String Pedagogy Journal

1/24/18

The first day of string pedagogy was quick to challenge the ways in how I was taught to set up the left
hand on the violin. More specifically, as I don’t quite remember how I was taught to set my left hand, it
challenged the ways in how I was taught to TEACH left hand setup. Coming from a background that
focuses on large-group/classroom teaching, I think much of my training is geared to be “low-risk”
successful, so to speak, with ease in determining success through quick visual checks rather than deeper
physical investigation of tension. Because of this, I have always taught the three points of contact with
the violin: 1) the thumb, 2) the shoulder/jaw, and 3) the left index finger (which was not included in this
pedagogy method). I struggled a lot with the concept of the thumb being the sole supporter of the
instrument, but began to realize that using the left index finger to support is likely to imply a degree of
“gripping” at the neck between the thumb and index finger. However, in my own teaching I do not insist
that the index finger remains in contact to the neck at all times- as with myself and other violinists that
do use that point of contact, there eventually comes a time (usually during shifting or vibrato) that the
index finger will naturally come off, and if the concept of that point of contact is too ingrained into a
student then I will suggest that that index finger does come off. In these instances, responsibility of the
weight of the violin falls to the shoulder/jaw.

The high/low thumb concept is also something new to me, though thinking back I can think of
colleagues that have used both. Still more conflicting with my previous ideas regarding the thumb was
its role in HOW it supports the violin.

Ultimately however, there is typically a combination of all these different left-hand positions that are
used in playing, and this was discussed in our session. My thumb moves in so many different ways
depending on what string I’m playing on, what finger I’m using, or what sort of chord I’m playing, and I
think that flexibility and freedom to change shape/position is necessary. Unfortunately, it’s not
something that can be taught to a beginner- so I suppose the important thing to keep in mind when first
teaching the left-hand position is that the position is simply a baseline, so to speak, and that it’s subject
to change.

1/31/18

The second day of string pedagogy we reinforced what we talked about with the left hand and the
thumb. One of the key things I did not articulate very well about how the thumb should be positioned,
which can be deduced logically from its intended role to be able to support the instrument
independently, is how it needs to contact BELOW(-ish) the neck so that it can oppose downward forces
without the use of friction (added by sideways vectors via gripping).

That is not to say however that the index finger isn’t allowed to touch the neck at all. In fact, after a
studio class performance just the following day, Soh-Hyun had asked me to keep a “light contact” with
the index finger to the neck when playing the Presto of Bach’s G minor sonata. While at first I assumed
there was a conflict in ideas with regard to what we’ve been discussing in string pedagogy, the key word
“light” resolves this conflict immediately. Light would assume no gripping, and that the thumb would
still maintain primary responsibility of supporting the instrument. The small contact was there to serve
as a point of both mental and physical calmness and stability.

I do believe that the way I use the thumb right now (which relies to some degree on the opposing index
finger to support the instrument) is directly affecting my neck and jaw. I tend to squeeze there way
more than is good for me, especially when things get complicated in the left hand. It may be an
interesting exercise to see how free I can play in my left hand while keeping my neck and jaw relaxed-
this would force my thumb to take responsibility of support.

2/7/18

Moving on from the setup and thumb of the left hand, we start to delve into the fingers. Most of these
concepts I have been exposed to at some point in my training, but detailing out and reviewing the basics
is always helpful in mentally reinforcing our knowledge of playing mechanics. One thing I found
interesting was the brief mention of how the 1st finger (as opposed to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers) does
not activate solely from the base joint. It could be an unfortunate pedagogical error to insist students
move the 1st finger from the base joint, especially when playing on the E string, as it would require the
student to push their hand away from the neck to an improper position. Thinking about how the 1st
finger typically has to curl more than the other fingers to reach its intended spot supports the idea that
the 1st joint of that finger must be activated as well for the finger motion.

Finger lifting and how high fingers should lift (minimal, especially for fast passages) are intuitive ideas. I
just wanted to comment on Blaise Magniere’s very efficient finger movements from the other day when
playing fast movements of Bach- especially in the Corrente Double of the B minor! Truly fascinating.

