Violin Mutters

my live radio broadcast

2011-06-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

2011-06-06T09:22:00.000-07:00

right hand technique part 1A

2010-10-30T08:41:00.000-07:00

right hand technique 3

2010-07-22T05:38:00.000-07:00

Maintenance

2010-02-26T11:26:00.000-08:00

So you learned and successfully performed the concerto/sonata/caprices etc but now you have two months before you need to play it again. It is a dangerous phase; playing the piece too much could deteriorate your level but practicing the piece in details every day would keep from learning new pieces, could dull your musicality and is simply boring. On the other hand, practicing the piece too little (or not at all) is not wise when another performance is looming, especially if you are not an experience performer.

When I practice in "maintenance mode" I go over the piece every few days, or even every day, but each time I approach the piece/movement/ passage from one of the different aspects listed bellow.

Intonation - playing slowly and repeating every shift several times, trying to be as aware as possible towards the target note and avoiding relying on motion memory.

Sound - using the Beam of Light method (which I explained in previous entry) I try to play with the cleanest, most attractive sound I could produce.

Technique – there are some passages that needs constant technical work. It could be difficult spots or certain techniques (such as up-bow staccato or trills). In these instances I practice as if I never played the passage before.

Re-learning by heart – one of the nastiest traps we fall into is when we rely too much on motion or music memory when we learn stuff by heart. If we suddenly "get stuck" after forgetting one note or lose our place it is a good indication that we rely too much on knowing the tune or "finger memory". There is also the terrible moment when we doubt every move we make and every note we play. It is a very common phenomenon. To strengthen my note-to-note knowledge as well as detect the weakest links, I practice the passage by heart at least 50% of the tempo, using staccato on the slurs (but keeping the original bowings). I finger each note at a time before I play it and if possible say to myself the name of the note. It is important not to "spill" into playing the piece slowly and relying on the tune. This is a very difficult practicing technique but also a very effective one.

Musicality – It is always good to innovate and try and find new angle to your musical output. As a practice method I play the passage at least once in a complete opposite musicality than the one I usually do. Most of the time it helps re strengthens my resolve about my old decisions but sometimes I find interesting ideas to play with…

Performance – All of the aspects listed above are good and true but sometimes you just need to pick up that fiddle and play the damn thing through without looking back or sideways. It helps if you record yourself and listen back. Try and have a "performance feeling" during this kind of practice. Do not move about the room or stop for any reason as you will not do this on stage.

The list above covers most of the things you want to keep and strengthen but it is not complete and also should not only be restricted to maintenance practice (you can work on it before).

From My Journey Through Bach - The Beam of Light

2010-02-14T03:06:00.000-08:00

The Beam of Light:

When I want to describe a beautiful, attractive sound I use words like ‘pure’, ‘clean’, ‘full’, ‘colorful’ and ‘unified’.

The quality of our sound is the most powerful expressive tool we have, yet I find that many students take their sound for granted and focus their practice on other playing in tune or fast enough. As important as those other subjects are, nothing affects your listeners more than the sound that come out of your instrument. It is your calling card, your essence. With a good sound you could convince anyone to listen to you, while it is not important how in tune you play if no one wants to hear you saw the violin.

Playing the violin well is very difficult: putting the fingers in the right place at the right time, remembering all those notes, battling anxiety and trying to “do the right thing. We get so busy with it, we sometimes tend neglect our sound or ignore those small mistakes such as scratches between notes, slides, uneven vibrato and such. After a while, they become ‘background’ noises and we even stop hearing them altogether.

My best tool for sound is a practicing technique I call “The Beam of Light”. As I slowly practice the piece I imagine a beam of light across my line of vision. The beam width represents the deepness of my sound and its surface, the purity of it. Within the beam there is a second, wavy line, which represents my vibrato in the same way a sound wave could be seen on a monitor.
When I play I ‘watch’ the beam of light with my mind’s eye. If I scratch the sound my beam becomes tarnished or if I hit the string too hard it wobbles and shakes. Your entire focus should be on the ‘now’ and ‘before’, (as opposed to performance practice in which you focus on the future). It is important to practice slower than the actual speed and if possible, by heart. I find this technique incredible effective in developing sound awareness.

The Three stages of Sound

I divide the sound to three stages, which I call ‘head’, ‘body’ and ‘tail’. The ‘head’ is the moment my sound begins, i.e. when the bow touches the string, the ‘body’ is when the bow moves across the string and ‘tail’ represents the way I end the note. Different techniques have different requirements, for example a fast spicatto is all ‘head’, martelle technique is partly about being able to stop the note, while a slow high pitched note which end the piece is very much ‘body’ and ‘tail’.

These three stages represent (mostly) bow techniques, so when I detect a mistake in the sound (using the Beam of Light technique) I define it under one of the three stages and thus understand what I should physically do to correct it.

For example: a scratch in the head of the note indicates a problem in the approach and touch phase of the bow to the string. You may want to alter the way you begin the note by changing the way you start (from the air or from the string), the amount of bow, the relation between speed and weight, the amount of hair which is in contact with the string or several other possibilities.

Note that starting a note from the air or from the string are two different techniques, each with its own timing in approaching the string and its own pros and cons. Some schools of violin prefer one over the other (at this moment in my life, and since I began using the Beam of Light, I use the string technique much more than the approach from the air), but I suggest you master both.

If you detect a sound mistake in the ‘body’ part, you should check if your bow is straight, if you control the movement of the stroke the entire way, if the weight you apply on the stick co-relates to the speed and the changing of the bow flexibility etc.

A ‘tail’ problem is usually about bow control. You need to master not only your approach to the string but how you end a note and whether you decide to stay on the string on need to lift the bow.

