Beware the Violinist’s ‘Autopilot’

You have done it, I have certainly done it, virtually all of us have done it at one time or another.

You know what I am talking about. Picking up the fiddle and playing through something with no conscious thought whatsoever. The fingers and bow moving as if by magic; muscle memory at the helm.

Well, let me tell you something. I had some rude awakenings trying to rely on that process in the past, and now I practice and perform with the ‘autopilot’ off.

Just to drive the point home, let me tell you a little story at my own expense.

I was about 11 years old, at the time, and I had come out to play the Bach ‘A Minor Concerto’ at one of my teacher’s recitals. I put the violin up to my chin, and then, I just stood there, frozen. I could not for the life of me think of the first note.

I laugh now, but I can tell you I was not laughing then. Especially as I walked to the piano, my face as red as the embers in a Boy Scout camp fire.

You see, I had played that piece by rote – brain off – so many times in the no pressure environment of my bedroom that when a little pressure was put on me, and I stopped to think, I came up with nada, zip.

Now, maybe nothing that extreme has happened to you. I certainly hope not.

The point is, really, that if you are not conscious of, and feeling each note, shift, bow stroke, musical gesture, etc., then you are leaving something on the table when it comes to being creative.

You are also missing a good deal of fun.

How you attain the highest level of body/mind consciousness when you practice and perform is an art and a science. The things you need to know to do this may be found in a new, groundbreaking course.

You will be delighted at how quickly you can adopt new habits that keep your head ‘in the game’ for the whole game.

All the best,
Clayton Haslop

P.S. In case you think what I have said today might help with ‘stage fright’, you’re right. But just to make sure, my next newsletter will tell you how to deal with that annoyance once and for all. Meanwhile, get over to ”Kreutzer for Violin Mastery, Vol. 1” and switch your autopilot off, permanently.

Like Little Hammers Hitting the String

Have you been told for as long as you can remember to make your fingers strike the fingerboard like little hammers? Often it’s not a bad idea.

But in highly legato Adagio music the effect can be dreadful.

Almost 30 years ago I was engaged to play the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and Neville Marriner – he wasn’t a knight then. It was my 1st time playing the work and needless to say I worked backside off on it.

The slow movement is one of the most sublime pieces of music ever written for two string instruments. It is also a study in legato playing.

Very quickly I realized that getting the smooth progression from note to note I was hearing in my ear was not going to happen by hammering away with my left hand.

But in all my years of study to that point not one of my teachers had breathed a word about any other way of addressing the fingerboard.

But think about it. The most legato note to note movement is analogue, not digital. Think of a human voice ascending from one pitch to another without interrupting the air stream.

This was what I wanted to reproduce on my fiddle, but how to do it? No, playing the whole thing with one finger was not an option – nice try, if that popped into YOUR head. The solution to this little puzzle emerged when I began slowing my left hand articulation down, way down.

What I discovered amazed me.

I not only unlocked the secret of legato playing, I created a left hand that purred through fast passages like a 16 valve Jag E Type with the ‘pedal to the metal’. You can put that same ‘greased lightning’ into your left hand by ordering my new course, and checking out #9.

All the best,
Clayton Haslop

P.S. When you realize the value of this one lesson you are going to wonder why the course costs so little. Go to Kreutzer for Violin Mastery, Vol. 1.

How to Deal with Limitation

A couple days ago I was checking out a posting on a well known violin site. It seems a young person has been working the ‘Rondo Capriccioso’ of Saints-Saens and has reached the upper limit of her up bow staccato. Only problem is, it aint fast enough to fit into the piece. Now, she seems to have done her up bow staccato homework – it just isn’t there.

Fact is, all of us have a limitation(s) in one violinistic department or another. The question is; how is it impacting our ability to create and deliver a message.

Years ago, at one of my coaching sessions with Nathan Milstein, I brought the 24th Caprice of Paganini. The 6th variation has some scales in tenths in it, and I was having a devil of a time with them.

You see, the only way I thought of the variation was ‘lickity-split’ (thats ‘fast’, in case you didn’t know). After listening to my wildly inconsistent rendition of them several times, he put his hand on my bow arm to calm my growing frustration.

