Exploring "Intermediate" Skills:
It's important to remember that most beginning repertoire for violinists is heavily censored. Great difficulties are usually not present.
A student violinist's viewpoint is often limited, myopic, and there's very little necessity to study the positions, shifting, etc.
Part of the difficulty in training a violinist is exposing the students to some advanced difficulties and growing a sense that a systematic understanding of the positions will be an invaluable skill.
Think about difficulties on a scale of (1-10), 10 being the most difficult.
-Students will be somewhat bored with material from (1-5), unless used in creative review (additional bow usage requirements, memorization, etc.)
-Students will adapt to material best in the 6-8 range.
-Material in the 9-10 difficult range is usually harmful, slow, unproductive.
What's the purpose of this "intermediate" stage?
The purpose of this intermediate stage is to:
- Expand students capabilities when it comes to left hand problems:
Vibrato, Shifting, Double stops.
- An evolving, systematic approach to position work. Elementary exercises and scales in each position.
- Practice Techniques: Techniques for practicing passage work. Continued metronome work.
Techniques for finding a relaxed and easy sense of touch on the fingerboard.
- Further develop expressive control over the bow
- Guide students through more labyrinthine repertoire. Vivaldi and Bach Concertos.
- Students become aware expanding possibilities (tonal, shifting, vibrato, bowing variety)
In many ways, this is the most exciting and most awkward area of student development.
Before moving on from this stage, both teacher and student should be confident that note reading skills and practicing skills are significantly strong. There are necessary growing pains, and student are forced to take a little bit more initiative.
The repertoire selections are starting to include works one might see in a professional concert setting.
Students start to see a worlds of new difficulties and opportunities open up.
In order to move forward, many students are forced to re-evaluate any inefficient practice habits.
Almost unbelievably, some students may progress this far, simply through mindless repetition. It's necessary and important to find out where students' practice abilities start to fail.
"Failing," making mistakes, is essential to learning and most mistakes can be savored as gleeful "A-ha!" moments.
It's important to remember that most beginning repertoire for violinists is heavily censored. Great difficulties are usually not present.
A student violinist's viewpoint is often limited, myopic, and there's very little necessity to study the positions, shifting, etc.
Part of the difficulty in training a violinist is exposing the students to some advanced difficulties and growing a sense that a systematic understanding of the positions will be an invaluable skill.
Think about difficulties on a scale of (1-10), 10 being the most difficult.
-Students will be somewhat bored with material from (1-5), unless used in creative review (additional bow usage requirements, memorization, etc.)
-Students will adapt to material best in the 6-8 range.
-Material in the 9-10 difficult range is usually harmful, slow, unproductive.
What's the purpose of this "intermediate" stage?
The purpose of this intermediate stage is to:
- Expand students capabilities when it comes to left hand problems:
Vibrato, Shifting, Double stops.
- An evolving, systematic approach to position work. Elementary exercises and scales in each position.
- Practice Techniques: Techniques for practicing passage work. Continued metronome work.
Techniques for finding a relaxed and easy sense of touch on the fingerboard.
- Further develop expressive control over the bow
- Guide students through more labyrinthine repertoire. Vivaldi and Bach Concertos.
- Students become aware expanding possibilities (tonal, shifting, vibrato, bowing variety)
In many ways, this is the most exciting and most awkward area of student development.
Before moving on from this stage, both teacher and student should be confident that note reading skills and practicing skills are significantly strong. There are necessary growing pains, and student are forced to take a little bit more initiative.
The repertoire selections are starting to include works one might see in a professional concert setting.
Students start to see a worlds of new difficulties and opportunities open up.
In order to move forward, many students are forced to re-evaluate any inefficient practice habits.
Almost unbelievably, some students may progress this far, simply through mindless repetition. It's necessary and important to find out where students' practice abilities start to fail.
"Failing," making mistakes, is essential to learning and most mistakes can be savored as gleeful "A-ha!" moments.
Suggested Repertoire for the "Intermediate" Stage
Large Scale Works: Vivaldi Concerto in A minor, All Bach Concerto in A minor, All Short Pieces (easier): Minuet from the Reine Symphony, Haydn, (Bb major) Minuet, Boccherini (A major) On Wings of Song, Mendelssohn, (Bb major) La Cinquantaine (The Golden Wedding), Gabriel-Marie (A minor) Romance, Rubinstein, (A major) Gondellied (Boat Song), Bohm (G minor) Les Tendres Plaintes, Rameau (F major) Night Winds, Drdla (D major) Allegro, Fiocco (G major) Short pieces (more challenging) Clog Dance, Seybold (D major) Fur d'Elise, Beethoven (A minor) Berceuse, Grieg (G major, G minor) The Swan, Saint-Saens (G major) Perpetual Motion, Seitz (A major) Rondo, Mozart (D major) Waltz from "Faust," Gounod (D major) |
Notes: Primarily 1st and 3rd position, some 2nd, 4th Positions 1, 2 ,3 ,4: advanced pattern recognition Limited 3rd position work 1st and 3rd position only 1st and 3rd position only 1st and 3rd position only 1st and 3rd position only Learn it in 1st position, then add positions at will. 1st and 3rd position only Perpetual motion, 1st and 3rd position Perpetual motion, rapid mordents and bow coordination Excellent piece to introduce left hand pizz. Mostly 1st position. Extremely popular Harmonics, high shifting Shifting over cantabile playing Promotes rounded fingers A challenging introductory Mozart work Arpeggios, and fast, running passages
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Beginning Position Study and the Vibrato:
By far, the most efficient gateway to both vibrato and easy position work is the text by Siegfried Eberhardt:
"Violin Vibrato: Its Mastery and Artistic Uses; Practical Suggestions for Correct Technical Development and Good Violin Tone Production"
The practical application pages in the back are an excellent resource. Extremely efficient and to the point.