There are also mistakes in vibrato such as over or under-use, unevenness either in the ‘body’ of a note or changing it for different fingers, too tight or nervous vibrato and uncontrolled delayed vibrato. Without getting into too much detail (since this book is really about playing Bach, not playing in general): most vibrato mistakes derive from holding don the finger too tight, holding the neck of the violin too hard, and leaving too many fingers down on the string (such as in chords).

Recording yourself is a very good way of assessing your sound, and applying the Beam of Light as a practice method will help you clear your sound from very common mistakes.

excerpts from "My Journey through Bach" - Fugues

2010-02-06T06:01:00.000-08:00

Although I will be explaining each individual fugue in detail in the following chapters, I believe there is a need to address the subject generally, as fugues are the most difficult kind of music to master on the violin. A fugue, as we all know, is a musical form. It can be found in chamber works, symphonies, and of course in the keyboard repertoire (especially for the organ). But the violin is, in essence, a melodic instrument, and we struggle to fulfill the role usually given to several players, or to the keyboard.

A fugue is not a creation of beauty in the classic/romantic sense of the word; it does not carry a beautiful melodic tune, like the theme of Beethoven’s Spring Sonata or Chausson’s Poeme, or even in other movements of the solo sonatas and partitas. In other words, you probably never found yourself humming a fugue theme while in the shower...

The interest, and the beauty, arise from the construction of the form; we marvel at the complexity of Bach’s creation, and as performers, struggle to achieve technical and musical mastery of such ‘un-violinstic’ pieces, which are almost alien to the instrument’s ideal of a single singing voice.

I always ask myself how a violin fugue sounds from the listener’s chair (and I mean the ‘ticket-paying’ chair, not the ‘fellow-musician’ chair.). I suspect the audience often hears a very different piece to what we think we play.

Your main aim in presenting a fugue should be that the audience will understand the form without needing to have it explained to them in printed word or in a pre-recital lecture. To achieve this, you should present the theme in a clear, precise way and show, with timing and bow control, how it travels between the voices. This is the single most important musical element to highlight, and your audience should register (consciously or unconsciously) every time the theme returns. I can not stress enough how careful you should be to play the theme in the same way every time, unless you find a good reason for the change (such as an harmonic change from the original theme). This is more easily said than done, since the fugal-road is full of musical potholes and traps.

Take for example the G minor fugue’s theme. The last note of the theme (Bb) is the resolution and thus a point of less energy. The second time the theme appears, the last note is a double stop (from bottom to top – Eb and D), and you must decide whether to imitate the theme in the same way or show the harmonic surprise by increasing energy (volume and intensity). The third time the theme is played, the last note (double stop from top -Eb and G) is a clear resolution again, and must be played with diminished strength, yet it is easy to let enthusiasm or sheer mounting pressure take over, and whack the last double stop. You must be very careful (always, but especially in the fugues) not to let technical difficulties dictate the musical line.

A very good exercise in musical understanding is to mark in the music each time the theme appears. You will soon be struggling with the concept of what exactly a ‘theme’ means theme’ and whether what you play is the original line, or a development of thematic material.

Does a change of one note affect whether it counts as the theme? What about a change of two or three notes? These sort of questions used to keep me awake at night, so now I take sleeping tablets and count separately the number of times the ‘pure theme’ appears and the times the ‘altered theme’ (up to two notes changed) makes an appearance. When you add these together, you get the number of times your audience should register ‘theme’ during the fugue. Whether you want to highlight the difference between ‘pure’ and ‘altered’ depends on individual cases and personal taste. There is always a risk of overstating your ideas but the usual, most common mistake, is oversight.

Just remember: Theme Rules.

intonation in shifting

2010-01-24T01:30:00.000-08:00

I divide the movements we use in playing to "conscious" and "unconscious" (or "aware" and "unaware"). Just like driving a car, there are movements so ingrained in us that we do not think about them in a form of direct command (accelerating, checking the rear view mirror, vibrato, putting fingers in tone and semi tone distance), i.e. we do not tell ourselves "step on the accelerator, shift gear", we simply do it on command.

I use the driving example not only because most of us have experience in it but because in driving and playing the violin, we change our perspective for the same movements when circumstances change. Bad weather, icy road, broken lights in a junction or a police car behind us makes us bring those unconscious movements into the conscious mind. We pause, we slow down, hesitate, evaluate, and become acutely aware of a possible danger, sometimes to the point of making a mistake. Those of us which were unfortunate to need to re take a driving test later in life would know how every movement we used to do without thinking suddenly becomes painfully exposed.

In performing (playing the violin) we go through the same transition of awareness; movements which we did not think twice about executing in the practice room become conscious, non more so (in my experience) then shifting, intonation's greatest threat.

Even once "acclimatized" on stage (after 10 -15 minutes of playing), and fairly more relaxed, a long shift or jump will always come to the forefront of the brain. We'd think about before hand, worry about it, calculate our way towards it, then breathe a silent sigh of relief or utter a curse under our breath, depending on the outcome.

To practice a shift many times is important but this method might also hide false security, since our "motion memory" would correct most shifts on the third or fourth (sometimes even second) try. The problem is that we need to nail it on the first go.

The best test for "first time" is performance practice; a lesson, a class, a private run through or just coming back to the shift in later times during the practice session.

When I miss a shift under these circumstances I try to realize whether the mistake happened because I was not paying attention (shifting unconsciously, throwing the hand with the hope my motion memory would save the day) or was it a conscious shift (I thought I knew exactly where I put the finger down) which was simply in the wrong place.

My advice is first of all never taking any shift for granted while in the safety of the practice room. Work consciously on every single shift, from slow pace to performance speed, with and without vibrato (if vibrato is needed), always aiming to the target, asking yourself not only what went wrong when it happens but also what you are doing right when the playing the shift correctly. If during the performance you manage to relax to the point where shifts become subconscious again, well, lucky you, but I would prepare for worst case scenario when it comes to shifting.

