Blowin’ Smoke On Bach

Just been glancing over the January issue of Strings magazine and happened on the following pronouncement that has me steaming like a teakettle on high heat.

In an article entitled, ‘Towering Titans’, a mister Laurence Vittes says, of the greats artists of 50 years ago, ‘Even the greatest violinists played the works as if they were exercises. And in truth, that is what they had become, as much for the superstars as for the students.’

He must be joking.

Szigetti, Milstein, Grumieaux, Elman, and Kreisler played Bach ‘like an exercise?’ It’s an outrage!

It is true that many an ACADEMIC of the mid-20th century played in that manner – like a student – it’s equally true today. The fact that many of us own ‘baroque’ bows doesn’t make us any better violinists than our forbearers; nor artists, for that matter.

And to pretend that today we ‘know’ how Bach himself would have played his music is ridiculous.

OK, I’m taking a deep belly breath, letting it out; yes, I’m feeling calmer now.

Forgive me if I got you all riled up as well. It is, after all, the Holiday Season and I should be more sensitive to the prevailing spirit of things. I’ll now get on with what I really meant to say.

The fact is, it’s a great time of year to play Bach. The nights are long; reflection and deep sentiments are the order of the day; and many of us finally have a little breathing room after the rush up to the ‘Mother of All Holidays.’

Actually we kept things very simple at our house this year; just a couple of presents for Clara, some beautiful, purifying music for our souls, and some fun handcrafts in the afternoon to share time together. That was it.

Now, getting back to Bach. Many of you should have Bach and Kreisler for Violin Artistry in your hands. This is a wonderful time to begin; just take your time, and enjoy. I wish you great success with it.

If, on the other hand, you haven’t ordered your copy yet, there’re enough days remaining in ol’ ’06 that you could order today and be playing your way into ’07 in style.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. And if you haven’t been through Kreutzer for Violin Mastery, Vol.1, and aren’t well into Vol. 2, I think they could be your real target for the New Year.

My teacher and My Practice Partner

When I was 15 my family relocated from Southern California to Northern Virginia. It was the best thing that could have happened to my violin playing.

Up to that point I had been studying under a fine pedagogue and teacher by the name of Sybil Maxwell. The only problem was, she had been in a serious auto accident prior to my working with her. That event severely restricted her ability to play the violin herself.

In the early years this was not so important. She could play well enough to get some of the basic fundamentals across. But by the time I finished middle school I was beyond the point she could inspire me with her own playing.

And I’m the kind of person who is very impressionable.

Seeing or hearing another person play with skill immediately gets my juices flowing. First thing I want to do is go grab my fiddle.

When Mrs. Maxwell could no longer reach me that way I was do for a change.

To my great fortune, upon moving east, we were recommended to a violinist in the National Symphony.

Guido Mansuino was everything I could have wished for; passionate about violins and violin playing, energetic, continental – he was Italian, and a real bon vivant.

Suddenly my enthusiasm for the violin went off the charts. A good part of that renewed interest, however, was due to the fact that Guido began seeing me several times a week, gratis.

He had found that practicing along with me assisted him in staying in shape on the violin as well. The arrangement turned out to benefit both of us.

Now, I recognize that not everybody is going to be so fortunate. That is why the Kreutzer Vol. 1 has not only the 2nd violin accompaniments and ‘at tempo’ performances but the slow practice play along material as well.

The point is that slogging away on one’s own can become monotonous and even counterproductive. If you don’t have a practice partner to help focus and motivate, you then ‘Kreutzer for Violin Mastery’ just may be what you need.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

Let Your Fingers Do The Walking

Received an email from a gal a couple of days ago. It touches on an insight shared with me recently, so I’ll share both with you. She writes;

‘Hello Clayton, I really loved your performance on youtube. My teacher studied extensively with Erick Friedman, she also has me hold my violin with the left hand. My fingers get tense over time, and it is difficult to keep my wrist steady when I move into different positions. Do you have any tips regarding these problems? Thank you in advance.’
Thierry

Well, I suppose everybody’s fingers get tense over time to some extent – particularly if your spending a good deal of time playing scales in tenths and fingered octaves.

