The Art of the Sidestep

Don’t know how the weather looks for you, today, but out here in paradise we’re looking at another day of weather perfection; sunny, and in the mid-fifties.

Now, I know you weren’t looking for a Sedona weather report when you opened this, yet I had to throw it in. It’s just too beautiful out.

In any case, today I’m going to talk about one of the greatest lessons I learned from Milstein. You could call it ‘the art of the sidestep.’

This is where you see that you have a difficulty. In fact you’ve examined your difficulty from many angles; slowly, lightly, forcefully, with this in mind, with that in mind. To no avail.

Now enter the sidestep, if up-bow spiccato is not your thing you say to yourself, ‘Is there anything else a can do here that creates as good or better an effect.’

Milstein did just much of his repertoire, most folks just don’t know where to listen. ‘After all,’ he would say the case of a non violin playing composer, ‘who knows how to play violin best?’

Sir Thomas Beecham, to digress, I know, was famous for changing the music. He even said, ‘I always made changes.’

Now don’t get me wrong. I only change the music when I perceive a violinistic or musical reason for it. And if I can’t come with something that sounds as good or better, and is easier for me to execute, I pick up a new piece of music.

Let’s take stiff fingers that find reluctance playing the ‘Minute’ Waltz’ of Chopin. Guess what, it’s possible to play 99% of it with one finger and be effective. In some ways more effective than ever.

The thing is, though, you have to think how to do it.

This is just the sort of thing I bring to my teaching philosophy; how you think when you do something. We all have physical limitations. Yet it is amazing how many you can sidestep, or give very little impression of when given the full intention of your mind.

In practice I sometimes call it, ‘smoke and tears.’ But there’s nothing wrong with a ‘conjurer’s’ smoke and a supplicant’s tears.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. We are just now getting caught up with our 2009 restocking, so it pleases me to say we can get any of my courses to you now in record time. Here’s where you can get a quick summary off all Violin Mastery’s instructional DVD courses.