The awareness of what went right is important because many times shifts fail because of bad body position. When we play it again we subconsciously correct the body position to be more comfortable. The implications for such understanding are obvious.

Be realistic about your shift: prolonging the time between the notes is a good working tool but you should concentrate on adhering to the exact circumstances of the piece (using the same speed, part of the bow, bow direction and articulation).

Pay attention to bow control, many shifts fall from grace because we move the bow too soon.

In practice, do not use vibrato to correct intonation mistakes. In performance: cover cover cover.

And I leave you with this thought: even the best pro basketball player in the world, with thousands of games under his belt, would still aim the ball while shooting to the basket.

This is how it should be done,

2009-09-29T15:05:00.000-07:00

I am writing these words from Krakow airport after an intense but very satisfying week. I am coming back from a festival in Zakopane after being invited by Janush Wawrowski, one of my dearest friends, a student of my father (and I am proud to say I have been on the teacher seat for him as well). He is a fantastic violinist and a complete artist and you should check him out, especially the amazing version of Paganini caprices for violin and cello (arranged and performed by the phenomenal Marcin Zdunik).

This was his (and his talented wife, Bogumita Dziel) first experiment with making a festival, called "music in the mountains" and it featured artists such as the Kronos Quartet, the pianist Ewa Problocka and another dear friend of mine: the violin virtuoso Vadim Gluzman.

The festival was planned to showcase Polish music, which is mostly unknown even in Poland, and it certainly was an education. The Polish people have warm hearts and romantic souls and this is reflected in their music. I recommend wholeheartedly listening to Noskowski piano quartet, especially the divine second movement which is Brahmsimian like in its expanse. Vadim played the wonderful Karlowicz serenade, which is an absolute must for any violinist. Check out the polish romantic composers, ladies and gentlemen, there are real gems out there.

What I loved about this festival was the seriousness of the musicians, some of them in their early twenties. Poland is slowly becoming an exporter of fine musicians and every single one of the people I listened to or played with was accomplished and ready. Rehearsals were serious but also fun; everyone knew their scores and could "hold it together". Most important, there were no "egos" at play, not even when arguing about musical ideas, you said your flash of inspiration and if people did not like it, well, then you just went along with whatever most people feel like doing. The result was mind blowing. The last concert featured Schubert Trout Quintet, Krogulski octet (fun and funny piece) and Brahms sextet no.1 which rocked the house.

We all stayed in good hotels, had fine meals, receptions after every concert some of us perfected our pool playing technique. We played hard, and then we partied pretty well too, and believe me, after 8 hours of intense rehearsal lowering one self into a warm, bubbly Jacuzzi is not a luxury, it is a necessity.

So I got to play wonderful music, with amazing musicians, made some friends, partied, oh, and got paid for it too... Every once in a while comes and experience which makes you happy being a musician and this was definitely one of them.

The Bubble

2009-01-26T13:42:00.000-08:00

This was a phone conversation around eight months ago:

Vesa: eyal, do you happen to play the viola?

Me: What are you talking about, I thought we were friends, how dare you imply…

Vesa: because if you do, we can play the concertante together.

Me: Of Course I can play the viola…

So I learned to play the Viola and flew to New Zealand.

Every time I go to New Zealand I come back rejuvenated. The country is beautiful, the people are just the nicest in the world but the best part of the trip is meeting my friend, Vesa-Matti Leppanen, who is the concert master of the NZ symphony orchestra. Every time we meet I learn something new (and not just how to play a new instrument).

This time I learned about the Bubble (or "the circle"); a technique Vesa uses on stage when playing solo, especially with orchestra. I have tried it myself and I wished I knew this years before, it is very effective.

The idea is that going on stage to play a concerto, with an orchestra behind you and hundreds of people in front of you can be a tad overwhelming…

In the rehearsal you find the space around you that you define as "mine" and create in imaginary circle. Inside the circle you are safe; nothing can come in, only come out. You play within the circle like playing inside your room, with your eyes fixed to the edge of the circle to stop them moving around the place (which can lead to all sorts of trouble).

There are three of those circles which increase in size. The smallest one is saved for those difficult passages and moments, the largest one is for the moments you want to include the audience and you can switch between them at will.

Thank you Vesa…

12 Frequent Mistakes During Practice,

2008-09-25T14:56:00.000-07:00

In practicing basic technique – to concentrate purely on one aspect of technical problem without paying any attention to anything else is a grave mistake. While working on intonation, for example, you should always keep your eyes on the right arm as well and focus your tone.

In practicing pieces – practicing shifts without considering the speed and direction of the shift and whether you will use vibrato or not.

In practicing pieces – learning initially “only the notes” without musical agenda is one of the most common mistakes by students. Since the music agenda dictates speed, loudness, articulation, phrasing, timing, fingerings, tone production, use of vibrato and bowings, to say the least, not considering musicality from the very first stages makes the entire process of practicing a waste of time.

In practicing pieces – not bringing immediately (on first practice session) every segment that is played to performance level. Playing a piece or a segment of a piece, thinking “it will be good one day, maybe tomorrow, or the day after…” is never going to help you get it right. From the very beginning of learning you should strive to bring yourself to performance level (including learning by heart), and it does not matter whether you are practicing two lines, two measures or a whole fugue.

Not asking “why did it go right?” – We make a point when thing go wrong but seldom stop to think when we make it right. This is a crucial point of practicing since after spending time and effort and having overcome the difficulty, we should ask ourselves the following questions:

What have we done to make this work,
And
Can we guarantee that it will work in performance the first time we play it (hint: if the answer is “no”, do it again).