Let’s assume, however, that you aren’t pushing yourself to such extremes. In this case you could be getting tense as a result of trying to force your hand into a position that is untenable for it.

I suggest the following.

Rest the violin in the cleft formed by your thumb and the base joint of your index finger; breathe, relax; and then just think of the fingers of the left hand meeting the fingerboard where the pitches are that you would like to play.

In other words, ‘let your fingers do the walking’.

Now, this isn’t to say that you shouldn’t keep fingers out over the string when not in use. I still think this is a good idea. Just don’t make a federal case out of doing it.

Keep it simple, and let the hand, wrist and arm just follow the fingers to the notes you want to play. If you focus on keeping the left hand relaxed as you do this, you may find you are able to accomplish extensions with much greater ease as well.

This wisdom isn’t just my own, by the way. When I said that an insight was shared with me recently, I was referring to a friend who related to me words Ruggiero Ricci had spoken recently on the subject.

Both he and Nathan Milstein would have been in ‘lock step’ where the left hand is concerned.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. I did ship a large number of orders today for ‘Bach and Kreisler for Violin Artistry. So many, in fact, that I was unable to contact my webmaster to remove the ‘prepublication price’ from the order page. It’s still a great time to get a hold of this groundbreaking program.

How To Avoid Bowing Meltdowns

So what, you may ask, is a ‘bowing meltdown.’

Well, a more accurate phrase to describe what I’m going to talk about would be, ‘bowing discombobulation.’ But that was too long to fit in an email title. In any case, they boil down to the following.

Let’s say your playing a piece with a lot of fast, separate notes requiring tons of string crossings. Perhaps the Bach E Major ‘Preludio’ or Kreisler ‘Praeludium and Allegro’ comes to mind.

A ‘bowing discombobulation’ occurs when the upper arm and the forearm of your right side are working at odds to each other. Usually this happens when there is no understanding of Who is doing What, When, so to speak.

In ‘Kreutzer for Violin Mastery, Vol. 1’ I made it quite clear when you should change strings with the forearm, and when you should accomplish the feat with the upper arm.

Under NO circumstances can you be pivoting from the elbow and pivoting from the shoulder to effect a string crossing simultaneously.

The result is akin to two people trying to talk at once. Jibberish.

In other words, sometimes the forearm elevates the bow to a new string – via a pivot from the elbow – and sometimes the upper arm elevates the bow to a new string – via a pivot from the shoulder.

Now you just need to know when each is appropriate. And boy will you get that message loud and clear when ‘Bach and Kreisler for Violin Artistry’ arrives on your doorstep.

In the meantime, I hope you are having a wonderful and peaceful Holiday Season.

Using Big Muscles For Little Things

You may have gathered, from things I’ve written, that I made a lot of changes in my playing after coming to work with Milstein. ‘Tis true.

It’s also true, however, that by most standards I had some very good training before I arrived in London.

You know, the violin can be played in any number of ways. Just look, for instance, at the playing positions of gypsy players or bluegrass fiddlers.

But the demands on classical players are unique. Physically your body is more challenged playing the Brahms or Tchaikowski Concertos, Paganini Caprices, or Bach unaccompanied Sonatas than the typical set of ethnic tunes.

Numbero uno, the tunes aren’t as long. Numero dos, you aren’t generally playing without the aid of a microphone to a thousand or more people each night.

Let’s face it, classical violin playing isn’t for wimps.

So, although it is possible to play the violin, even classically, with all manner of cock-eyed positions for a while, you aren’t going to enjoy a very long career doing it. At least not at a very high level.

To have the kind of lasting career of a Milstein, you must do things in an incredibly efficient manner.

Let’s just talk about the bow arm.

When I arrived at the Milstein class I came from a background in which the fingers and wrist of the bow arm were trained to be very active in a number of bowing techniques; martelé, spiccato, changes of bow direction, etc..

