On Practicing

"The road to violin mastery is long and arduous, and great application and perseverance are needed to reach the goal. Talent helps to ease the way, but in itself it cannot be a substitute for the hard work of practicing. Even hard work will be of little avail if it is of the kind that fails to bring results, for there are both good practicing and bad practicing, and unfortunately the bad is far more common than the good," (Galamian, 93). Although I practice a lot and hard, what Galamian said is true, the practice I do is about 70% bad practice. I'm always slouching, thinking about something else: homework, what I have going on that evening or week, finals, and tests. My father has a saying: 'Practice doesn't make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect.' I love this saying, I try to follow it as much as possible; with violin, softball, and even school. One reason why I cannot do practice perfect is because my mind is always occupied with something else. This could consist of homework, what is going on that evening or the next week, finals and tests. Galamian says: "It happens only too often with too many students that the mind wanders to different spheres while the fingers and hands are engaged in mechanical routine-functioning and endless repetitions," (94). This practice is the kind that lacks both direction and control, but it is also a complete waste of time for the player and the teacher. If you continue to practice like this over and over there will be mistakes that are repeated constantly and are rooted so deep it takes forever and a determination as hard as rock to break that habit.

Galamian believes: "both technique and interpretation have to be objectives in practicing. The shape and coloring of a phrase [of music] has to be worked. I9t is very important to have an intelligently balanced division of practice hours, distributed between (1) "building time", (2) "interpreting time", [and] (3) "performing time,"' (94-95). The first of the three is the 'building time' which "should be spent partly with scales and similar fundamental exercises and partly in dealing with technical problems encountered in etudes and in the repertoire,"(95). During this time you have to make sure your mind is mentally alert; this can be done by marching while playing to keep on beat, looking at your fingers to make sure you are hitting the correct notes or it could be looking at the contact point of the bow to see if the bow is sliding over the finger board or bouncing everywhere.

 The second is the interpreting time'. "During the interpretation time the emphasis should be placed on musical expressiveness, the shaping of a phrase, of a larger section, of a whole movement, and finally of several movements, as a convincing unit," (100). For my group lessons and private lessons we have to memorize the pieces so we can put feeling in the song. One song we are playing for group is called Preludio by Michael McLean. This song is very slow, we were told it is very depressing and yet I find if you play it a certain way you can make it romantic. Another song we are playing is called John Williams Trilogy by John Williams and arranged by Calvin Custer. This song has the theme song from Star Wars, Raiders of The Lost Ark, and Jurassic Park.

 VIDEO OF PRELUDIO

Finally the third of the three; the 'performing time'. "The necessity for adding musical playing to analytical dissection of difficulties is well demonstrated by a phenomenon that can be observed time and time again," (Galamian, 101). Every time we practice at group we first practice with the music in front of us but as we get closer to the performances we start losing the music and trying to go by memory with every song. The only people that get music are the pianist and the percussionist.

DO YOU THINK TAKING TIME FOR ALL OF THE MAJOR PARTS OF VIOLIN PLAYING AND INTERPRETING IMPORTANT? IF NOT, TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK IS MOST IMPORTANT.


Galamian, Ivan. "Ivan Galamian: A Biographical Sketch." Principles of Violin:
     Playing & Teaching. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2013.
     vii-108. Rpt. in Ivan Galamian: A Biographical Sketch. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N.
     pag. Print.

The Bow Arm PART 2

Continuing off of the last blog that I posted, I will write about "The Three Main factors [of the bow]: Speed, Pressure, and Sounding Point" (Galamian, 55). If you change any one of these three factors, you have to change at least one of the other two. Galamian says, "[the] increase of pressure with constant sounding point requires an increase of speed in the bow... increase of pressure with constant speed of bow stroke requires the sounding point to move toward the bridge...decrease of pressure with constant speed of bow requires the sounding point to move toward the fingerboard... [and lastly,] slower speed with constant pressure requires a move toward the bridge," (55). When talking about the speed, "[the] increase of speed will mean increase in sound; decrease in motion, decrease in sound. One of the most frequent faults found in this connection is that many players waste too much bow at the beginning of the stoke and therefore run out of bow toward the end," (Galamian, 56) When you have two notes in a 4/4 count one has 3 beats (a dotted half note); the second has one beat (a quarter note), the player usually "[will] want to stay in the same part of the bow, the speed of the up-bow will have to be three times as fast as that of the down-bow" (Galamian, 56).