Not practicing with “performance mentality” – there is a vast difference, both mentally and physically, between playing through a piece after an hour or two of practice while being alone in a room, and stepping on a stage and doing it for the first time in front of a panel of jury. In the first case you feel warmed up and safe, having played the piece several times and it being fresh in your mind and knowing that you can stop at any time. In the second case you have to perform your best under great pressure and play through the piece without stopping to correct yourself or being given a second chance.
Many times I heard students complain “but it worked in the practice room” only to find out that they never tried to play the piece through before the lesson or did not properly learned it by heart. When you get to performance level make sure you put yourself under the same conditions as a real performance. This includes: recording yourself, playing the piece through with only a short warm up, awareness of where you will be playing (big stage, sitting down), the amount of movement space (never walk around) and performing to friends.

In practicing technique – not making the connection between the technical element you are improving and the pieces you are playing. Did you just spent precious time working on your spiccatto? Why not move immediately to the moment in the pieces you need to use it. Worked two hours on correcting your bow arm? Don’t throw it to the wind the second you begin playing the concerto.

Losing the ideal - always be connected to the mental “image”, or “sound”, of what you are trying to achieve. Never let your hands dictate the music and keep measuring what you actually play to what you really want to play.

“I already know that part” – no you don’t… and its younger sibling: “that’s easy” (no it’s not).

Not knowing the piano part/orchestra part of the sonata/concerto – of all the silly mistakes…

Following blindly the fingerings and bowings that are on the page – not every fingering is good for all players and not all bowings have the same musical agenda you might have. Mix it up, try different things, be imaginative, daring and curious about the sound variations you can produce. Come on… live a little.

Not following blindly the fingerings I gave you in our last lesson – yes, I know… (But it makes sense to me).

About computer games and playing Bach Chaconne

2008-09-25T14:53:00.000-07:00

When you fire up a computer game you enter a totally imaginary world. It can be a space odyssey or an empire building game or anything else, and you know it is not “real”, it does not exist. Yet, the world which is presented to you, as fantastic as it may be, lies within a set of logical rules. The game, and the “world”, has to make sense to us and we must understand the settings in which we operate in; how many “lives” we have, how we can make “money” or become more powerful etc.

The same rules apply to novels and books or movies. You will not accept the settings of a science fiction novel if they appeared in an autobiography of a real person and an historical drama set in ancient Rome should not feature cars.

The same set of rules of reality making applies to playing Bach, Mozart, or any other piece. in this case, you, the performer, are responsible to show the listeners the “rules of the musical piece”, the logic in which the piece is played.

The classical world is full of “do”s and “do not”s and each era, Baroque to twelve-tones system, has its own set of rules to be followed (or ignored, according to your personal taste). The important bit is to stay within the rules you selected to follow so as to make sense in the context of the piece. Whether it is the direction of sequences in Bach and where you break them, the aggressiveness of articulation you use in Mozart, the thickness of your tone in Tchaikovsky or the lushness of your sound in Frank, these are the tools with which you present to the audience their reality and like a good novel or an exciting game, these rules should be apparent and consistent throughout the piece.

This is why the beginning of a piece is so crucial musically: your tone, articulation, phrasing, and even attitude should immediately set the boundaries in which you operate an everything you will change as you progress is relative to what your audience experienced before.

About the Fingers

2008-06-24T13:03:00.000-07:00

I will generalize and say that most students tend to leave their fingers too much on the strings. This tendency has several reasons: most of us were taught this way as kids and keeping the fingers down to secure intonation, the will to keep the hand position and the wish not to move fingers which are “already in tune”. For example: you can see someone playing first finger, then fourth finger and back to the first without lifting the first. Another example, playing a D with the second finger (on G) then needing to play a fifth(A); instead of lifting the finger and repositioning it, the tendency is to twist the finger and squeeze between the strings.

There is nothing too wrong about those examples except that usually the fourth finger will probably not vibrate and the chances for a good, clean fifth are not very good.

When we press a note and keep on pressing we not only have certain pressure in the finger and hand, we also accumulate tension as well, which means the longer we hold the finger the stronger the tension. By lifting the finger we alleviate the pressure and the cancel tension.

When playing in a slow, singing style it is important to keep the hand as free from tension as possible in order to vibrate freely. This aspect, which falls under “musicality” and “sound” elements (see previous blogs for more about the ‘elements’), outweighs the extra “security” of intonation. Yes, you may have to take more time in practicing intonation and perhaps a few risks but the end result will be better quality music, which is what counts.

Lifting the fingers from the string is incredibly important in fast passages as well.

Since there are so many possibilities for error, I suggest taking some time and play parts of your repertoire in a “finger after finger” mode, in which only one finger touches the string at all times (except double stops and chords, of course). The fingers do not need to “fly up in the air” but be released and off the string unless they are pressing the note that is being played. This is a good way to find where you actually need to keep the fingers down and when the possibility exists to free the hand.

Holding the violin

2008-05-27T03:58:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the biggest problem violinists have is the way the instrument is held. The unnatural way of holding the violin, combined with the difference in physical build of each individual student make the whole issue quite complicated and the solution personal.

There are two issues that need to be addressed: the angle of the violin, which is held by the body and the proportion between supporting the violin with the neck and the hand.

Ideally, the violin should be resting on the collar bone although for many players with a long neck it is simply not an option. What I would make sure, though, is that the violin should be stable. When you lift the head from the chin rest the violin should not slip downwards. This is very important because if the violin is held in a steep angle, the violinist would always clasp the instrument between shoulder and neck without any relief. This is one of the biggest causes of injuries, since the damage to the muscles and even bones is accomulated over time.

Another problem caused by a bad violin hold is that the instrument “falls” into the palm of the left hand, meanning that the support for the violin neck comes from the right side (from the violinist point of view). That makes the violinist clasp the neck and makes vibrato, a movement which demands freedom, a difficult task.

How we support the violin is crucially important. Ergardless of the silly notion that the violin should be only held by our own neck, if you clasp the violin’s neck from the sides, leaving the underneath free, the violin will always drop when you release the grasp. The outcome of such hold is that the violinist never releases the grasp from both sides of the violin’s neck, restrichting vibrato and shifting.

