Where The Life Force Is

Yesterday I wrote a little on vibrato. Tonight I’m thinking of where the real emotive power of your playing resides. The item you use to reach into your listeners very soul. I’m speaking of the bow arm, of course.

When I listen to the greats play – the ones that can cause me to weep as readily and effortlessly as they make my heart overflow with joy – I hear tone, first and foremost.

Through the tone of a violinist emanates his or her very life force.

Sir Thomas Beecham said, ‘great music making contains at once the maximum of virility and the utmost of sensitivity.’ How right he was.

If a player is all machismo and technique, but has not vulnerability in equal measure, it counts for little, really. The same must be said for the one who goes to emotional extremes to play for my feelings but displays no discipline or internal order.

So, how do you come by the right mix and infuse your bow arm with it.

To begin with, you unlock the power of your breath. Breathing simultaneously gives you energy and brings relaxation. When you have the power of breath as your ally and move it through your bow arm out to the strings of your violin, you can cause your audience to breathe in concert with you. It is pretty much a given, at that point, that they will feel what you feel.

Let me repeat, when you have the feeling of the music inside of you, you are going to ‘breathe’ it through your bow arm out to your audience.

Now, if this is all that need be said to transform a person’s playing into greatness, I would be going out of business real soon.

Thankfully, for me at any rate, it isn’t all.

There are the details of playing in tune, shifting well and cleanly, learning how to make beautiful portamentos, acquiring sound and efficient bow strokes, and yes, getting to the soul of the music so one has something to breathe about.

My Kreutzer course will get you well on your way. So if you’re reading this newsletter regularly, don’t have it, and are serious about the violin, you ought to get a copy headed your way right now.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Several of you are on the fence about the masterclass; I can FEEL it. The only way you’re going to have regrets over this is if you make the decision to keep yourself away. What you need to do is take five belly breaths right now. And as you do them see if you can feel my energy reaching out to you. That should make doing the right thing for yourself a great deal easier. Carpe Diem!