|
|
This article first appeared in the February 2000 issue of The Strad and is reprinted with permission. Getting warmerNo sportsman would go into action without a proper warm-up session. Neither should musicians – but common sense is as important as fast fingers. Patricia McCarty advises on efficient routines for violinists and violists. Warming up carefully before practice and performance is as important to a string player as it is to any athlete. Whether the player wishes to maintain, refresh or develop technical skills, efficient use of the first part of the practice session optimises the day's musical results, helps to avoid physical injury and encourages the brain to be in control of the fingers. While the basic issues remain much the same for all of us, the specific materials played can be tailored to each individual's level and repertoire demands and may evolve with development of increased strength and facility. After some 60 years of teaching and playing the violin, puzzlement over the differences between individuals led Leopold Auer to write, "How are we to explain the fact that two hands, belonging to two different human beings, which appear to be identical in size, with fingers which seem to be equally long and strong, nevertheless differ altogether in their action? Experience may show that the fingers of one hand need to be kept continually active in order to retain their flexibility; while the fingers of the other may not be used for weeks at a time and yet, after some slight finger-gymnastic work and a small investment of time, regain all their agility and be ready to perform their functions perfectly." For both these players there is a wealth of material from which to design an effective warm-up routine. The components of the warm-up should address each hand's positions and specific tasks. The left hand's success depends upon a relaxed and balanced grasp of the instrument, elasticity for stretching, finger independence and accuracy, shifting, velocity and vibrato. The right hand's work begins with reinforced awareness of a balanced bow hold and arm location, and continues with issues of smooth changes in all parts of the bow, control of speed and contact point, string crossings, bowing patterns, distribution, articulations, attacks, releases, dynamic range and tone colour. Research of string pedagogy would indicate that there exists an exercise for virtually every conceivable mechanical motion of the hands and fingers and efficient time management encourages choosing material which addresses several issues at once. The wealth of exercises can be divided into four broad categories:
Within each category are materials of various levels of difficulty. While scales and arpeggios of one to four octaves play a major part in the warm-up routine and can be imaginatively used in each of the four categories, other exercises which concentrate on specific physical movements are invaluable for saving time. My favourite exercises are those designed so cleverly that optimum hand positions and physical movements happen naturally, such as Samuel Flor's Exercise of the Independent Fingers (example 4b), Sevcík op.1, part 4 (example 7c), and virtually all of the Dounis Daily Dozen. While the viola's size and response characteristics make aspects of both its left- and right-hand technique differ from the violin's, it is in the vast amount of published instructional material for the violin that the most therapeutic warm-up exercises may be discovered. Many of these have not yet been published in viola versions, but are easily adapted by transposing down the interval of a fifth. Some of the hand expansion and extension exercises common to advanced violin technique (tenths, parallel fingered octaves in lower positions) could be injurious to violists, and care must be taken to ensure that stretching exercises are but gentle and gradual increases beyond the player's present capability. In addition to volumes by eminent teachers of the past – Hans Sitt, Carl Flesch, Otakar Sevcík and D.C. Dounis – unique and innovative modern contributions have been made by Ruggiero Ricci (Left-Hand Violin Technique) and violists Pál Lukács (10 Exercises in Change of Position), Louis Kievman (Practicing the Viola(Violin), Mentally-Physically) and Katrina Wreede (Violaerobics), the last two also available for violin. Some of the best warm-ups are anecdotal, handed down orally for generations through the grapevine from player to player, perhaps with embellishment along the way. My favourites among these are Josef Gingold's legendary "One Minute Bow" from frog to tip (and tip to frog), and a left-hand exercise attributed to Brodus Earle, using fingers in sequence of 2-4-1-3 in sixteenth notes at quarter = 144, for 15 seconds. Just as in any athletic endeavour, the materials used to warm up can be both a means of preventing as well as a possible cause of tendonitis and other injuries. In the words of Carl Flesch, "the Sevcík studies, as a whole, may most appropriately be compared to a medicine which, according to the size of its doses, kills or cures... All in all, I regard [them] as the most important and timesaving means for obtaining a modern violin technique, providing that they are used in the right way." The Korgueff Double-Stop Exercises and many by Dounis also pose this dilemma. Common sense dictates a calm mental attitude, hands not actually cold in temperature and playing in slow tempo without tension. A teacher's opinion concerning the appropriate level of difficulty and some professional guidance through a gradual progression of increasingly difficult material would be helpful to the nonprofessional player. Scarcity of practice time is not a problem unique to life in the present day. Compilations of concise and varied