The 4^th position is perhaps the easiest, physically the most comfortable position for holding the violin and why? Because the thumb gives the best support from underneath the neck, so the hand holds the violin from the down and up sides instead of the right and left side of the neck.

Ideally the violin’s neck should be supported from bellow and it is up to you to try to find the best hand position to follow such ideal. Some people prefer using the lower part of the thumb, which curls underneath the neck, others prefer to use the upper part of the thumb as support.

The Four Elements

2008-05-04T05:09:00.000-07:00

There are four elements which make up a performance of any piece. I call these elements “building blocks” because they are roughly depending on each other from the most basic form of playing to the performance stage. When practising any part of any piece you should be aware of all four building blocks, perhaps practising each of them separately at first.

The first building block is “Technique”: This encompass intonation, rhythm and “special effects” (such as up bow staccato, for example). Basically all the “nuts and bolts” which make the piece. Mastering this element require slow work for intonation (including no vibrato), careful shifts in “slow to speed” mode, group rhythms and the use of metronome. When working on intonation assume you are playing 100% out of tune and prove to yourself that each note is in tune, and be convinced it can be produced in the future.

The second building block is “sound”: there is no use in playing in tune if you are playing ugly. Working on sound should be roughly divided to vibrato and bow practice. When practising sound you should mainly listen to yourself for any unintentional sound effects you make when beginning a note and in between the notes. I divide sound to three parts “head of the note, body of the note” and “tail of the note”. whenever you make unintentional sounds it will be in one of those three parts. A scratch in the beginning of the note (head) could mean you approached it from the air without control, or use too much arm weight too soon. A swelling mid note (body), or extra string sounds could mean you are in the wrong position with your elbow, use too much bow speed, drop arm weight on the bow unevenly or pressing the string too hard on high positions with your fingers.
You should also work on seamlessly moving from one bow technique to another (for example a detache which turns into spicatto). In short: work to achieve pure sound with the bow and good, free, expressive vibrato.

Once you mastered the first and second building blocks you are “on par” with the piece, at the required to actually do something with it, infuse it with your own ideas.

The third building block is “musicianship”: This element is hard to define on it’s own, because it affects the previous elements. If you practiced the first two building blocks without acknowledgment of the music idea, you probably wasted your time. Style, sound production, amount of vibrato, expressive pauses, loudness and many other musical elements directly effect the first two building blocks and if you practised them without being aware of the musical ideas, you would probably sound like an automated machine.
Yet although musicianship is connected to all the other building blocks I still think it should also stand on it’s own, simply because after conquering the first two elements you should take time and be free to explore your musical ideas and make sure they were not lost in during the long process of conquering the piece technically.

The last element, and the one your paying public will be the most aware of, is “character”: I do not mean “character of the piece” (which belongs to musicianship) but your own character. Many times we lose ourselves when we study a piece for a long time, trying to master the perfect technique and mix it with the “right” musical ideas. Yet no matter how many rules of playing Bach or Mozart are imposed on your playing, the piece should still be distinctly “yours”. Your personality; how you act and react on stage, what ideas and ideals you bring with yourself to the performance and the belief in what you produce, affect the reaction of the public to the performance more than any other element. As part of the practice you should reflect upon what the piece make you feel and what you want to bring to the audience.

We hear so many soloists playing the same pieces, and they all play them in different ways. Regardless of our own, expert opinion about individual performances or style, they all have reached success because they have mastered the four elements.

Record Yourself!

2008-03-02T09:44:00.000-08:00

I would like to discuss the tool of recording, both as a self help stage and as a thing to do professionally.

When I was a student recording devices were either too expensive or two primitive to get but today, for a fraction of the price one could get recording quality devices, even building a studio at home.

Recording yourself is very important as a work process. It helps you to hear yourself objectively, to put yourself “on the line” and to check out “if it works”. Recording your lessons is just plain smart and I am surprised people do not do it more often.

I do recommend for students to record the piece they are working on in a professional recording studio. Most universities have top quality studios with professional staff and relatively cheap prices so once you have mastered your Paganini and Bach, go and record yourself!

Think abut all the competitions you would like to do in the future, all the funding you would apply for, most of competitions and foundations require you to send a recoding as a preliminary. Think of the web site you want to have, wouldn’t it be better for your career to have some music samples on it? So why wait till you are suddenly forced to produce one? As soon as you feel your piece is ready, book a session. Yes, it costs money but it is something that would help you get a career and it can even be a Christmas present from your family.

Before you step into the recording studio make sure that:

You know the piece. You rehearsed it, had lessons on it, performed it as many times as you could, and know exactly what you want to do. It is very important to record yourself privately before the “real” session.
You have a good sound engineer; someone who has experience in both manipulating your sound and managing professional “cuts” (and to think musicians do not edit their recordings is as naïve as thinking photos in Vogue magazine are untouched”).
Apart from the sound engineer you should have someone you trust sitting in and checking you play all the correct notes etc. This will save huge amount of time as you do not have to run back and forth to listen and can just concentrate on the recording. Your “wingman” should know the piece you are playing, if possible know what you want to achieve with it (I recommend you meet a few days before the recording and play the piece).
Don’t take hundreds of takes, you won’t be able to manage it all.
Sound quality is paramount, so make sure you use all the tools to make your sound quality outstanding..

2008-01-11T11:06:00.000-08:00

Humble Pie

A few days ago I found myself staring out of large windows at the raging sea. It was nine O’clock at the morning and the wind was blowing hard. There were currents and side currents and small angry waves and the world was so grey it was almost black and white.

I was not in a good mood that morning, and the weather was just part of the reason why my mood was raging and murky. After all, bad weather is not so bad when you are inside, dry and warm.

It was nine in the morning and I was going to be playing a concert at ten. Looking around I realized that one: I was alone and two: there was nowhere to warm up. The first note I was going to play would be in front of people.