Vibrato exercises and concepts all seem fairly standard. At least it was more conceptually organized than
my first exposure to vibrato which was my middle school orchestra teacher saying “lift up your other
fingers and just do it”.

Particularly great for me was section 203- Moving Fingers out of the Way. Playing close intervals in high
positions is not often discussed, even though it is a source of intonation issues. The exercise seems quite
useful for getting half steps as tight as they need to be. It may be time to watch some Perlman in slow
motion to see how he compensates for his fat fingers!

We talked about finding positions by feel, and it made me question exactly how we find 1st position. Is it
simply because we’ve played in that position from the very beginning and are so familiar with the
muscle memory associated with it? Or is there a more concrete tactile sensation that separates it from
2nd position, say with the hand so close to the scroll. If we started beginners in 2nd position and had them
play there in their formative violin training, would 2nd position be as easy (or easier) to find as 1st
position for them?

Lastly, the appendix of positions and the language used to define each finger in each position all make
great logical sense. It is nice to have this framework with which to talk about fingers, as sometimes the
lack of clarity in language can cause confusion to students’ understanding of exactly how you’d like them
to play a note with a finger (as opposed to just trying to use the finger ‘somehow’).
2/14/18

We talked about the different kinds of feedback which was interesting and refreshing for me. In my past
education courses from my undergrad we talked extensively about feedback- mostly about external
feedback, as we were learning about how to be effective teachers and how to give effective feedback.
But our talk about feedback reminded me about how we want to guide our students’ ability to teach
themselves throughout the week when they don’t have access to external feedback. Before they can
learn on their own, they have to be able to recognize the correct physical sensations and the correct
sounds for good physical and auditory feedback (I don’t remember what the other two kinds of
feedback are called, but I think they were related to these things). In this, way teaching students how to
listen and how to be more physically aware are extremely important. Though this gets into the different
learning styles we talked about as well…

What I think was very good to outline was the different ways we shift (extending, crawling, hopping,
shifting). When I first learned to shift, the distinction between these ways was not made clear, and I
believe the misconception made things unnecessarily difficult in my development. Even now, there are
certain “shifts” that I do that can be unclear with what type of shift I am using, and that usually results in
the success rate of that shift being inconsistent. Further, detailing the order in which the fingers drop (or
lift) and when the hand moves/slides for shifting up/down & using a high/lower finger really helps break
down the shifting process. The exercises in the book help to understand this clearly.

2/28/18

When it came to how to actually hold/support the instrument, we reviewed the methods we touched on
at the beginning of the semester with the bridge vs diving board methods (essentially whether or not to
use the left hand to support or not), and how most violinists use a mixture of both methods depending
on the situation. We also talked about the positioning of the feet and touched on the neutral straddle
position vs the left-foot-out Suzuki step chart position. I was taught to take a half step out with my left
foot towards my scroll, and the rationale behind that was because the balance of the body is ever-so-
slightly shifted towards the violin. This however was taught to be by a professor who had extensive
background in Suzuki, that may have been a factor of bias. In any case, both feet positions seem to be
workable.

We talked about being grounded as well, such that we rid ourselves of any sensation of holding
ourselves up. The abdominal breathing exercise (prevent your shoulders from raising- you have to
breathe deeper!) is great for self-checking the depth of your breath.

I think that the discussion of the chin rest and shoulder rest is super important, and not a topic discussed
quite enough in beginning stages of violin playing. It’s typically just sort of a ‘feel it out’ kind of situation,
and ‘that seems to look right, I guess’ sort of evaluation. But knowing where the violin should sit
WITHOUT those two tools, then finding the right place to fill in the space above and below the violin,
really helps to methodically determine the optimal place to set the violin. In addition, I had never placed
any thought to the specific functions of placement/length of the shoulder rest legs, and am fascinated
and eager to experiment with those adjustments (though I have definitely found what I naturally feel
comfortable with).
3/7/18

We talked about bow grip- one of the biggest challenges for any string teacher to get correct for the
student. In the perspective of one who has had to teach beginners the bow grip, and often feeling out of
touch with how difficult it can be to feel natural and relaxed in the hand while simultaneously dealing
with the weight of the bow, this was obviously a topic of great interest for me. The text gets into details
with the contact of each finger with the bow which is useful information, but to be shared with caution
to the beginner student as the micromanagement of individual fingers can end up causing tension in the
hand instead.

