Principles of Violin Playing (IX)

1 September 2017 – 10:08 pm Posted in Articles' List, General Information, Instrument & Playing, Western Classical Music

4.3.1. To practice playing of doubles of notes involving two different fingers, each note is played at separate bows with slow tempo, each note is played perfectly regarding its bass and tenor sounds and then the considered double is played at another bow while considering the resulted sound of the double

To increase the dominance of left hand fingers at playing doubles, it is suggested to keep the first finger on the string while playing the second note.

4.1.4. To play a double involving a finger(Quint), player should follow the method mentioned in the paragraph 3.1.3.3 without allowing finger to turn right or left on the fingerboard.

Notification 19: the study of playing continuous doubles which require position changing is according to the general rules of left hand position changing that will be discussed later in this article.

Notification 20: to play doubles, it is necessary to correctly adjust the latitudinal distance of the strings on the nut and the bridge.

Patterns 1/5

Left hand positions

In the different positions of left hand, finger placing should be according to the following essential rules:

5.1.1. at the beginning of doing the practices of positions, in order to acquire a better understanding of the process of finger placing at different positions and to play the notes perfectly, it would be more beneficial to practice Bar by bar the notes playable at the first position, at this position and then practice them at their corresponding position (notes out of the domain of the first position can be also played at bass octaves)

5.1.2. at positions first to forth, as it was mentioned about the point where thumb is placed at first position in the paragraph 1.2.2, thumb is placed at the side of neck, just opposite of the touch point of the first finger on the fingerboard, and it’s better to be in line with it and not before or after it.

5.1.3. At positions fifth and sixth due to the special shape of violin neck, first finger is not in line with thumb and it gradually shifts under the neck.

5.1.4. At position seventh, left thumb is completely under violin neck and after this position elbow moves gradually from its original place under fingerboard toward right. As hand moves to higher positions, elbow moves out more and more and thumb gradually moves out of the underneath of the neck.

5.1.5. The point referred at paragraph 3.2.1.3 about finger placing from left half at first position is true about other positions too. That is, if we assume a line in direction of the finger length, that divides the length into two right and left haves, it’s necessary for the player to touch the fingerboard with the left half of her fingertip.

Pattern 1.6

Changing left hand positions

Changing left hand position on a string due to longitudinal shift of a finger on the fingerboard which results in change throughout the vibrating string and produce different sounds is according to the following rules:

6.1.1. During changing position, from position first to forth, set of thumb and left hand should move harmoniously and simultaneously from elbow; avoid any unharmonious movement of thumb in relation to fingers and hand.

Notification 21.quick increasing glissando of left hand occurring at a short moment and by momentarily passing of hand over several positions, does not follow this rule and thumb always shifts with lower speed and longitudinal movement comparing to hand and other fingers.

In this type of glissando, if the source note is in the first position, from position first to forth thumb shifts thoroughly to underneath of the neck.

In momentary glissando, a part of the distance between two notes in source and destination positions, is passed by opening the interior curve of the finger.

6.1.2. The time spent for usual changing of position over fingerboard is dependent on the optimal tempo in the destination position. The spent time for shifting should not affect the tempo at the destination position, regardless the direction of hand movement; upward or downward.

Finger placing from left half at seventh position

Thorough twisting of thumb to underneath of the neck at seventh position

Momentary glissando and opening of the third finger’s interior curve

Thumb and first finger being in the same direction at the fourth position from another view

Gradual movement of thumb under the neck

Moving the first finger out of the line of thumb at fifth position

This entry was written by Ali Nourbakhsh
Tagged: .

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

Gholamreza Khan Minbashian taught courses such as organology, orchestration of military music and harmony based on the books which were translated from French into Persian with the help of Aliakbar Mozayyan-o-Dolleh (1846-1932).

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.

Latest posts

From Past Days…

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.

New Technique for Playing Classical Guitar (I)

Joint application of the two techniques of “Lip” and “Nose” could be effectively applied for hearing and playing far-away intervals, by the Classical Guitar. Before this, a Classical Guitar player had to waive playing intervals not possible with the left hand, and had to replace or eliminate some notes, making it possible to play such intervals; specifically the capability of the left hand of the musician, was also a factor in such a selection. These methods are hereby illustrated by photographs and a video-file, in order to provide optimum comprehension of applying these methods, invented by the author; specifically the “Lip” technique, which is considered to be a more significant technique, emphasized by the author.

Quality Decline in Regional Music Festivals

Regional music festivals are organized to, firstly, introduce the music of different regions and, secondly, to support its performers. Regional music festivals are held in large cities for various reasons, including the availability of financial and executive facilities and the presence of an audience. However, the organization of these festivals has always been one of the challenging issues of ethnomusicology. The reason is that the presence of regional music performers in large cities places them in a context other than the context they would normally perform in their homes; consequently this change in situation leads to changes in the quality of their performance.

HarmonyTalk Celebrates 11th Anniversary

April 6 marks the anniversary of launching HarmonyTalk.com. Back in 2004, HarmonyTalk was rather a blog dedicated to music. Gradually, however, it found its way to becoming a more sophisticated journal with an intensive but not exclusive concentration on classical music.

The First Saba Student Music Festival Concluded in Tehran

Preparations for Saba Student Music Festival started in the summer of 2016; the Student Music Festival will be held annually by the students of music at Arts University. The first part of the closing ceremony of the Festival was dedicated to the celebration of the life, work and strives by Maestro Hossein Dehlavi to upgrade the level of music as an academic discipline. The name of the award-winning students and ensembles were announced at the second part of the ceremony.

Principles of Playing Violin (IV)

Pattern No.3/1 Left hand finger Placement: 3/1/1: Landing Fingers on one String: In preliminary stages of training, an apprentice should pay attention to the principle of keeping fingers while placing them on the fingerboard. Professional violinists pay less attention to this principle. Novice player’s complying with this principle, in preliminary stages of training, has several…
Read More »

Polyphony in Iranian Music (I)

Despite the fact that Iranian folk music (regional music of Iran), like the Radif of Iranian traditional music, is monophonic and follows heterophony in principal, we experience polyphonic forms, albeit, majorly unconscious.

rooholah-khaleghi-rouhollah-rouholah-khaleghy1

From the Last Instrumentalist to the First Composer (II)

Rouhollah Khaleghi was the master of composing beautiful melodies. He was the premier of the course of history which was first established by Ali Naghi Vaziri and which improved the Iranian music from simply a gathering music to the classical music of the country. First efforts to compose independent and instrumental music can be also traced in Khaleghi’s works.

Developments in Iranian Music Since Qajar Era (II)

Santour:
Nine-bridge and twelve-bridge Sanours were both used until the early Pahlavi dynasty. However, as Faramarz Payvar devised new methods for playing the nine-bridge Sanour, this variety of the instrument which was hammered by felted sticks became popular.

Principles of Violin Playing (VII)

4.3.1.3 Regarding the great linear distance and the unusual distance between the first and forth fingers, the first finger while playing the doubles of ninth and tenth interval, can be twisted in the knuckle area and the point mentioned in 3.1.2.5 paragraph in relation to the way first finger is placed indicating that the first joint of this finger in back of hand must be in line with the direction of forearm and left hand is not true here.