To be honest: I could have warmed up, if I really REALLY wanted to. There was the toilet, or a corner (with heavy mute you can play anywhere), but I just did not want to warm up. The reason for that was because I was about to play in a restaurant.

I am touring Wales as part of Ensemble Cymru (Ensemble Wales) and it is an education all right…

Peryn, the head of the Ensemble is a man with a vision: he wants to bring classical music to the people pf Wales and for that he is arranging concerts, workshop in schools and any other event one could possible think off. You have a hole in the ground and a creaking Yamaha electric organ from 1972? Great! We’ll play a concert.

He is succeeding though and had more than a hundred events a year and you can see he has a vision and is very passionate about it.

Still, I was sitting there thinking “Eyal, you are playing in a fucking restaurant”.

It is not as if I had not play gigs, weddings and other events in my life, but it was during the time I was a student, where you had to struggle to pay for your next drink.

Now I am a teacher in a university with a salary, a career and an impressive CV, “this” said a voice in my head “this is beneath you”.

And so I was sitting there, being angry, at myself, the world and Peryn with his lousy ideas and I refused to find a corner to warm up. When John, the pianist joined me we sat in silence, both probably thinking the same thing: “where had it all gone wrong…”

Slowly the people tickled in, in twos and threes, some middle aged but most retired with one young woman who caught my eye simply for being different than the rest.

They all bought tickets in advance and braved the storm to come for coffee, toffee and music. Two even called to say that they were stuck in traffic because of the floods and asked if we could start a bit later.

The place filled up, they had to bring some extra tables for people to sit and I realized something: I was a slave of my own ego. No, it was not Wigmor hall but those people came to listen to music and I am a musician. This is what it is all about, and it should not make me feel bad. Instead of anger I became ashamed of my previous thoughts and took my violin out, trying to find a corner to warm up, too late, we had to start.

I warmed up on stage, still battling my mixed emotions but in the end the people loved the concert and showed their enthusiasm.

So what is better? The limelight and darkness of the large halls or the expression of a person who hears you play up close?

Thoughts while flying

2007-11-15T00:56:00.000-08:00

VM9

An egg will always be just an egg, but with the right ingredients and a bit of inspiration it could be turned into a culinary masterpiece.

Nothing like a short trip to another county and a few public lessons to get one’s prosaic gene into overdrive.

My visit to the music school in Hanover was interesting and it sure sharpened the images in my mind as to how and what to teach.

Students are now facing with so much information they seem lost. They have books, lectures and seminars on periodic playing, soloists play their own personalized version while different teachers tell them what to do and dismiss what was told to the student by previous teachers. You get the idea…

So here are my thoughts:

The most important thing in music is sound. It should be attractive, beautiful or if the music does not demand beauty: interesting. Sound is your visit card and essentially who you are as a musician. It is the prologue and the entire book, the overture and themain event. Sound is the ingredient with which you cook the egg.

Our job is to produce a clear and concise interpretation of masterpieces and to infuse life and personality into the notes written on the page. However, in the search for the right technique and the correct stylistic way of trilling we must not forget that we are playing music that should be understood by all, including the unprofessional audience, your ticket buying, music loving public.

So what is the correct interpretation of Bach or Mozart? Who knows? Certainly not I, but whichever way you choose to play should make musical sense throughout the entire piece so the public have better chance of following your idea.

Take any Mozart concerto, for example. Everyone want to play Mozart with the correct style, and everyone seem to know what the correct style is, except that they all play different from each other. I do not ask myself anymore “what is the correct style?”, but “what is style?” and “why is this music still alive while so many other composers remained obscure?

What is similar between Bach and Mozart, for example, is that they broke the rules of what we perceive as style today. They used the ‘style’ as a stepping stone and rose above it, bending and sometimes breaking the rules when it suited them. Many of Bach’s chorals are written against all rules of voicing. Try and imitate this in c theory classes and your teacher will admonish you for writing parallel fifths and other sins. Same goes for breaking sequences or moving into unexpected harmonies, basically what makes Bach’s music so exquisite and eventually timeless compared all other composers of his time (incidentally his son was considered a much more successful composer in his life time. Perhaps in a typical youthful rebellion he actually followed the rules…).

When Mozart wrote his music classical style was just “the style we play that is all-the-rage”. What made his music so interesting and funny (funny how everyone say Mozart’s music is suppose to be ‘funny’ but so many play it so ‘seriously’). In his time his innovations were probably seen as a bold move against ‘establishment’ at best or simply as ‘common’ music by the more conformist critics. Yet we play Mozart today as if was the norm, as if everyone used this style. We play it correctly and miss all the funny innovations he inserted into the piece.

If you want to tell an interesting story, especially if you are going for a joke, you must make sure everyone understands the language you are speaking, but today’s audience do not have the innate sense of eighteenth century style, and so they do not follow the essential life of the music.

How do we convey the sense of style? How do we show abnormality without a sense of ‘normality’? In essence we create a sense of expectation as we play any kind of musical sentence. We do it through timing, loudness, vibrato, harmonic movement and even facial and body expression. Sometimes we ‘fulfill’ the expectation (going into the Tonica or reaching a musical climax) and sometimes we surprise the audience and change direction abruptly, making them feel a certain element is coming then surprising them. Mozart’s concertos, for example, are full of such surprises, something many of us spectacularly miss.

How do we create a surprise?

Your audience instinctively looks for five elements in your playing: sound (most important of all), a line (thematic material they can whistle or sing), a sense of rhythm to follow, a sense of harmony and perhaps the most overlooked element: articulation.

You must be aware of these five elements and try to install a sense of them in your audience from the beginning of the piece. You must choose, for example, if a sequence moving ‘down’ the harmonic line means crescendo or diminuendo and follow your decision throughout the movement. This instills a sense of ‘style’ in your audience who will have a better chance to detect when you ‘break’ the sequence. Yet if you do not play the sequences up to the breaking point as if it is going in the ‘normal’ direction you will not create an effect when you do break it. If you pull and push a piece rhythmically you will lose the effect of actual Rubati or Rit.