Milstein’s comment to this was the following; ‘when an eye surgeon makes an operation, he/she uses very heavy tools. Why, because that causes the large, steadier muscles to work and gives the surgeon greater precision and less shakiness. ’

He felt the same applied to the violin.

Rather than use the muscles in the hand and wrist to make smooth bow changes, he used the flow of the whole arm. Rather than grip the string with the fingers of the right hand to initiate a martelé stroke, he applied weight from his arm.

The Milstein approach was as elegant as it was simple. He didn’t need a ‘death grip’ on the bow because he was using the large, sure muscles of his arm to control it.

I think this also accounts, in part, for the extraordinarily long concert career he enjoyed. I don’t know of any other violinist of the 20th century that played at such a high level for so many years. Truly amazing.

P.S. Doing more with less is what the ‘Kreutzer for Violin Mastery’ is all about. And believe it or not, I still have one ready to ‘Priority Mail’ to you today.
All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Just so you know. ‘Bach and Kreisler for Violin Artistry’ will ship on Wednesday. That means it SHOULD arrive to those who have purchased at the sale or prepublication price before the weekend. Come to think of it. There’s still time to take advantage of a great discount AND have it arrive in just days.

How to Master Your Fingerboard

Once upon a time there was a young and somewhat cocky violinist who thought he just about had the violin all figured out.

So one day, whilst ‘talking shop’ with an old-timer, he listened with a very skeptical ear as the codger stated the following. ‘To have consummate knowledge of the fingerboard you must be able to place a finger on any note, no matter where it is on the violin, without any preparation. Just out of the air.’

‘Huh’, thought the young hotshot, ‘I bet he’s not talking about notes way up on the E string. There’s no way to put your hand on those without SOME kind of preparation. I mean, they’re so close together up there. I bet he’s confusing his wishful thinking for reality.’

As the years went by the cocky young violinist became a not-so-young and somewhat less cocky violinist.

His eyes and ears began opening to levels of playing in which feats described by the old-timer were taken for granted.

Fortunately, for the maturing player, his desire for improvement proved stronger than his skepticism. He desperately wanted to raise the level of his game.

And finally, he saw that to do so meant to develop in ways that stimulated and grew his mind.

He began to appreciate the POWER of mental visualization; and, more importantly, how to harness it to the specific task of mastering the violin fingerboard.

Though a challenge at first, the new way led to great security in performance and pleasure in practice.

After many years of benefit, the now fully seasoned and much wiser fiddler recognized the need to pass these secrets on to others.

And thus, ‘Kreutzer for Violin Mastery’ came into being.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. I thought to finish the little story above with a ‘The End’. But then I thought, ‘no, there is no end to worthwhile practice, just endless joy. Therefore my story should not be said to end.’

P.P.S. To join the story, if you’ve not already done so, pick up your copy of Kreutzer for Violin Mastery today.

How To Get To Carnegie Hall

You may’ve heard this one before, but I’m going to tell it anyway.

A young person, holding a violin case, stops a passing cab in New York city and asks the driver, ‘Can you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall.’

The cabbie, without hesitation, quips, ‘Yea, practice.’

Yes, it does take practice if you want to take your fiddle onto the stage of Carnegie Hall. No getting around it. But certainly How you practice affects your chances of doing so as much, if not more, than How Much you practice – and yes, I do realize we don’t all intend or desire to get ourselves on stage at Carnegie Hall.

But I bet you want to make the best use of your time that you can.

Here’re a couple ways you can improve practice efficiency.

Don’t be in such a hurry to play fast. When I was doing a lot of private teaching I found that virtually ALL my students tried to play things faster than they were ready.

Big waste of time.

Now, don’t just drift along playing slowly either. The point of slow practice is to get your hands AND mind around the music. This means inputting into your brain all the physical feelings associated with carrying out the music. It means making sure you are moving as efficiently as possible, playing in tune, coordinating shifts and string crossings to perfection, etc.

