best, Clayton Haslop

How to Master that Elusive Spiccato

I’m sure you’ve had quite a number of those ‘Aha!’ moments over the course of your life. They the times when an activity you were in the throws of mastering suddenly clicked. And what had required enormous physical and mental effort, as if magic, became ‘as easy as pie,’ as the saying goes.

Well, spiccato can sure be like one of those. For some, though, the throws of mastery go on much, much longer than is necessary.

And the questions I’ll answer today are, why this is so; and how does one get back on the right track.

You see some folks are defeated before they even begin; they haven’t learned to walk before trying to run.

The foundation of an excellent, dependable spiccato is an excellent, pure detache. That is number one.

It’s interesting and even instructive to note, by the way, that in the old German school, spiccato was almost anathema. They just didn’t think it a legitimate stroke worthy of study.

After all, tone is produced when the bow is ON the string, not off. And the great German romantic era was indeed all about tone and its ability to transmit FEELING.

Yet today, in this country, it is almost the opposite. Many players seem to wear their spiccato as if it were some kind of medal to be displayed at any and every opportunity, even when it is stylistically inappropriate.

I guess this tells you something of where my own sympathies lie.

Yet the point of my telling you these things is to get you to relax and stop trying to force it to happen, if this is the predicament you’re facing at the moment.

An effective, pliant spiccato is cultivated over time, and finessed into action. It does not arise from ‘man handling’ the bow, as some would believe.

Ok, so now let’s assume you’ve got the makings of a fine detache in place, and you do want to begin making the bow ‘jump.’

The first thing to bear in mind is that the bow jumps, or bounces, as a result of the surface tension formed and broken at bow changes.

It is not something produced by making vertical motions with your hand or arm.

Yes, there is something called a ‘brush’ stroke, in which you do drop and lift the bow purposefully. Yet that kind of CONTROLLED movement is a distant relative to the stick-generated stroke I’m talking about here.

What you want to do to get surface tension working for you, is, without altering your detache form in the least, to narrow the travel of the bow down to the smallest amount possible on each note. In other words, to concentrate the detache much like they do the orange juice sitting in supermarket freezers.

Now remember, this is happening right around the middle of the bow; a little below, in slower tempi; a little above in very fast ones.

And ‘edge’ the bow as I mentioned the other day, this will dampen away the excessive chatter you might otherwise produce in doing this.

One further thing, at the beginning I recommend you even focus on PREVENTING the bow from jumping. Doing so will get your bow RIGHT IN THE STRING and keep you focused on horizontal movements of the stick.

At a certain point in the process, as you narrow the range of motion and increase the amount of weight on the string, the bow will begin to ‘jump’ in spite of your best intentions for it not to.

And THIS is the beginning of a truly excellent spiccato. From here it is a matter of experimentation with pressures, speeds, and bow placement to get the ‘feel’ of a range of conditions. Yet each MUST evolve naturally from the interaction between bow hair and string.

You know, I was asked once whether I thought the spiccato stroke can actually be taught. And indeed it is rather like riding a bicycle. How do you really ‘teach’ that? You can point folks in the right direction, yet it is something to be experienced before it can be truly understood.

Now, what I’ve written here can indeed be useful to you. Yet it is no substitute for what you will see demonstrated and explained in depth with my violin in hand on one of my instructional DVDs.

All the best, Clayton Haslop

How I Put an Edge on My Bow Hair

No, the answer is not by running each hair through my ‘chef’s choice’ knife sharpener. Nice try though.

But seriously, you may even be surprised at the whole concept of ‘edging the bow’. So this is what I’m talking about.

As you can plainly see, when the hair is put under tension by tightening the frog, the hair of the bow presents a flat, linear surface. When I talk about edging the bow I’m referring to a little technique in which the bow is angled slightly, with the stick rotated out over the outside edge of the bow hair creating a small angle between the string and the hair.

There are a couple of good reasons for doing this. First, playing on the outside edge of the bow hair gives a little cushioning to the bow, particularly at the frog where it can behave a little chatterishly – my word – when drawn on the flat.

Second, doing so tends to create a rounder sound while, at the same time, adding clarity to your articulation.

One of my early teachers described it this way, ‘like a knife cutting into the string.’

Now the way to achieve this is not to twizzle the bow in your fingers – ‘spell check’ informs me there is no such word as ‘twizzle’. So how come ice-dancers get away with doing them, I ask.

Anyway, to get the bow properly ‘edged’ start with the hair flat on the string, the middle of the bow is good. Then, elevate the wrist just slightly until the stick is over the outside edge – fingerboard side – of the hair.

Now practice some long tones keeping this new orientation from tip to stern.

Now don’t get me wrong here, there are times when playing right on the flat of the hair is absolutely in order; certainly when you want an aggressive edge to the sound – ironic, isn’t it, to produce an edge by being ‘flat’; smoothness by being ‘on edge’.

Yet more often than naught you will find my bow in the latter position when I’m playing. There’s simply a refinement, clarity and ringing-ness that I find irresistible.

All the best, Clayton Haslop