To be continued… (my flight is about to land)

Practice time

2007-11-08T04:27:00.001-08:00

The way to mastery of our instrument and whether we achieve it or not is not depended on practice time.

The difference between success and failure lies between how we utilize our daily practice, how focused we are on our objectives and whether we are aware of the specific difficulties we must overcome.

Focus and awareness during practice time are the key words for the aspiring musician. Without them the time we spend inside the soundproof room does not reward us with the reward we expect.

I separate general daily work and preparation for a coming performance and would like to concentrate on the former this time, rather than the latter.

It is important to try and plan your practice session not only time wise but also what aspects of your playing are you trying to improve. Take some time before you begin physically playing to think about what you are trying to achieve; were there issues raised by your teacher in your last lesson? Is there a specific technical problem you need to address and does it relate to a piece you are playing?

Take playing scales for example; you can work on intonation, shifting, tone production, vibrato, bow strokes, quickness, physical tension and other issues. What you need to do is decide what you are aiming for every time you play scales. This will make the work less boring and by changing the way you work you avoid mind-bogging routine.

Try to find ways to connect elementary technical work with the pieces you are working on, for example: after working on thirds, shift to excerpts from your repertoire which features thirds.

As for pieces: one of the biggest time wasters is learning a new piece and playing it “only for notes” or “half tempo” for a few days. Although it is a good way for initial practice (I must admit I do not believe in “just the notes” approach) you must bring each line/phrase/bar straight to performance level, even if you can not yet connect the “snippets”.

My book

2007-11-03T05:53:00.000-07:00

Today I won’t write about violin teaching (or playing for that matter) because I am too excited about my book, Rocca’s Violin, which is coming out tomorrow in Israel.
What I really loved about writing it (and to some extent, doing stand up comedy as well) was the fact it is my own material, that I created it from nothing.

As a classical musician I spent all my life trying to interpret the works of great (and sometimes not so great) composers. The notes were there, so was the rhythm, volume, style, harmony and all the words and sign which indicate how to play the piece. In so many ways we are restricted by the rules of playing and try to find our own voice, the freedom of expression, in very subtle ways within those restrictions. Creating something from nothing was a real change and a wonderful experience.

It is certainly something I would love to do again.

Cover Up

2007-11-01T04:15:00.000-07:00

Different cultures have different ways of showing respect. In Asian countries they bow to the teacher, the sensei, in the beginning and end of lessons. In Italy the tradition of the Maestro surrounded by his class at all times is still alive.
Fifty years ago the violin teacher was second only to God (at least in his/her own eyes). Changing teachers was viewed as treachery, no less. The teacher’s musical views were never openly questions by his students.

Thankfully things have changed. Most schools will consider the student’s point of view when assigning a teacher for them and a change of teacher is tolerated. The internet and modern travel modes have made the search for the right teacher an easier task for the aspiring student. Yet with this comes something of a casual attitude towards the teacher, a certain diminishing respect.
This is never more apparent than in student’s choice of clothes when coming to a lesson. Now I am not a prude and I prefer casual wear when I teach. I hate ties and my suits are kept for concerts and weddings, but I am still astounded by the fashion choices some of my students make when they come to a violin lesson. In my eyes, it shows a certain lack of respect both to themselves as well as to me.
All music schools are rightfully aware for the safety of their students, even to the point of conducting seminars for teachers about this touchy subject. Most teaching rooms in modern buildings are full of glass walls and large windows precisely because of that. Yet no one is telling the students to dress accordingly to the situation.

First of all, male or female, you do not walk into a lesson wearing the same clothes you would wear walking into your own kitchen nor what you would be happy to wear in the club you are planning to visit that very night.
You are not going to the shop, you are not going to a party and you are definitely not on the beach.

A lesson is an important event in your life. There are only about 30-40 lessons a year, not counting summer schools, which is not a lot. You should look at the lessons almost as sacred time, devoted only to learning, and should act and dress accordingly.
If you keep adjusting your clothes during the lesson it means you are wearing too little and self conscious of it, so your mind is not focused fully on the lesson.

During the lesson a teacher must look intently at the student’s body, checking the hands, arms, shoulders, stance and more in order to detect visible signs of physical stress. Sometimes the teacher needs to come in to the close proximity of the student and touch them. This is not the time you want to flaunt sexuality, believe me. Personally, I stay away from the student if I feel they are not suitably dressed, so again, the lesson suffers.
I am not suggesting that my female students should wear the Burka in lessons but there is no reason for me to see what you are wearing underneath your clothes.
Personal hygiene is also an issue, I am afraid. Stained, torn, dirty clothes and especially bad odour (both sweat or half a bottle of perfume) are simply not a good way to interact with any human being.

Sound

2007-10-12T12:41:00.000-07:00

Sound!

This is what it’s all about in the beginning and the end. As a kid it was what attracted you to the instrument, as an adolescent it was what kept you going and as a professional it will define your success. Whether people would want to listen to you or not.

Intonation, rhythm, articulation and such are only tools (which need to be fine tooled, of course) but when people come out of a concert they do not say “Wow, that was really in tune”, they say “that sounded fantastic”. With an attractive sound this is who you really become: attractive, and people will be more open to your sense of style and musical input as well as more forgiving for an occasional mistake.

A bad sound is bad news indeed. Correct me if I am wrong but sound is the only form in art which penetrates the body. A loud sound can damage you and an ugly, screech like sound produces a physical reaction of aversion.

So how come so many students neglect to work on their sound?

Perhaps it is because we get used to our sound and do not question it or maybe it is too much of a basic concept for people to question.
Yet sound is everything and it’s the canvass and the colours we use to create the images and emotions we want the audience to experience.