exercises useful as warm-up materials for the less advanced player include Hans Sitt's Practical Viola Method, Simon Fischer's Basics, and Louis Kievman's Practicing the Viola (Violin) Mentally-Physically, as well as Marie-Thérčse Chailley's Exercices Divertissants et Pičces Brčves, unique for their meticulous clarity in teaching bow distribution along with basic technique. Franz Schmidtner's Tägliche Studien, Watson Forbes' Book of Daily Exercises and Chailley's Exercices Rationnels are designed to help the more advanced and professional violist maintain technique. Carl Flesch published the first "emergency" warm-up, Urstudien, "for violinists who have but one half hour daily at their disposal for mechanical studies, that is to say teachers, orchestral musicians as well as amateurs of ability and also concertizing soloists, when travelling." Students who aspire to become professional musicians should note that Flesch did not mention them as likely candidates! Urstudien begins with silent left-hand exercises for finger independence, stretching, shifting, lateral and transverse movement, each with prescribed amount of practice time ranging from 1/2 to 4 minutes (example 1a). In total, 15 1/2 minutes are allocated to left-hand exercises and 15 to bowing work. Perhaps the most ingenious and timesaving compilation, certainly the most treasured piece of pedagogy in my library, is The Dounis Violin Players' Daily Dozen, designed to get the player "into form in the shortest possible time." Dounis gently advises 15 timeless, common sense "rules", such as "in practising finger-exercises watch your bow; in practising bow-exercises observe a good position of the left hand. Try to forget the existence of the thumb; never press it against the neck of the violin. Do not strike the fingers with too much force; cultivate a very sudden and elastic spring-like finger action. Retain always a balanced hold of the bow; try to feel every stroke with your fingertips. Cultivate at all times a feeling of absolute comfort while practising." After silent exercises (example 1b) similar to Urstudien, there follows an exercise with the bow which I like to play very slowly, making the first note of every four a drone, as well as rapidly for facility (example 4c). Next there are vertical and sliding finger-exercises, thirds, and then shifting (example 3d). Among the bowing exercises is one "to develop a powerful, large tone" (example 5). To play all twelve exercises carefully may take an hour or more, but Dounis makes good his promise to help the player regain "that feeling of ease, fluency and surety which the violinist experiences at the end of his daily practice." Below is my recommended plan for an eight-step warm-up. Choose one item of appropriate difficulty from the list of possible materials for each step, with the exception of the double-stops (7), from which several different exercises could be played if time allows. A strategic etude (8) is optional, and it could be replaced with rapid passagework from the day's repertoire. Some steps may be more beneficial to some individuals than others, and advanced players could shorten the warm-up to steps 3–4–6–7, played with slow bow speed and constant attention to tone quality. 1. Silent finger exercises such as Urstudien (example 1a) (violists might avoid exercise 1b); Dounis Daily Dozen Exercise 1 (example 1b). After a few moments spent with the bow-tilting exercise (example 1c), these could be done simultaneously with the Gingold anecdotal One Minute Bow. 2. Long tones played with smooth bow change exercise (example 2a) before a mirror to check bow's contact point, then various left hand finger exercises played slowly for intonation accuracy, especially combinations such as 0–1, 0–2, etc., all with vibrato once intonation is secure. Choose from materials such as Sitt Practical Viola Method, Dancla School of Velocity, op.74, Wreede Violaerobics (example 2b), Schradieck vol.1, Sevcík, op.1, parts 1–2. 3. Shifting: one octave Carl Flesch Scale System scales, arpeggios, broken thirds; Sevcík op.8, Lukács 10 Exercises in Change of Position (example 3a), Ricci Left-Hand Violin Technique (example 3b), Dounis op.12 (example 3c), op.25, or Daily Dozen (example 3d). 4. Strength/stretching: Whistler exercise (example 4a), Flor exercise (example 4b), Dounis Daily Dozen Exercise 1 (example 4c) through fourth position with very slow bow and drone. 5. Tone/string crossings: Dounis Daily Dozen Exercise 11 (example 5), or similar made-up exercise with different double-stops, played very slowly with vibrato, and with dynamic plan of crescendo from pp to ff on the down-bow and the reverse on the up-bow. 6. Three-octave scales and arpeggios with strategic bowing patterns and key signatures from repertoire, vibrato work, different distributions, dynamic plan, prescribed articulation or rhythm, etc. For ear training challenge this material could be supplemented with Sevcík (example 6a), Ricci (example 6b) or Glaser/Viola Jazz Chord Studies for Violin (example 6c). 7. Double-stops: Trott Melodious Double-Stops, Books 1–2 (example 7a), Sitt Technical Studies, op.92, book 3, or Double-Stops Etudes, op.32; Chailley Vingt Etudes Expressives en Doubles Cordes, Schradieck vol.2, Korgueff Double-Stop Exercises (example 7b), Sevcík op.1, part 4 (example 7c) or op.9; Dounis op.12 (example 7d), Ricci (example 7e). Experience with a variety of intervals and key signatures is important. 8. Strategic etude to address specific problem, such as Mazas, Kreutzer, Rovelli, etc; materials of step 2 played rapidly, or passagework from repertoire. SOURCES OF MATERIALS
|
| Introduction | CDs & Vinyl | Concerts | Reviews | FAQ Articles: Romantic Repertoire | American Solo Works | Warmups | Spiccato | Orchestra Auditions |