When you make a mistake, pause for a few seconds to allow your body and mind to sort itself out.

If you want to see a picture of somebody being ‘reined in’ for not taking time to Think, go to my website and find the picture of Milstein
standing next to me restraining my bow arm. I was being guilty then of exactly what I’m preaching about now. I’d made a mistake, and immediately launched back into the passage, making exactly the same mistake again.

It’s one of the biggest lessons a player can learn. Take a moment, breathe, visualize what you want; then repeat.

Now, if the same mistake happens a third time, look for some underlying cause for the problem; a bad fingering or bowing, trying to play too fast, incomplete visual picture, etc.

And finally, use your imagination to listen objectively to what you are doing – ‘How does what I am doing sound to someone seated across the room.’

This is a handy way to put yourself on the spot. To get the juices flowing and your best efforts coming forth. I use this tactic all the time.

From what I’ve said it’s pretty evident what a successful practice session requires is a high level of consciousness; not just of what is, but with what can be. A consciousness informed of vision; a vision fueled by passion; a passion aroused through inspiration.

Find a continuing source of inspiration and you’ve found the wellspring of meaningful practice.

All the best,

Finger Faddle

When I think of the greatest left hand I have ever seen, it is, of course, the hand of Jascha Heifetz that comes to mind. Of course, mine is a close second…joking.

Few will ever match the crystal clear articulation, the sheer velocity, or the virtual perfection of intonation he exhibited.

We mustn’t be discouraged. We can all play beautifully in our own way. You know, it’s kind of like looking at trees. Yes, there is that occasional specimen that is soo perfect and majestic it takes your breath away.

But there are also those whose twisted trunks and branches fascinate the eye and captivate the imagination.

In short, there are many shapes and sizes of left hands. Most have unique strong points and weaker points.

But in every case, there are things to strive to DO with them, and things to avoid doing.

You do, for instance, want to position your hand such that all your fingers are out over the string you are playing on. You also do want to relax your forearm and keep you wrist in line with your forearm.

What I really want to bring to your attention, however, are pitfalls that are readily evident to a trained ear. Pitfalls that mar the results of some of the most touted players on stage today.

And ones that are really unnecessary to fall into.

Number one, be conscious of your use of vibrato. If you are playing a melodic line that calls out for your most luscious and beautiful tone, make sure you ARE vibrating on every note. There is nothing so disconcerting to me, as a listener, than hearing a vibrato which appears and disappears like the Chesire Cat in ‘Alice in Wonderland.’

Number two, stop using vibrato all together when the notes are moving at a clip such that you can’t get At Least one full oscillation in on each note. The classic example is in Bach.

I can’t tell you how many times I have heard violinists trying to vibrate the 16th notes in the first movement of the Bach Double. Bad Idea.

Number three, listen to your ‘portamenti’ with an objective ear. By this I mean, don’t just assume a slide sounds good because you are making it. LISTEN to it. I hear many otherwise very good fiddles today who are just lazy in this regard.

A ‘portamento’ is an expressive device and must be made with intention; with focus.

They are never lackadaisical drifts from one position to another. Unless, that is, you want your audience drifting away as soon as intermission arrives.

So, the bottom line is this. If you’re going to the trouble to play cleanly and with excellent intonation, don’t mar the final result not being on top of these little details.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. I just learned that attendees to the Masterclass/Seminar must make their reservation with the Biltmore Inn by Monday, 5 pm EST to qualify for the exceptional rate we have been given. I am going to leave the ‘special’ in effect on the class until then to make the remaining few spots irresistible. Come join us.

3 Newsletters To Remember

Wow! The response to our Holiday Extravaganza has been amazing.

Of course it is wonderful to see so many more fiddlers getting on board with the Kreutzer program, but the reception given my newest course, ‘Kreisler and Bach for Violin Artistry’ really sent me to the moon.

So I don’t forget. We had a glitch with our web server this evening. It’s likely that several of you couldn’t access our site during that time.

