Visualize the Feelings

In a few hours time I’ll begin the 6th Master class I’ve run since Violin Mastery went live. I’m looking forward to a great event.

One of the things on my mind is how to make the following statement true for everyone present: ‘Anything you can think, you can play.’

Now, many folks don’t exactly understand what I mean by ‘think.’

It’s not just to see, and be able to name the piches and count the rhythms. It’s not to know the fingerings and bowing either.

What I’m talking about, really, is a kind of kinesthetic knowing; of knowing the feeling of the body playing. And of placing that ‘flow of feelings’ within a specific time context, or what we call the tempo.

That is really all there is to the mastery of the violin.

Now, there may be one or two details to fill in, however. There is something to be said for understanding which specific muscles are best used in violin playing. It’s also important to think in terms of gestures.

Together that means, getting control over the best muscles to be used, organizing the movements of the muscles into certain patterns, and placing the patterns in a specific flow of time.

Now, the way I’m writing might sound a little too dry and academic.

The actual experience is anything but. And that is what I appeal to in my courses. The physical sensations, including that of the sound coming out of the violin, are uniquely rewarding when you have your creative mind engaged in the process.

In the coming installment of my Allegro Players program, I’ll be teaching a wonderful piece of music by Fritz Kreisler

And when folks ‘get creative’ in the process of mastering this work, they will be resurrecting the very essence of the man that created it.

Well, if that doesn’t just ‘magnify the soul’ I don’t know what will.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Now, if Paganini’s the man you want to connect with I think you’ll be thrilled with the results you get with Paganini for Violin Virtuosity, Vol. 1.