Basics300 exercises and practice routines for the violin Dae LONDON TRANKEURT IEITZIG NEW YOKPeters Edition Limited 10-12 Baches Street Londen NLODN First published 1997; reprinted 1997 © 1997 by Hinrichsen Ecition, Peters Eaition Limited, London, ISBN 1 901507 00 9 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Librgy: All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, phorocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Cover: Juan Gris, Le violon. (1916 cil on wood panel) ‘CADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 1997 Offentliche Kunstsammlung Busel, Kunstmuseum Gift of Dr H. C. Racul La Roche, 1952 Photo: Offentliche Kunstsammlung Basel, Martin Bibler ‘Music setting by Maud Hodson and Tina Jones Photographs by Derrick Witty Designed by Riley Associates, London Printed in Great Britain by St Edmundsbury Press, Bary St Edmunds, Suffolk ‘Sct in Adobe Systems Frutiger and Monotype PlantinContents Introduction Atco mae : Fin Soccer preabrs Pe thumb and second finger f) umb exbiry Balancing wth the fourth Sager Holdin the bow without gripping Hand tance The gv ofthe hand into the bow Vercal and horizontal finger movement ‘Changing bow Bow ange iting weight into the sting ‘Using waht froma the arm Using weight from the hand Spreading weight through the hand Palland push {GSrearm and upper-arm movements Upper-irm moves About rising the elbow Leading string crossing ong, slow sustained bows Giving parallel to the bridge About the angle of the violin to the body Moving the hand along the bow Dividing the bow into four parts Dividing the bow into two parts Bowingat an angle Fast whole bows in the air Fest, short strokes moving up the bow Pivoting and string crossing, ‘Seven levels of the bow Pivoting Curves on one string Accented string crossing, Seale string crossing Part B - Tone Production 6 a 3h 32 33 ‘About the tit and the angle ofthe violin tothe Boor 35 5 Bow tensions ‘Sering tensions Resonance Bow tilt Attacks Soundpoints ‘Soundpoint exercise: whole bows Soundpoint exercise: short bows Soundpoint exercise: a aging soundpcint Different soundpoints, same speed Different soundpoints, same pressure Rhythms on each soundpoin Bow speed Speed exercise Speed exercise moving across soundpoints Speed exercise using broken thirds Uneven bow speeds Bow pressure Pressure exercise moving across soundpoints nging the length of bow 43Pressure exercise using scales Pressure and length of string Part C - Key Strokes Detaché Even speed and pressure Smooth connections Simple detaché to marelé Portate cone Warm-up exercise Martelé Catching the sting Finger action Bow hold Staccato Carves Based on martlé String crossings “Tremolo exercises Scales Kreutzer Enude no. 4 [bout calléspiceato Spiccato Natural bounce Proportions String crossing Springing bowings About the movement of the bow within the hand Sauté Ricochet Springing arpeggios Key bowing patterns Chords ‘About timing finger placement in chords Voicing ‘Smooth pivoting Gradually increasing length Part D — Left Hand ‘Reducing thumb counter-pressure Positioning the chumb Warm-up exercise 57 37 89 90 ‘Thumb independence Roling fingers into the string Upward counter-pressure ‘Widening at the base joints ‘About fingertip placement and base joints Fingertip placement Contrary motion Sliding exercise Extensions Hand position Reaching back from the fourth finger Positioning the hand for thirds Finger pressure Finger independence Minimum pressure Releasing between notes Finger pressure in double stops Finger action About moving fingers from the base joint “Three warm-up exercises, Silent tapping Square and extended Holding fingers down: Overlapping Holding down the firs finger Fast fingers About timing fitting and dropping Litto Gradually increasing speed, Slow tempo, fast fingers Rhythms Fourth finger co-ordination Fingers ‘leading? Finger preparation ills Releasing the lower finger Building trills note by note Direction Rhythm exercise Blocks Extensions and contractions Extensions Contractions a 9 92 93 on 95 96 97 102 103 103 104 105 106 106 106 107 108 113 116 16 118 119 119 120 1a 122 124 125 129 129 130 134 134 136 137 138 139 140 44Part E - Shifting ‘Ghosting” ‘Arm movernent ‘Leading the shitt “Thumb preparation Fingers leading About slow arrival speed ‘One-finger exercises Siow arival speed Scales and arpeggios Broken thirds, fourths, ete Semitonee Chromatic sissando Metronome exereise ‘assical shifts