Therefore, we’re going to keep the party going for another 24 hours to make amends. I hope it will do the trick.

Now for the big news. Starting on Friday, I am going to send you 3 newsletters that I hope you will find worthy of printing out and referring to often.

Consider them my little thank you presents for all your support.

Each day I’m going to focus on one aspect of playing. Friday will be bow arm day. Saturday left hand day. And Monday practice day. In each of the newsletters I’m going to go through common pitfalls that an attentive player does not need to fall into. And I’ll tell you HOW not to.

I think you will find them highly worthwhile. If, for some reason – spam blockers can be ruthless – you don’t see them in your ‘mailbox’, hop on over to ‘Violin Secrets’ and stay informed.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Once again here are the links.
‘Kreutzer for Violin Mastery’
‘Violin Artistry Masterclass/Seminar’
‘Bach and Kreisler for Violin Artistry’

5 Bowing Ills, and Their Cures

Lets have a little fun with this. I’ve just been thinking of the different bowing ‘syndromes’ I see, and hear, all too often, and I’ve come up with some expressive names for them.

Let’s take a look.

First is something I call, the ‘Roundhouse.’ This is what you get when the elbow is stiff and inhibited during normal bowing. The tip of the bow then hooks over the left shoulder on the up bow. And on the down bow the bow hand looks like it’s heading for the player’s back pocket.

Not a very pretty picture. And the sound isn’t so hot either.

Anybody that has taken a look at Kreutzer, vol. 1 should know how to root this bad habit from your playing. Something about a mirror and keeping the bow parallel to the bridge…

Number two I call the ‘Unsightly Bulge’. Oh yes, I’ve talked about it before. Recall the ‘Pass the Dramamine’ email on the subject some time ago.

The ‘unsightly bulge’ is produced by starting a stroke with a relatively slow bow speed, accelerating in the middle of the bow, and then slowing down again at the end of the bow. Just writing about it makes me feel queasy.

The cure is really quite simple. But you must open your ears to recognize the problem first.

Keep your bow speed even throughout the length of the bow, unless you MEAN to make a crescendo or diminuendo. It’s as simple as that.

Number three, the ‘Crunch’. Many players today are guilty of this one. You know, it actually works in a lot of hard-edged 20th century music, but it sounds terrible in anything before Bartok. The problem stems from striking the string vertically. Strings don’t take that very kindly so they will just emit a nice scratch in response to it.

Remember, bowing is a horizontal game. Even when a strong attack is called for, you produce it by moving the bow horizontally in an explosive manner.

Number four, the ‘Trap’. This one I cover in the Martele etudes. The ‘trap’ is where the player stops the bow on the string so aggressively that the tone is strangled in the process. You hear it quite often in Martele bowing.

It takes some finesse with the bow to play martele without doing this. Those ‘in the know’ will know that I spend a good amount of time demonstrating and talking about this in Kreutzer, Vol. 1. You must be able to decelerate the bow to a halt without chocking the ring of the violin in the process.

And finally, the ‘Whiplash’. Yep, it can be just about as uncomfortable to hear as the word implies. Ouch. OK, so you’re at the end of your bow and ready to change to a new bow: A. speed the bow up dramatically just before the change with a quick flick of your wrist, or B. stay cool, maintain a constant bow speed in and out of the change.

If ‘A’ was your pick I think it safe to say you’ve got a lot of listeners leaving your concerts with sore necks.

The cure is simple. Play up bow until you play down bow. Don’t get fancy with a lot of wrist movement. It isn’t necessary.

So there you have it. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, you’ll find great visuals in Kreutzer for Violin Mastery, and a whole lot more.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. The ‘Bach and Kreisler for Violin Artistry’ has done so extremely well these couple of days I just don’t have the heart to raise the price just yet. You may have 1 more day. You may have 2 more days. But surely my heart will recover over the weekend. Take advantage of this offer, if you haven’t already. It’s too good to miss.