It's a public domain ebook, and also sometimes available on Amazon.com.
For younger students, the Fischbach/Frost "Viva Vibrato!" text and DVD is extremely useful, but for the most part, a hand/wrist vibrato can be taught easily in a couple of 3rd and 4th position scales, and I find myself abandoning Fischbach for the more complete Eberhardt book. "Vibby Vibrato" is another option, but too lengthy and indirect for my tastes, and directed at VERY young students.
My experience has been that a hand and wrist vibrato relies on a relaxed and efficient setup of the left hand. Vibrato can be a stumbling block for students, especially students that have ignored advice about excessive finger pressure and hand posture.
However, once a hand/wrist vibrato is formed, there seems to be very little difficulty in producing a arm vibrato, or combination arm and hand vibrato in the lower positions.
One of the most remarkable quotes I've come across are from Fischbach in his Vibrato DVD:
He begins moving a student's fingers back and forth to create a vibrato motion. He says something to the effect of;
"Sometimes, it just works, and you can avoid having to teach a vibrato."
Kato Havas, in her books states unequivocally that "There is no vibrato." It's simply the result of a well set-up hand.
That's a neat concept!
By far, the most efficient gateway to both vibrato and easy position work is the text by Siegfried Eberhardt:
"Violin Vibrato: Its Mastery and Artistic Uses; Practical Suggestions for Correct Technical Development and Good Violin Tone Production"
The practical application pages in the back are an excellent resource. Extremely efficient and to the point.
It's a public domain ebook, and also sometimes available on Amazon.com.
For younger students, the Fischbach/Frost "Viva Vibrato!" text and DVD is extremely useful, but for the most part, a hand/wrist vibrato can be taught easily in a couple of 3rd and 4th position scales, and I find myself abandoning Fischbach for the more complete Eberhardt book. "Vibby Vibrato" is another option, but too lengthy and indirect for my tastes, and directed at VERY young students.
My experience has been that a hand and wrist vibrato relies on a relaxed and efficient setup of the left hand. Vibrato can be a stumbling block for students, especially students that have ignored advice about excessive finger pressure and hand posture.
However, once a hand/wrist vibrato is formed, there seems to be very little difficulty in producing a arm vibrato, or combination arm and hand vibrato in the lower positions.
One of the most remarkable quotes I've come across are from Fischbach in his Vibrato DVD:
He begins moving a student's fingers back and forth to create a vibrato motion. He says something to the effect of;
"Sometimes, it just works, and you can avoid having to teach a vibrato."
Kato Havas, in her books states unequivocally that "There is no vibrato." It's simply the result of a well set-up hand.
That's a neat concept!
violin_vibrato_-_sigfried_eberhardt.pdf | |
File Size: | 1654 kb |
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vibrato_exercises_only.pdf | |
File Size: | 7251 kb |
File Type: |
By this point, students have gotten their feet wet in the following areas:
- Larger-scale pieces in the first position.
- Some basic position work: Modal scales in 7 positions. 3 Octave scales (all!).
- Reviewing easy pieces in several positions (1-5).
- Students should be learning a wrist/hand vibrato in the 3rd and 4th positions, followed by the introduction of arm vibrato in the lower positions.
However, students at this stage are nowhere near ready to begin Romantic concertos, Mozart Concertos, and pieces that frequently and expressively use position work, double stops and extensions. Most of Kreutzer's etudes are still off limits. Students rarely have a systematic understanding of the 7 positions at this stage.
It's important to be empathetic with students at this stage as well. Most students off the violin have no idea what they're getting themselves into for the first several years of violin study. The scope of it all can be overwhelming! But there's no hurry. Student's have their whole lives ahead of them for violin study, and everyone moves at their own pace. Some students will understand concepts quickly, and be able to start serious professional-level studies and pieces. Other students will take more time to adjust.
- Larger-scale pieces in the first position.
- Some basic position work: Modal scales in 7 positions. 3 Octave scales (all!).
- Reviewing easy pieces in several positions (1-5).
- Students should be learning a wrist/hand vibrato in the 3rd and 4th positions, followed by the introduction of arm vibrato in the lower positions.
However, students at this stage are nowhere near ready to begin Romantic concertos, Mozart Concertos, and pieces that frequently and expressively use position work, double stops and extensions. Most of Kreutzer's etudes are still off limits. Students rarely have a systematic understanding of the 7 positions at this stage.
It's important to be empathetic with students at this stage as well. Most students off the violin have no idea what they're getting themselves into for the first several years of violin study. The scope of it all can be overwhelming! But there's no hurry. Student's have their whole lives ahead of them for violin study, and everyone moves at their own pace. Some students will understand concepts quickly, and be able to start serious professional-level studies and pieces. Other students will take more time to adjust.