What ‘Nerves’ Can Do

I was 19 years of age, concertmaster of the USC Symphony, and 1st violinist of the Vuillaume String Quartet – one of the top collegiate string quartets in the country at the time. But on the occasion I’m about to relate, I was also unusually nervous.

My quartet, along with most members of the above-mentioned orchestra, had been engaged to record the music for a student film.

We kind of chuckled to each other as we made our way to Paramount Pictures’ recording studio. ‘After all’, we joked, ‘how good could a student film be.’ The chuckling stopped very quickly when we opened the music.

What confronted us was an absolutely first rate score written by a USC composition major whose name now escapes me.

One of the first cues of the day featured an extended section for solo string quartet. Suddenly those microphones seemed incredibly close. As the butterflies swarmed I felt my control decreasing in direct proportion. And when the moment of truth arrived, I lunged for the notes like a man fleeing an avalanche.

My fellow quartet members did likewise.

Problem was, when we finished our bit we were chagrinned to find that we were many beats ahead of the ‘clicks’ that were being fed into earphones to keep us with the picture.

I’ll tell you, that was one rude awakening I shall never forget.

Ever since that time I have understood that the awareness of ‘time’ is priority numero uno for a musician.

My advice, take the counting technique in the Kreutzer course seriously. Make it a habitual part of your playing. That way you will never find yourself in the unenviable position of being the rabbit that watches ‘old tortoise time’ have his way with you.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. By the way, the film was “Fraternity Row”. It was so excellent, in fact, Paramount picked it up and released it commercially in 1976.

P.P.S. And if you want rhythmic control second to none, hop over and grab the course that is quietly revolutionalizing the way classical violinists practice.