Violin matters - READING and INTONATION in HIGH POSITIONS in VIOLIN PLAYING

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!

AUTISM WEEK - RAIN MAN

AUTISM WEEK - RAIN MAN MOVIE REVIEW TOO

I saw a movie on TV early this morning on autism- RAIN MAN brilliantly played by Dustin Hoffman as an autistic brother of Tom Cruise overshadowing him completely. Movie taken in 1988 still has such a powerful impact today.

A brilliant mind with autistic mind dealing in numbers and advanced calculations at fraction of a second!

Story of a normal brother (Tom) failing in his business deals finds out that his late dad had just left 3 million dollars to a ‘retarded’ brother (Dustin) whom he did not know, leave alone the autism in the brilliant brother!

So he steals the brother away from the institute for demanding half his share of inheritance, but gets to understand subsequently that his brother had been institutionalized to save his (Tom’s) life as a toddler! And then begins to love him as a brother.

Rain Man won four Oscars- Best actor, Best movie, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay and was the highest grossing film of 1988.

Dustin Hoffman intensely studied Kim Peek – the real life savant, an autistic person intensely before the movie – but apparently after the movie, cut off all ties with Kim’s family after the movie was a success. He did not even acknowledge the sudden death of Kim which was lamented by Kim’s father.

Did you know from 1 April to 30 April it is the AUTISM MONTH?

Autism is present in children with difficulty in communication due to different sensory input and behavior with other people. Autistic children are usually very talented in many ways which normal children are not!

Communication of these autistic children with others will not be normal and hence they may appear to be different to the others.

The Autistic Month of April is to highlight public awareness of this condition in children and to understand their brilliance in life.

COMMON LEFT HAND MISTAKES IN VIOLIN PLAYING

COMMON LEFT HAND MISTAKES IN VIOLIN PLAYING

“I never make the same mistake twice. I make it like five or six times just to make sure!”

Anonymous

Mistakes are made both in the left and right hand while playing on the violin.

It is useful to concentrate right and  hand separately looking  for ways to improve the playing.

Common 11 mistakes of the left hand are discussed and the methods to avoid them.

1. GRIPPING THE NECK OF VIOLIN TOO TIGHT (Death grip!):
   
   

Gripping the neck of the violin too tight between the thumb and the rest of hand is incorrect. This leads to clumsy shifting and tenseness in the playing.

Solution 1: To correct this one way is to lean the violin scroll against a wall with cloth / sponge and ensure that the violin is supported between your left hand/ shoulder and the wall. One can take the thumb off and practice slowly scales till confident of not needing the thumb apposition. Then gradually the thumb can be reintroduced the normal way and suddenly the deadly grip is gone!
Ideally one should be able to support the violin between the left collar bone and chin not even needing the left hand to hold it.

Solution2: Another way to lose the deadly thumb grip is to move the thumb up and down during practice.

A gap between the web of the first finger at the neck of the violin by opposing a cloth/sponge will achieve a similar result of relieving the tension.

2. MOVEMENT OF THE FINGERS (Finger flexion):

The actual movement of the 1 to 4 fingers of the left hand is not at the level of the base (not at MP *joint) but at the level of the last 2 joints ( PIP **joint).

To have the vertical positioning of finger tips, it is important to align the left knuckle in line with the strings and high so the fingers will drop down from above on the strings.

*MP joint- Meta carpo phalangeal joint;

**PIP joint-Proximal inter phalangeal joint.


    3. TIPS OF FINGERS- THE POINT OF CONTACT:

The point of contact between the finger and the string is the finger tip. This is important in the intonation and unlike guitar with frets, is more difficult in violin.

Tip of finger falls usually perpendicularly in a square fashion or elongated fashion the lower position.

Elongated fashion is used in half step from square position, gliding or high positions.

Tip of finger also slats towards towards the bridge. This slant is neither too steep nor too slanting.

As the wrist comes around the violin neck, the tips of fingers generally have a tendency to bear towards the E string side of the finger board.

Violinist with short fingers needs to oppose the knuckle closer to the neck of the instrument and keep the elbow to the right.

Violinist with long fingers can have the knuckle lower down with respect to the neck of the instrument and the elbow to the left.


    4. CROOKED HAND FACING:

The wrist is sometimes wrongly position at right angles to the finger board; the hand wrongly faces the violinist. This position is incorrect.

The left hand should face the finger board so the fingers (and the left knuckle ) align with the violin strings.


    5. IMBALANCE OF LEFT HAND:

Left hand should not have undue tension between fingers. No undue squeezing of the fingers.


    6. CROOKED WRIST:

Ideal position of left wrist is neutral between the flexion and extension. The angle of the elbow is triangle for the upper bow which can be observed in a mirror. The wrist can be verified to be in line with the forearm.


     7. BAD FRAME OF THE LEFT HAND:

Each scale does have the hand frame for the 4 fingers and this mental picture is useful while playing rapidly. Practicing scales is useful to acquire this skill.


    8. BAD LEFT ELBOW ALIGNMENT:

The elbow has the action of swinging from left to right while playing from E to G strings. As one goes down from the E string, the elbow has to swing from left to right so that finally fingering on G string is easy. In rapid passages, anticipation of this movement is necessary to get accurate intonation.

Another action of the elbow is to move up while shifting up. And the elbow to move down while one is descending from a higher position. It is a good habit to lean into the shift while ascending and descending various positions. This improves anticipation, accurate placement of the fingers and hence intonation.

This movement of the left elbow is practiced in anticipation of the sequence in mind.


    9. FINGER PRESSURE ON THE STRINGS – too little and too much:

Placement of the fingers on the string requires careful study of the music.

Active percussive fingers are when the fingers hammer down clearly and firmly on the strings with firm pressure. These are required in quick legatos, in rapid passages.

Passive soft fingers are with gentle fingers on the strings landing softly without too much or too little pressure. They are useful in melodious moods.


    10. SHIFTING THE OLD WAY AND THE NEW WAY – WITH 1 FINGER:

There are two aspects involved with shifting:

• with the old finger or with the new finger
• Shifting with the same bow or the next bow.

Traditionally, shifting up of the position involves with the old finger going up to the new position with the old bow.

The new concept it to shift up or down with the new bowing and the new finger position all ready to be in place by the time it arrives.

Whatever is used, it is ideal to use a percussive drop with the new finger.


    11.DURING BOW CHANGE AT THE FROG:

Bow change at the frog needs to be carefully achieved without scratchy, loud playing. Also the continuous playing is important without a break in the bowing.

Preventing crunchy noise at the frog, right hand plays a major role; however left hand can also contribute in the following way.

• To start, hold the bow 1 mm above the violin. The lift the violin to touch the bow
• Keep the bow change at the frog SOFT. 

•  Just before change of bow at frog, move the violin away from the bow and then do the bow change. This (along with the right hand being suspended from the forearm with the edge of bow hair) will help to keep the bow change soft and continuous.

Acknowledgement:

Eddy Chen violinist