Most interesting to me was the analysis of the different 90 degree angles that are present in the proper
bow arm and grip, and how this angle (in the bow grip) changes at the frog and tip of the bow. I was
usually aware of the angle of the arm, but thinking of the angle of the hand can be useful to keep the
bow straight when bowing up and down the bow. I've heard many more abstract terms that address
this, such as "leading with the wrist" when bowing, or "smelling perfume on the wrist" when
approaching the frog, etc.

The 90 degree angle I never considered was the angle between the bow and the base of the index
finger. I think this has been a missing piece in the puzzle for me when addressing the bow hand's thumb,
which for some of my students never made it into the correct position. Visualizing the 90 degree angle
here will help my language when addressing bow hold issues.

Lastly, the concept that the thumb propels the bow across the string by pushing against the frog for
down bows and against the grip for up bows was new to me as well. I have an issue with my bow where
the space between the frog and the grip is too wide, and I would guess that my bowing suffers from this.
It's not talked about!!

3/14/18

We talked about the foundational use of the bow, and how the bowing path most natural for the arm
may be used to find the optimal location for positioning the instrument. This makes so much sense, and
is the concept is similar for teaching bass players to find the optimal end pin length.

Also, the concept of the in/out adjustments needed to keep a straight bow on different strings is less
talked about on violin. When taking cello lessons, this was one of the first things mentioned to me when
discussing the bow angle on different strings, whereas on the violin the main focus is on the HEIGHT of
the elbow instead of the bowing path actually being placed more in (right) or out (left).

SPR in the left shoulder may help some right shoulder pains I have been having when playing on the G
string. I’m pretty excited to try this out and seeing if it will make the G string more accessible!

3/21/18

We talked a bit about bow direction (or as I imagine it, the bow angle) and how it influences the contact
point of the bow on the string. Given a relaxed wrist and hand, your hand being more “out” will cause
the point of contact to shift towards the bridge on a down bow, and your hand being more “in” will
cause the point of contact to shift towards the fingerboard on a down bow. This concept can be
explored with kids using the pendulum method to find the ideal spot for their hand to play a straight
bow (though utilizing the different bow directions can create different musical shapes as well).

We also reviewed the natural motion of the wrist, and how the diagonal motion is the easiest and
provides the greatest range of motion as well. Perhaps not coincidentally, the shape of the wrist at both
extremes of this motion also happens to be close to the ideal shape of the wrist at the frog and tip of the
bow. Having students experience the strictly vertical and horizontal motions of the wrist, then
combining them to get the natural motion of the wrist, can help them understand the shape of the wrist
necessary at both ends of the bow.

The other concept that I feel is not always talked about is how the upper arm sort of pushes forward
slightly when reaching the tip of the bow. We talk about how the upper arm motion is necessary in the
lower half of the bow, and how the elbow should extend and the forearm is responsible for motion in
the upper half of the bow, but if the elbow/upper arm was to truly stay in place when reaching the tip
then it would be difficult to keep the bow straight and not fly over the fingerboard. I think this is related
to the fact that all of our joints move in arcs, and the counter motions are necessary when engaging
different parts of the arm.

Lastly, I found it interesting to think about how we apply energy to the bow- through movement or
through pressure. Breaking it down in these two ways (and noting how it’s more difficult to visually see
the energy applied through pressure) helps me break down and conceptualize how we activate the bow.

4/6/18

We spent most of the session discussing the mechanics of applying pressure to the bow. We talked
about upper arm adduction as the primary source of pressure, and the passive upper arm rotation
needed to transfer the pressure from adduction into the hand and then into the bow. Oftentimes some
players will use upper arm rotation as a primary source of pressure, which actually encourages an
abduction movement in the upper arm (and vice versa). This means that both sources of pressure are
necessary to apply pressure to the bow.

It’s also important to note that horizontal movement and the application of pressure are independent,
and both variables can and should be controlled individually.

