Violin Playing
BY
JOHN DUNN
Chats to ‘Cello Students
By Arthur Broadley
Preliminary remarks—‘Cello Difficult to Master—Choice of a Teacher—Choice of an Instrument and Bow. How to Hold the Instrument—Attitude of the Player—Use of a Sliding Pin Recommended—Correct Way of Holding the Bow—Some Incorrect Sketches of Same. General Knowledge—Eccentricity not Necessarily a Mark of Genius—Musical Notation—Common Errors with Respect to the Actual Position of the Various Clefs—Tenor Clef Indispensable to the ‘Cellist. Early Attempts at ‘Cello Playing—Firmness in Fingering—The Left Hand—Correct Method of Placing the Left Hand Fingers. General Remarks on Bowing—Useful Method of Combining Scale Practice with Study of Various Bowings—Smooth Bowings—Crescendo—Diminuendo—The Slur. Bowing Continued—Martelé—Detached Stroke—Mixed Bowings—The Various Divisions of the Bow. On “Staccato” Bowing-Spiccato—Slurred Springing-Bow—Varieties of Phrasing Occasioned by the Portion of Bow Used—Sautillé—Dotted Notes. On the Positions—The Individual Requirements of the Orchestral Player and Soloist—The Necessity of “Stretching” for the Intervals—Locality of the Neck Positions—The Enharmonic Difference of Sharp and Flat Keys—Absolute Pitch—How to Leap any Awkward Interval—The Positions not Determined by Mathematical Rules, but by the “Ear”—Shifting—“Economy of Motion” v. “Effect”—Choice of Positions. Portamento—The Various Uses of Gilding—Some Exaggerations Exposed—How to Leap Great Intervals without “Howling”—Combination of Glissando and Sforzando. Double-Stopping—Useful in Developing the Hand—How to Determine the Fingering of Various Intervals—Gliding in Double Stops—Chords—A Correct Manner of Playing Chords. Arpeggios—Their Evolution from Various Chords—The Bowing of Arpeggios. Graces and Embellishments—The Use of the Thumb—Extensions—Octaves. Scientific Basis of Harmonics—Some Peculiar Laws which Govern a Vibrating String—“Natural” and “Artificial” Harmonics—Manner of Bowing Harmonics—Special Effects—“Trick Staccato”—Various Methods of Producing Chromatic Scale Passages—“Sul Ponticello” Bowing and “Bowed” Harmonics—Flautando—Pizzicato Glide and Grace Notes! Delivery—Style—“Form” v. “Feeling”—Conception—Essentials of a “Fine” Delivery—Orchestral Playing.
London:
“STRAD” OFFICE, 3. Green Terrace, Rosebery Avenue, E.C.