Romantic shifts ‘Combination shift. Exchange shifts Using substitutions Shifting below the note Shifting with both fingers Broken intervals Metronome exercise Scales Drop-outs ‘Substitutions Octaves and tenths Octaves Tenths [All shifts in one complete sequence [Double stops Part F - Intonation ‘Sympathetic vibrations ‘The feel of the hand and fingers ‘Memorising the hand position Piching spaces between fingers Guide-notes Uniform intonation Finger patterns [Major and minor thirds Tuning scales “Tuning accidentals from naturals Wide and narrow semitones 5 162 163 164 166 167 168 168, 70 7 13 176 78 9 185 186 186 180 18s 11 193 195 197 108 About tuning double stops ‘Tone-semitone groups Single notes Double stops ‘Thirds ‘Sequences transposed up the string Chromatic sequence Harmonic sequence Perfect fourths Part G - Vibrato Flexibility First joint Base joint Circles Hand and arm movements Sliding exercises ‘Tapping, Wall exercise Forearm rotation Relaxation exercises Releasing to a harmonic “Swinging? the hand in arm vibrato Vibrating harmonies Keeping the scroll stil Upper arm Speed ‘Vibrating at any speed Vibrato accents Changing speed without changing width Width Dividing semitones Fingertip and pad ‘Changing width without changing speed Continuous vibrato “Moving fingers in slow motion Paising Silent raising and dropping Equal vibrato on different fingers ‘Comparing fingers Even pitch General index Index of music examples 201 202 208 206 207 207 208, 210Basic technical exercises can be used by players of all levels because most of the technical issues remain the seme~e.g., intonation, tone production, rhythm and articulation, co-ordination, relaxation, as well as the easiest possible working of arms, hands and fingers. Violin playing is complex because to play even a simple phrase a large number of quite different techniques must be performed one after another, often at great speed. Each note in @ succession of notes may need to be produced in a fundamentally different way from the others. For example, to play the first note the bow may have to be placed on the string and then ‘bite’ the beginning of the note; to play the second note the bow may have w pivot smoothly across to another string; to play the third note a finger may have to be lifted, to play the fourth note the hand may have to shift up or down, and so on. (On their own, most of the sepa ate techniques are very simple. It is only when we try to perform several of them at the same time that they can appear to become more difficult. To a certain extent, an ‘easy’ piece is easy because very few actions have to be performed at the same time; a ‘difficult’ piece is difficult because ten or twenty actions may have to be performed at the same time or in close succession. (The easiest ‘piece’ of all d on.) must therefore be just one open string pls pi jcato, because consists of only one a Many of the individual actions that make up techniqu themselves be broken down into several elements. This book deals with these elements, large or small, ne at a time, which is the quickest way to build technique. ‘The exercises in Basics can be used in ¢ number of different ways. First, they provide an easy and direct way to build, one at a time, the simple actions. that together are called ‘technique’ ‘Second, many of them double as useful warm-up, exercises. Third, even a player with the finest technique has to continue to practise in order not to lose it, and Basics exercises are an effective and time-efficient way to work on specific areas Well-aimed exercises develop individual parts of technique. The next step is to combine the individual techniques in countless different ways by playing scales, studies and pieces. But many of the simply vanish if you regularly px ficulties of everyday playing © key individual techniques separately. The most important thing is to have so much technique that you don’t have to think about it. If you are too conscious of the ‘how’, it can make playing almost impossible, just as any actions that normally happen automatically ~ walking, talking, eating, etc, ~ become stilted and awkward when we try to perform them consciously. jldren learn quickly because the ‘how’ goes straight into the unconscious. It is through th adult knowing ever more clearly and consciously what to do, that finally technique becomes automatic and is then naturally forgotten. ‘Then the player can really be free to make music.