Some Questions With My Answers (Part 2)

(the questions are unedited)
 

The Shoulder Rest.

 

Dear Professor Redrobe, how can I tell if I need a shoulder rest?

What is seldom fully understood is the importance of comfort. I do not refer to technical comfort as that is almost impossible to attain!. I refer rather to physical comfort and suggest you try the following. Keeping yout head erect, look to your left as far as is comfortable. Now bring your left shoulder to the right until it is just beneath the chin (NB - here ‘shoulder’ refers to the collarbone, which extends from the neck to the top of the arm - the shoulder is actually a group of muscles at the top of the arm. Most people erroneously refer to the collarbone as the shoulder, so I have done the same here for the sake of clarity). There will have to be some compromise here between the left turning of the head and the movement to the right of the shoulder.

Now raise the left shoulder until it touches the chin - not particularly comfy. So lower the shoulder until it is just comfortable. If the violin plus shoulder rest will not fit into this gap then use a sponge instead. Your nose should point towards the scroll and the violin/rest should rest upon your shoulder, not chest. You may well find that the violin plus rest will simply not fit into this gap. Do not attempt to widen the gap as this will take the important levers out of optimum position for comfortable performance.

A further note on this topic which is sorely unknown, except to artists who have had some considerable solo experience, is that the contact of the back of the fiddle - even with a sponge - and the shoulder, will cause the air inside your lungs to amplify the sound. It has the opposite effect of the much-believed dampening. Indeed the shoulder rest stops this phenomenon from occurring,

 

Tone production.

 

My teacher has suggested doing a "Screeching" exercise, where one takes their bow and makes a screeching noise, creating a continuous bow that lasts as long as possible (to the point where one can feel their own pulse in their arm!). He has suggested doing this at the fingerboard and right up on the bridge.

The object of the "screeching" exercise is to teach your bow arm just how easy it is to produce the screech at the frog and how much force is required at the point. There seems little point in doing this around the fingerboard as the tone you are looking for will never be found there. The optimum weight to have on the string at any given time is the simple weight of the bow at its balancing point - about 9" or so from the frog. This is why the bow is the weight it is. Now of course weight has to be removed closer to the frog and increased more and more as you approach the point.

The amount is seldom understood. It gets quite considerable. The vast majority of players only sound any good around the balancing point, which is to say not very often. One must get used to being able to apply this correcting weight in the upper part of the bow for it is considerable weight. One must also play as close to the bridge as is possible and consistent with practicalities as, at the end of the day, it is the bridge itself which we must cause to vibrate in order to produce good tone - not the string per se.

A further consideration is vibrato, for as Wieniawski discovered, increasing the speed of the vibrato increases the string's ability to withstand weight of bow. For more on these matters, look at my essay on Erick Friedman's playing. On the index page click on "More about Erick Friedman" from the menu on the left.

 

Studies and Caprices

 

I am now playing kreutzer 23. it's like a nightmare.... do u have any comments on this?

The cadenza-like flourishes should not be played a tempo, but ad lib. Neither should one attempt to play them in groups of 4 semiquavers. What one must do is spend some time with this study away from the fiddle and look for obvious groups of notes, particularly groups forming a repeated pattern. For example 9 bars from the end.

 It is obvious that there are repeated patterns here from the E natural, therefore one should stress with the bow that note, the next two Es, the D and the C#. In learning the piece one then begins each of these little sub-groups with a new bow, putting an accent on each change so as to build up a pattern in one's head as to where these "key notes" are (rather like meta-tags on a web page). When the left hand is organised, one can then begin putting these groups together on one bow, with a little stress of the bow on these "key notes".

 

In the 9th Caprice (I think I have the number right--I mean the one that begins by imitating flutes and hunting horns), in the third section (the one with all the ricochets): when I play this the ricochets start well, with lots of snap, crackle and pop; but by the time I near the end of this section, they sound dull and amorphous. Perhaps not coincidentally, the richochet figures tend to be on the lower strings toward the end of this section. What can I do to maintain the nice, dry, rat-a-tat-tat sound on the lower strings toward the end of the sequence?

This is entirely a matter of good string changing. The problem with this section is that it isn't ricochet, it is saltato. One is not utilising the rebound of the string but have to physically change string quite deliberately. Earlier in the section the saltati were on one or two strings. Here they are on three, with differing numbers of notes on each. One has to be fully aware of how many notes are on each string and change string at the appropriate point with a very deliberate movement of the upper arm - no wrist movement here. Where there are two notes on one string the arm must remain in position until both of them have sounded. That is the problem.        Stephen Redrobe.

 

I was afraid that you would say something like that. For a comparatively strong player, my string crossings have always been on the crummy side--noisy and frequently not too well connected between the left and right hands. As for the Caprice, what is the prescription? Practicing the saltando crossings on open strings until I really feel the right number of notes per string, and can control the crossings? But that's so hard! I want an easy, painless solution. Cf. Erica Jong, "Fear of Flying," p. 1.

I'm sorry, old thing, but there isn't a quick, easy solution. Practicing it on open strings is exactly what you will have to do. You could relieve the tedium by holding down chords. Go on, you know you have to do it, so you might as well get it over with. All the best!, Stephen.

 

Paganini 20th caprice I'm playing this caprice currently and all is going well except for one part, in the second section of the sixteenth notes (the fifth measure after the second repeat). The notes are B-A#-B-G-G(2 octaves higher)-B, A-G#-A-F#-F#(2 octaves higher)-A and so on. I am having trouble quickly crossing from the G string up to the notes two octaves higher, on the E. It is easy to do slowly but when I speed up I end up touching the D and A strings and hitting the E string notes too hard, so they sound harsh. The G string notes also have poor tone. Can you help me play this section up to speed?

Lovely question. Heifetz so enjoyed this caprice!. The first thing is to strip this purely bowing problem down to the bare bones. Note that in each group we have to get back to the note we started with. It is important to keep this firmly in mind. Begin by practicing only the bowing. Place the fingers chord-like. On the G string (G {1st finger}), A string (B-2nd), E string (G-3rd). Now, omitting the trill or turn, practice the bowing only.

Down on the A string followed by G, E and A strings all on one up-bow with a heavy flying staccato, changing strings with the entire arm from the shoulder. Once this has been mastered, play the next groups in the same fashion, holding the fingers of the left hand down - chord-like. You should soon solve the problem by practicing it this way. Good luck, and don't hesitate to contact me further if necessary.

Stephen Redrobe 2002.