Daily Virtuoso Open House

December 15, 2023

  • What is a “Hot Seat Studio?”
  • Reflection Activity
    • How have the last 3 months on the violin and/or viola been for you?
    • What are 3 things that you are proud of?
    • What are 3 wishes you have for your playing for the new year?
  • Nathan’s Reflections
  • Christine’s question about bow hand in Bach
    • In Bach, how much finger action (compared to elbow level change) do you use to make smooth changes of string at the frog, particularly for 4 note chords? For example, 1st movement end of m. 16 to m. 17. Do you use fingers to help get bow smoothly from E string to G string and back to E string?
  • Chrystal’s question about slurring through string crossings in Bach
    • In the Bach IV Allegro: how can I finesse the slurred string crossing where I have to jump over a string? Ex. Measures 36 & 47. My solution up to this point is that the bow stops and it doesn’t sound so much like a slur.
  • Aasheeta’s question about bow changes and vibrato in Mendelssohn
    • Mendelssohn 2nd mv:(1) Working on smooth bow changes, I understand the concept of pronation/supination, but would like to hear your thoughts for bow speed in relation to smooth changes. (2)Vibrato: Working on having continuous vibrato throughout but also varying vibrato for different colors. Can you talk about your thought process to vary vibrato speeds/width, how you decide what to do, how you practice that? 5 after A, want to make the 16th notes “sparkle” but vib slows down the flow.
  • Clara’s question about interleaved practice
    • In interleaved practice is the goal to eventually go through every measure of a piece and then put it back together in big sections? Or is it similar to “islands” where you only interleave the problematic areas?
  • Lorenzo’s question about detache vs. spiccato in Mendelssohn
    • How do you maintain the difference between détaché and spiccato at fast tempi? I feel like my bow wants to bounce once the tempo is fast enough. E.g. non-slurred 16th notes in Mendelssohn 3rd movt
    • How does rolling the stick/tilting the bow relate to the other bow variable, especially on off the string bow strokes? I think it helps with certain kinds of spiccato (e.g: Mendelssohn 3rd movement, long sequence of up bow 8th notes)
  • Eugene’s E string woes in Kreiseler
    • What are some ways to blend the open E string into the music so it doesn’t stick out? Take the first section of the Kreisler, in measures 3 and 5 we have open E’s that if I play it the same as the notes around it, that note “pops” out more than I would like. My standard workaround is just to play it on the A string, but that isn’t always feasible or desired.
  • Jen’s question about practice journaling
    • One of my wins this quarter has been a mixed blessing. I am listening to myself in real time, rather than imagining what my playing sounds like. On the bright side, I am no longer blindsided when listening to recordings of my playing, On the minus side, I am acutely aware of the many flaws in my playing. Would you give an example of the sorts of things to track each day in a practice diary? My inner critic comes up with such an overwhelming set of issues that I give up on keeping the diary.
  • Kerstin’s question about string crossings and articulations in Kreisler
    • Praeludium and Allegro—a couple of questions within 4 measures. Page 2, 3rd line from bottom. Repeated notes on A & E strings end of mm 2, 4—do I make this string change with the wrist, or does it still come from the elbow? And same line, 3rd measure, how to keep the clarity on the 3rd beat— 4th measure, string crossing on 1st beat, how can I smooth that out better?
  • Victor’s question about spiccato
    • My question is about spiccato. I can get a consistent spiccato at any speed when there are no string-crossings. The problem comes when there are many of them, for example in Mendelssohn 3rd movement, Schumann Scherzo or Kreutzer 8, and especially for me when going to or from the G string.
  • Wrap up
    • Coming up in Daily Virtuoso…
Daily Virtuoso Open House

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