He then proceeded to tell me some facts of violin life. ‘While certain fundamental skills are essential,’ he said, ‘an artist must know how to interpret music and create effects that also suit his or her physical realities.’ He turned me on to the way Josef Szigeti played that variation, slow and melodious. Now I find it rather uninspiring any other way.

So, let that be a lesson to you all. Play your music so that you really CAN play it. Then put something in it to create magic.

And to put some magic into your fundamentals come let me show you the Kreutzer etudes like you have never experienced them before.

All the best,
Clayton Haslop

P.S. Even Milstein had a limitation. He played that very passage in the ‘Rondo’ as a series of broken thirds instead of up bow staccato scales. Now go over and turbo-charge your fundamentals.

How Failure Can Work For You

A few years ago I auditioned for the concertmaster chair of the LA Phil. I successfully negotiated 3 rounds of auditions and a chamber music session. Then, the audition committee unanimously recommended that I play with the orchestra.

Well, it was not to be. Those of you who know orchestra politics will know that these things are rarely so straightforward.

You see, conductor and managing director had other ideas. They wanted a ‘name’ at the head of their orchestra and I was just the local boy. Now don’t get me wrong.

I ain’t a cryun’ sour grapes.

I don’t have time for them, and neither should you. Soon after that ‘failure’ I was playing 1st fiddle in the New Hollywood String Quartet. Now I’m creating instructional DVDs and loving every minute of it.

The point is, we all need to keep our options open. Yes, you could call them ‘plan Bs’, but whatever you call them, keep a few in your back pocket.

Besides, who wants a life that’s just a ‘one-horse’ ride. And what is true of life is equally true of your playing.

Now, for some of the hottest, most effective ways to get more ‘horse power’ into YOUR playing, I strongly suggest you get started working with my hot-off-the-press ”Kreutzer for Violin Mastery, Vol. 1”.

All the best,
Clayton Haslop

P.S. Warning – What you will learn about imaging, counting, and breathing out loud will just about blow your mind.

Bowing Balderdash, Why You Shouldn’t…

I saw something on the web today that really jerked my string – no, not my G string.

I was cruising a few websites to see what was up with instructional DVDs for violin, and I happened on to a little ‘demo’ of detaché bowing at the frog.

Now, to begin with, the quality of the player wasn’t anything to write home about. But that was not what made me screech like a bow running on the wrong side of a bridge. It was how the guy was making a huge point of flexing his fingers and flipping his wrist with each up to down bow change.

I kinda thought maybe he learned to play the violin from a fly fisherman.

When I was a lad I played for Joe Silverstein at a masterclass he gave at the Univ. of Maryland. During the Q and A period someone asked what he thought about before a bow change. He thought for about 2 secs and said, “I play up bow until I play down bow” – end of story.

Ten years later I was attending Nathan Milstein’s masterclass in Zurich, Switzerland and the same question came up. I happened to have just finished playing and he said – in his heavy Russian accent, “vatch how Clayton changes his bow. He doesn’t need his fingers because he plays from the shoulder.”

That was news to me! And I don’t think any of us really had a clue what that meant at the time. It wasn’t until 6 months later that I came to feel the significance of the statement – but I’ll leave that for another time.

The point of these is simple, however. In all but a few special circumstances, and I mean few, your fingers and wrist should react to a bow change like shock absorbers on a car. And the less motion there is the more efficient your bow change is.

Remember this, you finger-flexing wrist-waving addicts. Your bow gives not a hoot whether your fingers, wrist, forearm, or upper arm changes its direction. It only matters that the bow speed and vertical load remain constant.

Over the years I have seen how this kind of violinistic balderdash hampers performance. How can you respond creatively and instantly to unanticipated changes in the flow of music if you are hobbled by inefficient physical rituals? Well, you can’t and you won’t.

That’s enough said for now, boys and girls, so get off your buns, uncase your violin, and stop spreddun’ the mustard when you git thee from an up bow to a down bow. Order the Kreutzer for Violin Mastery course now.

All the best,
Clayton Haslop