I will now talk about Pressure, the second of the three main factors. "The pressure that the bow applies to the strings can derive either from the weight of the bow, the weight of the arm and hand, from controlled muscular action, or from a combination of these factors," (Galamian, 57) At the tip, the bow is at its lightest. As the bow gets closer to the frog the bows weight is at its heaviest. "The main point is that [the bow] must not, under any circumstances, take effect as a dead weight, inelastic and inarticulate, that would crush the vibrations of the string or, at best, produce a tone of inferior quality... Any stiffness in any joint between finger tips and shoulder is a spring 'out of commission' that will hinder the transmission of energy," (Galamian, 57). Changing the amount of pressure by slouching can also change the quality of the sound. Pressure if very important because, if you change it in anyway the quality of the sound and the message you try to send through the music can also change.
BAD POSTURE:

GOOD POSTURE:
The last of the three main factors is the sounding point, "tone production if the sounding point," (Galamian, 58). "Other factors in addition to speed and pressure have an influence on the location of the sounding point. These are the length, the thickness, and the tension of the strings itself," (58). The main thing to understand is the sounding point is closer to the bridge, the thinner the string is. This also happens when you are shifting into higher positions; the sounding point is farther away from the bridge as you get higher up the string, (Galamian, 58). 
    There are two main thing about the bow arm that are important. The first is the bowing patterns. There are several; the first is legato. Legato is "the slurring of two or more notes on one bow stroke," (Galamian, 64).

The second kind of stroke is Détaché. Détaché is when "a separate bow is taken for each note and the stroke is smooth and even throughout with no variation of pressure," (Galamian, 67).

 Next is the Spiccato. Galamian says Spiccato is when "the bow is dropped from the air and leaves the strings again after every note," (75).

The next stroke is Staccato. Staccato "is a succession of short, clearly separated, and constant-articulated strokes on one bow, performed while the hair of the bow remains in permanent contact with the string, "(Galamian, 78).

The last important thing you have to watch for while playing is chords. There are three main chords. The first is broken chords; "if a three-note chord is broken, the usual procedure is to attack the low and middle notes together before the beat and then to move over to the highest note in such a way that the middle and high note are sounded together exactly on the beat," (Galamian, 88).

 

The second is "unbroken chords of three notes, when attacked simultaneously, can either be sustained throughout, or else, after the simultaneous attack, only one or two notes held out," (89).

WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT IN THIS  BLOG? WHAT WILL HELP YOU THE MOST?

Galamian, Ivan. "Ivan Galamian: A Biographical Sketch." Principles of Violin:
     Playing & Teaching. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2013.
     vii-108. Rpt. in Ivan Galamian: A Biographical Sketch. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N.
     pag. Print.

The Bow Arm PART 1

For violin I have to do a series of exercises to warm-up my bow arm, which is the right hand. These exercises are 'bow circles', and 'spiders'. The 'bow circle' and the 'spiders' help my arm to be warm and ready to play fast or slow depending on the song that I play. Galamian says there are four fundamentals for the bow arm/right hand. They are (1) the system of springs; (2) holding the bow; (3) the physical motions of the arm, hand, and fingers, and lastly, (4) the drawing of the straight stroke, (44). The first fundamental; the system of springs, is movements that react in the same way as mechanical springs. If you move the bow fast enough you should have a reaction like when you bounce a ball.

The second fundamental is: holding the bow. When holding the bow you have your hands positioned like a fox; put your thumb under the stick, and the rest of your fingers over the stick. Your pointer finger just lays flat but separate from the other fingers; Your pinky sits on top of the stick.
                                
When I was learning how to hold the bow I was told a story that went with it. Your thumb is the ticking crocodile waiting for another taste of the Captain; your pointer finger is Captain Hook far away from everyone; your middle and ring finger are Wendy and Peter Pan because they are so close; and your pinky is Tinker Bell sitting on her perch near Wendy and Pan. The third fundamental is: The Physical motion of the hand. The movements are the vertical motion and the horizontal motion. The vertical motion is when "the fingers, and thumb, in combination, can move in a way that will raise and lower the bow vertically" (48).

The horizontal motion is when "the fingers and thumb can move the bow in the lengthwise direction of the stick and can therefore execute short, regular bow strokes of own accord" (48).

The last fundamental is: Drawing the straight bow stoke. Galamian says "The straight bow stoke from fog to tip is the foundation of the entire bowing technique"...The chief problem is the form of a straight line does not come naturally to the members of the human body (51). There are three different stages to the straight bow stroke, they are: the triangle which is "when the bow is set on the strings at the very frog, a triangle is formed by the arm and instrument" (51). The square which is "when the bow is set on the strings at approximately the middle [which then forms a square]" (52). The last is; the point which is "when the bow is set on the strings at the tip, the right arm is then stretched out nearly straight" (52).

