Mozart Said, ‘Anything Can Be…’

Mozart said, ‘Anything can be ventured in music, provided it is beautiful, and inherently musical.’

I love that quote. It says a lot and yet leaves much to the imagination.

Today, when it spontaneously sprang to mind, it was in the presence of other thoughts that were flowing through my mind. I was thinking about violin fundamentals. You know, drawing a straight, effortless bow; maintaining a well-formed left hand; moving cleanly around the violin; producing clear, beautifully tuned sounds.

In short, I was practicing…you guessed it, Kreutzer.

Now, usually I regard extraneous thoughts as imposters when I am playing and summarily dismiss them. I hope you do the same. Idle thoughts and daydreaming will poison your ability to improve faster than anything I can think of.

But today I myself made an exception, and I tucked Mozart’s remark in the back of my mind to share with you.

You see, I regard having pure fundamentals as ‘inherent’ to being musical, for a violinist. And this is what Kreutzer for Violin Mastery is about. The preparatory exercise in the course prepares the mind/body the way a plow prepares soil for seeds. It opens the mind, aerates it with fresh oxygen, ect.. Then, you are ready to cultivate great fundamentals as you would veggies in a well-prepared garden, reliably, easily, and efficiently.

Speaking of gardens, we have been enjoying the fruit of ours lately. The cucumbers are as crisp and invigorating as my Martelé stroke in Kreutzer #7. Now, you can’t buy my cucumbers, but you can buy my secrets to a great Martelé.

All the best,
Clayton Haslop