Pressure is also distributed in different ways through the bow grip. At the frog, when the hand is directly
above the string, there should be a neutral feeling in the hand. However, as the bow gets closer to the
tip, there needs to be an increasing feeling of resistance to supination (or pronation, but passively) to
maintain pressure into the bow. The index finger and thumb (and possible upward pulling with the ring
finger) serve to transfer this pressure.

These factors also contribute to all bouncing strokes with the bow. Controlling the bounce is dependent
on the amount of grip pressure used; less pressure means slower and higher bounces, while more
pressure means faster and lower bounces.
4/10/18

We talked about contact point and how there is a slight tendency for the bow to slide towards the
fingerboard if only applying a horizontal force to the bow due to the increased tension of the string near
the bridge. It can be useful to tell students that when they bow, they have to apply a slight pull towards
the bridge in order to maintain a consistent contact point because of this force. We also talked about
how the bow direction can be used to counteract this force (Perlman story of in, out, in out!), and that
the other way to do it would be to angle the wrist accordingly.

We also talked about bow tilt, and how the ideal maximum-sound tilt is not actually perpendicular to
the string, but a slight angle to the string. This is because the weight we give to the bow comes at an
angle as well, not perpendicular (see above for maintaining contact point), and so in order to maximize
the bow hair use we have to angle the bow to the same angle that we apply the force.

I do think that gravity plays a tiny role in moving the bow towards the fingerboard, as the strings are
typically not parallel to the ground (even if the body of the violin is held parallel to the ground, the
strings angle upwards towards the bridge, so there is a slight slant that encourages the bow to slight
towards the fingerboard).

4/18/18

We discussed mostly spiccato and sautille bow strokes and how they differ. Galamian defined them such
that the bow hair bounces off the string for spiccato and that the bow hair stays on the string for
sautille, but a more useful way of thinking about the strokes may be that spiccato has both an up and
down motion of initiation, whereas sautille is initiated via a compression (and subsequent release of
that compression) of the bow.

A useful way to help a student get a feel for the diagonal motion of sautille is to have them play with
their bow into a hard surface at the frog (or holding a book steady at an angle to them). For spiccato, a
useful exercise is to have students alternate between playing detache for 8 notes, then spiccato for 8
notes. Experimenting with what part of the bow is best is important (pendulum technique is great for
this), as playing in the wrong part of the bow is a primary issue that learners have, alongside having too
high of an elbow and not tilting the bow hair enough.

On terms of what part of the arm is responsible for these strokes, I feel the trend is that the faster the
tempo in which you take the stroke, the smaller the muscles used. For example, slow spiccato will likely
involve movement of the upper arm, but as you get faster it gets more localized to upper arm rotation,
and even faster (as we get into sautille territory) may just be use of the wrist and fingers.

The stroke should feel easy and unlabored, as the bouncing is primarily done by the bow itself and not
by the player!

4/25/18

We talked about how to teach someone spiccato for the first time. Making sure to check for 1) too high
of an elbow, 2) tilting the bow hair, 3) supple bow hold, and 4) playing in the right part of the bow, you
can ask the student to simply try one bounce and can usually be successful. Then two subsequent
bounces at a slow tempo, then seeing if they can chain those bounces together for consecutive spiccato
strokes. Once they understand the very basic and slow spiccato stroke, you can start having them work
on the stroke in context. There are several Kayser etudes that help develop the skill in a sequenced
manner, progressively adding slurs and requiring the student to transition from on-the-string to off-the-
string strokes on an up bow, then on a down bow in later etudes.

We also talked about the sequencing and usefulness of different etude books as they accompany a
learner’s journey on the violin. After Suzuki Book 1, Wolfhardt is great to get the student to become
proficient at reading and learning music on their own. You can have students do one etude per week,
and eventually two or three per week if they wish. This covers 1st and 3rd positions and develops
proficiency in those positions and shifting between those positions as well.

Following is Melodious Double Stops by Trott which is a great introduction to double-stop playing
technique. To round out the shifting and position work through 5th position, Sitt op. 32 Book 2 is useful.
And after these books addressing technique, Mazas is wonderful to develop artistry. Students can learn
about how to make their own musical decisions in these etudes. And lastly, Kreutzer exists to “make you
solid” as it demands lots of independence within your left and right hand skillsets, as many etudes have
a lot of activity in one hand while the other hand does very little.