READING and INTONATION in HIGH POSITIONS in VIOLIN PLAYING
READING and INTONATION in HIGH POSITIONS in VIOLIN PLAYING
INTRODUCTION:
Intonation in high position is always difficult for most violinists. There is a joke about an angel who once told a violinist that he could grant one wish to him.. The violinist answered that he wanted world peace ! The angel answered that it was too difficult. But asked what else. the violinist paused for a while and said, "Can I have a perfect pitch (intonation) all the time?" Angel immediately said, " Mmm, what was the first wish again?!"
As a
non-professional violinist, I have always had the difficulty in understanding
ledger lines beyond the D on E string! In fact while playing with real
professionals, I have seen some of them also stop, count the high positions not only on
the music sheet, but also on the actual violin to see where the finger should be
appropriately placed.
At the outset let me say that I am not a professional violinist who spends my whole life only on music; I am a surgeon whose passion is violin playing since the age of 5 and finished all the 8 grade exams in Trinity College at the age of 15 years. Also I am not a violin teacher, not read this sort of method to understand from books.
This
blog hopefully will help you to know at a glance which the high note is going
to be on the music sheet; it will also help you to understand the note you are
playing well beyond the third position on every string.
This blog is written hoping it may help others to achieve intonation and understanding of high positions for playing violin, as much as it has helped me!
I acknowledge that only the brown violin image is downloaded from the internet with thanks. However all the markings of position, notes, ledger notes are my own.
PROBLEMS:
I
have listed out my problems on high positions first and then gone about with
the solutions to solve them.
Problem
1) Difficulty in understanding the ledger line on music sheet
Problem
2) Beyond the 3 rd position, not being aware what actual note I play
Problem
3) The high positions are deployed not only on the E string but also on other
strings like G, D and A. It helps to keep with the phrasing and the tone required.
Problem
4) At times one has to start after a rest from a high position. To get to the
appropriate high position may be difficult. By knowing the spot on the finger
board, the player can climb up using anchor (or ghost) fingers and be ready to play from a
silent section and be ready on a high note.
PRE-REQUISITES
BEFORE LEARNING HIGH POSITIONS:
Before
embarking on the high notes, I find the single string scales good to practice
on. One can play single string - single
octave scales on each of the four
strings in turns, keeping perfect intonation against the open strings.
Then
once the single octave scales yield satisfactory results, one undertakes 2
octave scales on the same string- again on each of the four strings. This
practice can take you well to XV position.
Next
step of progression is to do single finger scales on each of the strings
separately using the index, middle, ring and little fingers – so that fluency
in all the fingers and positions becomes a second nature.
Higher
positions involve the thumb sliding to below the neck and later to the right
side of the body of the violin. All these can be practiced by the single
string scales. 2 octave scales also help one
to shift up to position XV with fluency.
SORTING
OUT THE HIGHER POSITIONS:
I have given a diagrammatic picture of the
finger board where I have given some anchoring position such as the
I
Position with notes (playing up to 1,2,3 fingers) - Diagram 1
III
Position with notes (playing up to 1,2,3,4 fingers)- Diagram 2
VII
Position with notes (playing up to 1,2,3,4 fingers)- Diagram3 and
XI
Position with notes (playing up to 1,2,3,4 fingers).- Diagram 4
To
make matters easier to visualize, I have only given these positions , where
normally I play 3 fingers on the I position and shift on the third finger to
III position where I play 4 fingers .
Thus I have increased the distance by 4
fingers up to position VII and position XI. These are shown in diagrams 5-8.
In
the first set of diagrams 1-4, the notes are marked on each string to enable easy
understanding at each position. By
playing the notes on the violin looking at these positions, the player
ensures which are the actual notes he plays while actually on high positions.
This is important.
Advanced players know what their notes are while playing at
the lower as well as the higher positions.
Diagrams 1-4 denotes the position on the finger board to show where and which finger is referred to, along with the position of the left hand to enable nomenclature of the note.
Diagram 1 Denoting I position with line at the level of the third finger
Diagram 2 Denoting the III position with line at the level of the fourth finger
Diagram 3 Denoting the VII position with line at the level of the fourth finger
Diagram 4 Denoting the XI position with line marked at the level of the fourth finger.
Diagrams 5-8 show the I, III, VII and XI position of the left hand with the appropriate finger as shown in each individual diagram). These diagrams 5-8 show the notes on all the 4 strings as a cross section.
Diagram 5 Denoting the I position with the notes (third finger)marked on all the stings.
Diagram 6 Denoting the III position with the notes (fourth finger) marked on all the strings.
Diagram 7 Denoting the VII position with the notes ( fourth finger) marked on all the strings.
Diagram 8 Denoting the XI position with the notes ( fourth finger) marked on all the strings
In
the second set of diagrams 9-12, I have added the notes as we see them on the ledger
lines.
By familiarizing these ledger lines, one is able to recall what each
note is.
Then the player is able to play the correct note on the violin.
By
doing these several times, the violinist is able to read the high ledger lines
and play the respective notes on the violin.
This is useful also in sight-reading the new
passages without pausing to count the ledger lines and also count the notes on the violin.
Diagrams 9-12:
Also
as an additional exercise, I have given
the diagram on each string separately with the finger
position on the string corresponding to the
ledger line so that practicing them becomes fluent in higher position.
Diagram 9 Denoting the III position with the corresponding notes on ledger lines
Diagram 10 Denoting III position with the corresponding notes on the ledger lines.
Diagram 11 Denoting VII position with the corresponding notes on the ledger lines
Diagram 12 Denoting XI position with the corresponding notes on the ledger lines.
Also if out of the blue after a rest, one is required to play a high note on say G string for instance, one can use ghost fingering silently,climb up to XI position and get the second finger on G .
Naturally after playing only, one is sure of near perfect intonation. But this exercise to make one as competent as possible to achieve an improved intonation.
ANCHORING NOTES FOR CLIMBING UP TO HIGHER POSITIONS:
In each string, single string scales are important for fluency. This is more of a longitudinal cross section of the violin finger board for the player to understand.
But doing the scales alone does not make the violinist know what note he is playing.
I have used the following notes on each string at position III, VI and XI as anchoring notes to enable me to know what note I am playing at a given moment.
This when correlated with the ledger lines makes sight reading of music easy.
While doing the single string scales, it will be worth while remembering the names of notes ( anchor notes) , so that it becomes part of you.
ANCHORING NOTES ON G STRING:
On G string,
at position I, third finger denotes C
at position III, fourth finger denotes F
at position VII, fourth finger denotes B and
at position XI, fourth finger denotes E.
Diagram 13 Denoting G string alone with the notes at I, III, VII and XI position.
ANCHORING NOTES ON D STRING:
On D string,
at position I, third finger denotes G
at position III, fourth finger denotes C
at position VII, fourth finger denotes F and
at position XI, fourth finger denotes B.
Diagram 14 Denoting D string alone with the notes at I, III, VII and XI position.
ANCHORING NOTES ON A STRING:
On A string,
at position I, third finger denotes D
at position III, fourth finger denotes G
at position VII, fourth finger denotes C and
at position XI, fourth finger denotes F.
Diagram 15 Denoting A string alone with the notes at I, III, VII and XI position.
ANCHORING NOTES ON E STRING:
On E string,
at position I, third finger denotes A
at position III, fourth finger denotes D
at position VII, fourth finger denotes G and
at position XI, fourth finger denotes C.
Diagram16 Denoting E string alone with the notes at I, III, VII and XI position.
SUMMARY:
Happy violin playing!