Most of the sound comes from the bow, and the rest from the use of vibrato. Yet most students would work on intonation playing scales and other forms of technical workouts but not think about the sound they would be producing.
The same for working on a piece. You must have an ideal for the way the piece should sound and work on any specific line until the it sounds the way you want.

So many times students come into a lesson saying “I only worked on the notes this week, trying to learn the fingerings and such…” it is a complete waste of time!
What is musicality if not an application of movements? Fast. Slow, heavy, light, condense, whispery, timing, energy… all of these translate to physical movements one must apply to the notes on the page. If you do not learn them straight away you would not apply the right movement or use the correct placing of the bow

Choosing Your Teacher

2007-10-02T07:08:00.000-07:00

A student came for a tryout lesson the other day. My class was pretty full for the year but I have decided to give her a chance because of certain tragic circumstances concerning her previous teacher and because giving people a chance is something everyone should do.

So she came for a lesson and I asked her to play something. She then told me she had not “really” practiced the violin during the summer. This left me in an awkward position to be needing to give a lesson with no material. She did eventually play a piece she has learned before, but it was only showing a certain element of her playing, and could not really do anything else. So I sent her on her way and asked her to return within a week with a full Beethoven sonata of her choice and try again. I also mentioned that I was teaching all weekend in the college and suggested she should come and listen to some of these lessons so she can sense my style of teaching. She never showed up. And I have a feeling I wont be hearing from her next week…
Although I find this kind of behaviour odd; I mean why come to a lesson with a new teacher without anything to show? I was not surprised bythat lesson.

I have encountered such behaviour before many times and it is usually not done because of malice or disrespect (although easily interpreted so). Students who strive to be professional take themselves very seriously , sometimes too much so, but when it comes to the things that surround the practice room, such as choosing repertoire, preparing for a lesson, dress code, etc. many simply let faith propel them to a random direction.

Take choosing a teacher, for example: You most likely did not choose your first teacher and even the one in your teens, but choosing a teacher as a professional wannabe is the single most important choice you face in your professional life. It is more important than choosing the School/University/College you will attend, as any establishment, even the famous ones, is full of many teachers who differ in teaching styles, to put it mildly…
A good teacher will make you fulfill your potential and reach beyond what you think is possible while a bad choice can waste years of your life, the damage could be irrecoverable.

To just walk in to any school and trust you will be assigned a teacher who is best for you is putting your future in someone else’s hands. Wouldn’t you want to have a choice in that?

You hear about teachers through other students and rumours as well as the teacher's own prestige and success both as a violinist and a pedagogue but the best way to find out is to go and sit in other people’s lessons. This way you can experience the event without being in the spot light. You could find out if the teacher is using motivation or fear, if they are technical in their approach or concentrate on musical aspects. You’ll sense their style and aura and most importantly: you will find out if you are inspired to do better. Only after you have sat in a few lessons and decide to try for a certain teacher should you approach the teacher and ask for a lesson. Some establishments, like the one I work in , Royal Northern College of Music, give students the possibility to go for one off lessons. In other cases you should invest money and have a paid consultation lesson. Remember, from the point of view of the teacher, once you approach him/her for a lesson you are interested. So do not walk in the class as if you are walking into a shop. A teacher - student relationship is very important and will directly influence your future.

Now, I can not stress it enough. Come Prepared to the lesson. Know your stuff. Bring two or maybe three pieces. Use something you have played before and are comfortable to play under stress and perhaps another piece which is more fresh. But for your own sake do not come to a lesson with something you can barely read off the page.

I always ask new students the following question: “if you were to be granted one wish relating your playing, what would that be?” - the answer must be as specific as possible ( “to improve my technique” is too general). Many students have no clue, or at least do not trust themselves to confront their problems. They wait for the teacher to diagnose them and produce a cure. Yet even when we go to a doctor we usually know what is wrong with us and want help for specific problems. You should know what are your weaknesses are (and strengths as well) and specifically ask for advice concerning them. This will give the teacher a clue about how aware you are and a direction of where to start.

From the teacher’s point of view, we all look for talent and competence, obviously, but this is not a talent show where the most blessed are taken. For a true teacher the important thing, the source of pride, is to take a student, any student, from a certain level to a higher level. I have seen teachers (my father being one of them) taking on students I would not think they’d accept simply because they wanted to help that person and felt they could, or sometimes simply because they liked the student’s personality ( and no, I do not mean “like” in a nasty way).

If the teacher senses you are serious and intelligent, that you are open but not empty, that you are ready to work and know the responsibility ultimately lies with you, then he/she will be ready to take you on even if they feel you lack perhaps in certain abilities.

My first Mutter

2007-10-02T06:10:00.000-07:00

“Life is a journey” must be one of the oldest clichés yet it is a true one. We, musicians, instrumentalists, violinists, embark on a journey within a journey. It is a long way and very rewarding to most of us, yet sometimes we get tired, or lost or even unmotivated to continue. When I was in such situations I was lucky enough to find help; guides who said wise and (sometimes) kind words and helped me find my way again.

As a teacher and a performer I am in contact with students and professional musicians and many times have encountered people in need. I tried to help them the way I was helped. Sometimes I was successful and sometimes less so.

So this is why I am starting this blog.

Sharing information is what is so great about this age and I am curious as what I will find to say and who will read it and what reaction it will provoke.

About me:
I am a violinist, 36 years old (but I really feel 16 to be honest, and sometimes 6). I have an impressive professional CV, you know.. played here.. taught there... I have lived in several countries and done several different things in my life including writting books, martial arts, stand up comedy, political commentary and...well... more...
This gives me prespective and perhaps some wisdom, but I would like you to judge my words not because I said them but because of what they say to you.
You can find about me at my web site www.Eyalkless.com which will be set up around end of October 07 (I hope).

In the mean time, enjoy!

Eyal