Feel the Pressure

On Wednesday the music scoring sessions for ‘Speed Racer’ came to a rather quiet and elegant end with a cue for string quartet. Certainly was unexpected, given the rest of the score used a full 100 piece orchestra and went by at break-neck speed.

Yesterday I headed north to have a visit with my folks, who live in the ‘gold country’ in the foothills of the Sierra. Beautiful spot to be, I must say.

Anyway, my dad and I were talking last night, and he felt I should elaborate on the amount of finger pressure I use in the left hand.

He had gotten his fiddle out after my last newsletter on the subject – yes, he is a player – and found that he could play with much greater velocity when he didn’t drive the strings all the way down to the fingerboard.

And his tone wasn’t affected in the least.

Many, many players I’ve worked with have been surprised to learn how little muscle is needed to make a pure, singing tone. Part of the problem may be that their whole hand tends to clench when putting down a finger.

In my ‘Beginner’s Circle’ program I demonstrate and continually remind the players to go slowly enough that they can limit the contractions in the hand to only the finger called for.

I also have had them lower the fingers to the string in such a way that they develop control over the whole range of motion – so many players play ‘digitally’, the finger is either up, or down, and they have no control or consciousness of anything in between.

Not so good.

In my system I want ANALOGUE control. That is control over the whole range of the finger motion. Only in that way can I consciously eliminate extraneous contractions of the hand.

At first this means playing slowly. VERY slowly. Once in the habit of spending practice time on a ‘cellular’ level you will be amazed at the results.

If you have my Kreutzer for Violin Mastery course you might want to go back and review how I approach #9.

Now, if you have played for some time, are not up to Kreutzer, and are finding yourself stuck, I think you will be surprised and delighted by what you see and learn about the left hand in the ‘Beginner’s Circle’.

In fact I’ve had several players do this. Each has commented on how much more satisfying their playing experience has become for taking time to revisit the basics with me.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. If you think about other athletic endeavors, like hitting a baseball, you will find the most outstanding hitters are constantly reviewing the fundamentals. And they don’t just rely on their own judgment. They have hitting coaches working with them, giving input and offering new ways to think about basic movements they’ve done for many, many years. This is the kind of insight advanced players can take away from the Violin Mastery Beginners Circle. Great stuff