Subdivide, and Conquer

I don’t think I need to tell YOU this, yet I’ll say it anyway – We live in a highly changeable world. Such is the nature of the world of form.

And we can either use our creative powers to get out front of changing conditions, and thrill in the new challenges facing us daily, or we can sit glumly on our backsides and just allow them to have their way with us.

Now, nobody’s perfect. We all have our ‘bad hair’ days, I suppose.

Point is, you just don’t want to make a habit of having them. And when you sense yourself slipping into bad habits, the first thing you can do for yourself is to stretch that old abdomen out and grab some good draughts of air.

The key to creative action is fire-in-the-belly. Something I remind myself of quite frequently, these days.

Alright, let’s get to the specific topic of this newsletter. And I’ll be brief.

Sometimes, and some days, it’s just not good enough to label the beats. I had a morning like that this morning. A passage I thought I knew well just was not coming out cleanly.

After several attempts, maybe a couple too many, I took a step back, drew in a few good breaths and began actively sub-dividing in eighth notes.

Wasn’t enough.

So I went right into 16th notes. Ah, I could do it. I even romped about the room in 16th notes for a few minutes until I held each 16th like it was a new girlfriend.

Then I transitioned back to quarters. Badda-bing, badda-bang, there it was; sparkling like a gem in the mid-day sun.

The bottom line is, if it ain’t happening in one pulse, even if I’ve said to play it that way on a DVD, change. Get out in front of the challenge by sub-dividing it down to the level you can handle it.

Then push the speed of those subdivisions and match it with the dynamic power of your breath. My guess is you’ll be quite pleased with the result.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. So happens I was revisiting the 16th Caprice of Paganini in the practice I described above. As I sub-divided I had a few other things in mind as well; things that transform mere notes into transmitters of passion. You may get the specifics in my course, ‘Paganini for Violin Virtuosity, Vol. 1.’