TRIANGLE

SQUARE

POINT

What part of the right hand do you think is the most important? The system of springs, the holding of the bow, the physical motion of the hand, or the drawing of the straight bow stroke?

 Galamian, Ivan. "Ivan Galamian: A Biographical Sketch." Principles of Violin:
     Playing & Teaching. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2013.
     vii-108. Rpt. in Ivan Galamian: A Biographical Sketch. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N.
     pag. Print.

The Left Hand

While practicing, I have to do a series of warm-up exercises to work on my left hand. These warm-ups consist of 'walking fingers', 'tonalization', 'scales', and playing 'lullaby' to work on my vibrato. Galamian says "The left hand is concerned with two basic problems: (1) the fingering of the notes and (2) the vibrato, (12)." The finger-placement is important. Players with short arms and fingers have to bring the elbow farther to the right. The players with longer arms and fingers have to bring the elbow farther to the left, (Galamian; 14). The first warming up exercise, 'waking fingers' is used for two reasons. The first is to get the fingers warm and ready to play the next songs, the second reason is so that you know your finger placement is correct. Galamian says this about the wrist "The wrist... should be held in such a way that there is approximately a straight alignment of the hand with the forearm, (15)."

The movement of the left hand are, (1) the vertical movements of the fingers, (2) the horizontal movement of the fingers within one position, (3) the crossing of strings, (4) the sliding of the fingers and hand together for changing of positions, and lastly, (5) the vibrato movements. (Galamian; 18-19). Every movement of the left hand is important, if even one movement is incorrect you could be out of tune. For example, when you shift vertically you could shift to high and be out of tune or go one note to high. Another example could be the horizontal movement of the fingers. When moving your fingers horizontally your basically moving your finger between strings and as you do that you could accidentally move your fingers to high or not move them over enough and be out of tune on that string. This is also a problem with your elbow when moving horizontally not only do your fingers need to move over but your elbow needs to move also. Galamian says "there are two main categories of shifts; they will be termed the complete shift and the half shift, (23)." The complete shift consists of both the hand and the thumb moving to the new position.

 

The half shift consists of the fingers moving into the shift but the thumb staying where it is. 

 

Galamian says "there are three fundamental types of shifts: (1) The same finger plays the note preceding and the note following the shift, (2) the shift is performed by the fingers that is on the string when the shift starts, but a new finger plays the arrival note, (3) The shift is performed by the finger that will play the arrival note, (25)." I believe what Galamian is trying to say is although the left hand is a lot of work it all adds up to make a beautiful song and an amazing violinist.

What techniques do you use to warm-up your left hand? What do you think is important to focus on with your left hand?

 Galamian, Ivan. Principles of Violin: Playing & Teaching. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2013. Print.

Technique and Improve

Technique and Improve

In violin lessons I have to do a warm-up technique called improvisation. In improvisation I have to listen to the accompanist and improvise a song in that key, whether it be in A minor or B major. A part of improvisation is interpreting the music and adding emotions into the piece I'm playing. There are three important factors to playing the violin, Galamian says they are "1. The Physical Factor: consisting of (a) the anatomical make-up of the individual, in particular the shape of his fingers, hands, and arms, plus the flexibility of his muscular apparatus; (b) the physiological functioning with regard to the playing movements and the muscular actions that bring them about; 2. The Mental Factor: the ability of the mind to prepare, direct, and supervise the muscular activity; 3. The Aesthetic-emotional Factor: the capacity to understand and feel the meaning of the music, plus the innate talent to project its expressive message to the listener (3)".  In improvisation I have to use a certain scale for a certain track, such as track 20, I have to play the D scale for the improvisation to sound right. Galamian says that any scale that the player can perform with different techniques have been completely taken in by mind and muscles.

 

Galamian says "...the nature of an improvisation  in which the artist in moved by the music he plays, forgets about technique, and abandons himself with improvisatory freedom to the inspiration of the moment (7)." I don't think this is exactly what he meant, because if you playing with only improvisation you don't just forget the techniques you already learned but it isn't the main thing that your thinking about as your playing. What Galamian says is partly true, because while playing I don't consciously think about what I am playing or about the techniques that I am using, the information I have gained over the years is just at the back of my mind just visible over the notes that I am playing.

What do you think the nature of improve and the point of improve is?

 

 Galamian, Ivan. Principles of Violin: Playing & Teaching. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2013. Print.