Principles of Playing Violin (V)

1 November 2016 – 10:11 am Posted in Instrument & Playing

3/1/2/5: When the first finger lands next to the nut, continuation of first phalange of this finger, on back of the hand, should be in line with continuation of the back of the wrist and the left hand; moreover, it should not pass them and bend at knuckles. Otherwise, an uncommon stretch is created in first finger’s knuckle also reducing the freedom of other fingers (especially the fourth finger) in finger placement.

In a position which requires that only the first finger move backward and land next to the nut, we should avoid moving all parts of left hand backward and move backwards only this finger.

It is worth mentioning that this case should not be taken by mistake with the position in which the whole left hand moves backward and is installed in half-position, before the first position (such as playing G b major Scale in first position)

NB 15: In order to transmit a finger between two neighbor finger postions, necessary time for this transmission consumes the time of a note which is to change. For example, in playing G-Sharp immediately after G-Natural with second finger in first position of E string, time utilized for replacement is taken from G-Sharp.

3/1/2/6 : As we need to pressure our fingers against the finger board while playing and this happens permanently while playing, so it is required to pay attention to the amount of finger pressure and the manner of inserting this pressure during finger placement.

A: Amount of finger pressure

Unnecessary pressure on the fingerboard causes pain in hand and early fatigue in player while practicing. On the other hand, given the natural shape of fingers and physical specifications of violin, the amount of this pressure on the fingerboard is not the same.

It is required to consider the following points in finger placement:

1- In normal state of playing on a string, especially on lower positions, it is not required to exert extra and unnecessary force on fingers.

It should be noted that sometimes an apprentice presses his left finger against the fingerboard by mistake instead of exerting vertical pressure on bow in order to get stronger voice from the violin. In this way he wastes his energy through his left hand.

2-Noramlly, this amount of pressure varies with each fingers and depends on the length and physical dimensions of each different finger (for example, the fourth finger is shorter and naturally smaller in comparison to other fingers so it is normal that it is considered as a smaller arm to transmit the force.)

3- Naturally the higher the left hand positions, the more critical becomes finger placement (because of the influence of the shape of the instrument and the mutual relationship between the hand and the fingerboard). Also vertical distance between string and the fingerboard increases (and this distance reaches its highest rate in final left hand positions of violin.)

Therefore necessary pressure for finger placement in higher left hand positions differs from that needed in lower positions.

Proper Placement of First Finger (in distance of Half-step from nut)

False Shape of First Finger Placement (in distance of Half-step from nut)

Proper Placement of First Finger (in distance of Whole-tone from nut)

viol.ir

This entry was written by Ali Nourbakhsh
Tagged: .

Parviz Meshkatian’s Heart Beat for People (I)

Amidst the popularity of traditionalism in the Iranian music, Parviz Meshkatian (1955- 2009) moved from Neyshabur to Tehran. He learnt to play Santour and became educated in the Radif of Iranian music at the Centre for Preservation and Promotion of Music which was at the forefront of promoting the return to musical traditions. Despite his studies at a centre which promoted the use of the phrase “traditional music” in Iran, Parviz Meshkatian emerged as a creative artist whose innovative and unique ideas attracted the admiration of Iranian artists and people from different walks of life. This article studies the reason behind Meshkatian’s deviation from the wrong approach of traditionalism strongly promoted by the Centre and argues that apart from the issue of theory of Iranian music, he can be considered as Ali Naqi Vaziri’s successor.

Farshad Sanjari, Forgotten Iranian Conductor Met His Tragic End

Farshad Sanjari, one of the most renowned Iranian conductors in the 1970s in Iran died after fire broke in his apartment in Vienna on November 22, 2019. Farshad Sanjari was not involved in politics; however, he was one of the victims of the Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1979. After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, his name was never seen as the conductor of any programmes.

Latest posts

From Past Days…

Developments in Iranian Music Since Qajar Era (III)

Developments in Composing

Along with developments in the Iranian instruments, composition of the Iranian pieces developed as well. As a matter of fact, the developments of the two, mutually affected each other. In other words, instrumental developments led to developments in composition and vice versa.

Illusion or Ingenuity?

Mohsen Renani in the preface of his book entitled “The Political Economy of nuclear conflict; an introduction to traversing the civilizations” writes:

Women Musicians in Large Iranian Orchestras

It is more than a century now that the sociologists consider the presence of women in different social domains as a benchmark for a society’s progress. They analyze the presence of women in society by the means of available statistics. Unfortunately, as with regard to the Iranian society, statistics related to women’s engagement, has not been available to the researchers, if they existed at all.

Iranian Contradictions: Iranian Chords

Finding a way to harmonize the Iranian music has been the subject of controversy among Iranian musicians for a long time. Some believe in the creation of harmonies for Iranian music based on a method which is similar to the tierce harmony; while others have either selected or invented some other methods. There are also some musicians who do not basically agree with the harmonization of the Iranian music.

Ennio Morricone’s music for Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight

After watching Quentin Tarantino’s latest movie, The Hateful Eight, everyone was excited by its novel music besides the beautiful scenes of blood and guts.
The Hateful Eight is the first collaboration between the world-famous film music composer, Ennio Morricone, and Quentin Tarantino as a famous director.

Banan: the Artist of the Age

Gholam Hossein Banan was born in 1911 in Tehran. He was born in an affluent art-loving family who were Naser al-Din Shah Qajar (1848-1896)’s relative. The Qajar King was his mother’s uncle on her father’s side. He learnt his first lessons in music while his father sang Iranian avaz (improvised rhythmic-free singing), he then attended classes by the renowned Iranian composer, Morteza Neydavoud (1900-1990) along with his sisters; the composer is, therefore, considered as his first teacher. He then learnt Iranian avaz under the supervision of Mirza Taher Zia Resaee (Zia-o Zakerin) and Naser Seif in an oral manner.

Polyphony in Iranian Music (III)

In heterophonic variant, two performers perform a single melody simultaneously and change it. Performing and changing a single melody simultaneously by two performers leads to the coincidence of different voices.

Gholam Reza Khan Minbashian: a pioneer in Iranian music (I)

Gholam Reza Khan Minbashian, a.k.a Salar-Mo’azez, was a pioneer in several domains in the history of the Iranian music. He is recognized as the first Iranian musician who was educated in classical music. He is also the first Iranian the score of whose works were published in Europe. He is the first Iranian to have launched courses on Western classical music and was also the first Iranian teacher of classical music. Moreover, he is the first founder of a string orchestra in Iran, the first author of the Iranian Radif which was available in oral form. Minbashian is also the first Iranian who studied music in Europe.

Shaahin Mohajeri Wins UnTwelve Composition Competition

UnTwelve Non-profit Organization announced the results of its 2014/2015 composition competition on January 28, 2015. Shaahin Mohajeri, an Iranian Tonbak player, microtonalist, acoustician and composer, was awarded the second prize for his piece “Castle of Babak.”

Simorgh Criticised

Simorgh (Simorq) Orchestra was founded by the renowned Iranian composer, Hamid Motebassem, in 2011. Simorgh Orchestra is the largest orchestra featuring Iranian national instruments. Although the orchestra established by Master Hossein Dehlavi, the great Iranian composer, in 1993 was larger than Simorgh Orchestra, it only featured the Iranian plucked string instruments unlike the latter one. The first album which was recorded by the Orchestra, conducted under Motebassem’s baton, was his Simorq based on Zal story from Shahnameh by Ferdowsi, the great Iranian poet.