Violin Mastery Goes to Washington
Wow, what a couple of days. Got up early Sunday morning and flew to Washington D.C. where I spent the afternoon giving an ‘intensive’ to a gifted gal who drove down all the way from Hartford Conn..
I don’t think she would disagree with me if I said she emerged transformed by the experience. She sure looked mighty relaxed and glowing with energy when she departed 2 1/2 hours later.
But the main events happened yesterday.
The morning was taken up with a lecture/demonstration/Q and A on sight-reading and rapid learning techniques, the afternoon with a master class. Both were given at the marvelous 30 million dollar music facility housing the Washington Marine Band and White House Orchestra.
The audience included musicians from the Air Force and Army, as well as the Marines.
And let me tell you, these folks can play.
One Curtis trained fellow zipped through the Waxman ‘Carmen Fantasy’. Couple others the Mozart G Major Duo for Violin and Viola. And a third, a CIM graduate, gave a highly polished reading of Prokofiev’s unaccompanied Sonata.
Now, in case you didn’t know this, the ‘President’s Own’ White House Orchestra dates back to the time of Jefferson. It is therefore the oldest orchestra in continuing existence in the United States.
Today the salary and benefits are quite attractive, and the competition to get in, fierce – over 100 players stood for a recent audition.
As for their duties, they perform a public concert series, they perform for official ceremonies and holidays, and they break down into smaller ensembles to entertain at state dinners and White House functions. In short they play all kinds of music in a variety of settings. Not a bad gig if you ask me. And the facility they work out of is a dream.
But getting back to my sessions, I’m thrilled to report they couldn’t have gone better.
I felt I took a pretty big risk, in the rapid learning session, when I invited orchestra members to bring in music for me to demonstrate my techniques on. The concertmaster took me at my word, and laid a pretty tough piece of music in front of me. It was quite chromatic and rhythmically tricky.
Some of it, in fact, was really beyond the ability of any violinist – and I know some great ones – to sight-read without error.
What I did do, and very persuasively from the reactions of the audience, was to demonstrate how the dynamic breathing and counting techniques I use get me up and running, even with such challenging music, in record time.
As I’ve said before, so much of it is having tools to get you in a highly relaxed, yet focused state. It really doesn’t matter whether I’m practicing at home or in front of 60 highly trained professionals.
I do what I am in the habit of doing. And it works.
As for the performers, I found a few recurring themes. All of them left some music ‘on the table’ in their performance. That is to say, they had mannerisms and reflexive habits that diminished their effectiveness in some small way.
One had a way of distorting the time just before awkward shifts. He wanted to create extra space for the movement. But when I exposed and eliminated the wasted motions and hidden tensions from his hand, Bingo, clean, noise free shifts with no space empty spaces.
Another had some unconscious mannerisms in his bowing. What might be called ‘unsightly bulges.’ Had to get him to slow down a little too. Until he began to really get the sense of what a singing, continuous tone is all about.
Anyway, I know I’m going on about this experience, but it was a great deal of fun and very rewarding to see great results and smiling faces at the end of the day.
And I got a few orders for my ‘Paganini for Violin Virtuosity’, too.
You know, if the ‘president’s own’ find great value in learning my secrets for mastering challenging music, you might want to check it out for yourself.
All the best,
Clayton Haslop
P.S. One took away a Kreutzer set as well, actually. They’re the best ticket I know to get your fundamentals in tip-top shape.
P.P.S. As I write this I’m on a plane heading to LA. Tomorrow morning I begin scoring the music to ‘Speed Racer’ with Grammy winner and Oscar nominee Michael Giacchino. Stay tuned for a report from the trenches.
