Ivan Galamian Discussion of nie bing in general was one of first topics approached with Ivan Galamian. Regardin i: St wrath in violin pedagogy, Mr. Galamian sag “Children are not given enough technical groundwork. Many matured performers are handicapped because they fail to Possess the necessary equipment indispensable to express their Musical ideas. There can be no doubt that this is attributable to technical under-development in their early student years, Teachers must know how to correctly meet each problem at the correct time, First emphasis should be placed on teaching absolute and un changeable values, which are:— the development of accuracy of intonation, mastery of the fingers and the bow, technic of sound, mastery of vibrato, different glissandi, connections in bow changes accents, etc., etc. In short, the first goal must be perféct control of the instrument. And, of extreme importance,” he added, “is comfort while playing.” I asked, “If a young student has already developed a great technical facility, do you feel that he should then devote himself to a study of works requiring depth and intellect?” “By all means,” Mr. Galamian said. “Even though not emotion- ally and intellectually ready, it would substantially assist in. his general musical development. Having acquired the control of the instrument, practically his entire time should then be devoted to studying the repertoire, both from the musical and interpretive viewpoints. Chamber music should also be earnestly studied.” “What about the influence of recordings on thie musical develop- ment of the students?” we asked him. “You have touched on a very important point,” he replied. 340Tn 1971 in Ivan Galamian’s apartment in New York City, with Samuel Applebaum. They always enjoy discussing teaching technics, “Recordings can be of a very great help and inspiration for a student, but, if they are used as the only basis of interpretive approach, they can become dangerous to the individual develop- ment of the student. Much can be learned from recordings, but they should not be allowed to have too great an influence lest they lead to uniformity of performance.” “Thave often received requests from teachers for my opinion on the So-called ‘dry’ exercises.” : Ta small degree they are helpful but I am not in favor of Practicing purely mechanical exercises for hours and hours at a time. I think that much better results will be achieved if the student, 341; ds his time on practicing etudes and capri invead "ean musical content. Technic should not be comps divorced from emotional values. In other words, technic cant facile, quickly applicable to the mood expressed and to th. = be pretative thought of the composer. Technic must be regardet secondary to an ability to employ it correctly, as Mr. Galamian has had a tremendous amount of experience teaching gifted youngsters in all stages of their development asked a few specific questions. mt “Let us begin then, with a fundamental—that of holdin violin,” he suggested. “There are two differing points of = both quite generally accepted. One, is that the correct manner ; to hold the violin with the support of the hand, chin Pressure coming to play when shifts are made. The other, a firm ho d a the instrument between chin and shoulder.” “Heifetz holds his violin that way,” I said, “and Milstein holds his between his chin and collar bone, not against his shoulder,” “Yes, Milstein uses the jaw bone and collar bone with the lef hand holding his instrument most of the time. We must realize that there are no two men of like physical build and what one may favor might be utterly against the opinion of the other,” “Which manner do you generally prefer?” “T much prefer to let the violin rest on the shoulder, It is my opinion that in this way there is greater freedom, but I do not mean to imply that good results cannot be obtained when the hand is the suporting medium.” “Oh, I grant you that. Milstein provesit brilliantly!” I exclaimed, Then, “What do you think about the use of a pad or cushion, Mr. Galamian?” He replied, “In principle, it is better not to employ such means because any additional equipment is apt to be disturbing. For certain violinists, particularly for those whose necks are long, a support, such as a pad or cushion, provides undeniable aid. Other- wise, they would by necessity, be compelled to raise their shoulders too high, which would tend toward a cramped position. That, of course, would be tiring, would effect the vibrato and the free function of the left hand as well.” 342remarked? “Since the left thumb is 56 ae ne frequently made it a point to request ar we I 7 thumb positions for me. I have observed that h the ions in thumb technique, Would ther vai ‘a 5 point? on i ee that the thumb rest slight! the first finger. I might say, howeve; weeciously attempt to control their thumb iP eciries who trouble than those who permit it to find its Position a = if the thumb is placed further up on the neck, ice., Came first and second fingers, the hand position becomes unnatural, scrained and affecting the vibrato. It will be found that players wh, use arm vibrato usually have their thumb well up, whereas Nias who use a wrist and finger vibrato keep their thumb well down, often almost under the neck of the violin.” “How should the thumb be placed above the first position— say, in the third?” “1 would recommend keeping it in relatively the same manner as in the first position, perhaps slightly lower on the neck. And, I ask my pupils to maintain that relationship as they go to the sixth and seventh positions. Above that, the thumb should move only slightly and let the fingers extend to reach the higher notes.” “But, suppose the thumb is too short to allow the fingers to reach for the higher positions, what then do you suggest?” “In such cases, the thumb would have to be brought around to rest against the rib, or side of the violin.” “That, of course, poses a problem, as a difficulty arises in its return to the correct position on the neck!” “That does present a difficulty. At the moment the thumb is brought back from the rib to the neck there must be a firm pressure of the violinist’s chin to maintain secure hold of the violin.” On the subject of bow technique, I said: “We know the general tules for holding the violin bow, that they are flexible and must be varied to suit the individual, but I should like to ask some questions Ss to finger placement on the stick; such as o or mee index and middle fingers, and between the rd. lesome, | eMonstrate © are man YOu express your ss ly farther down the ey 343Holding the bow to demonstrate, Mr. Galamj proper spacing of the fingers when holding ¢h mian Feplicg. « to the player; I can best answer your ae a is dist, i fee ee a separating the first, bY showing gers, same distance...” y nl “And the thumb?” we asked. ° “The thumb should be opposite the mi “What about the little finger, seat of those nai the middle of the bow? Do you a cs the upp leave the stick?” w the little finget ° 4 “You will see,” as he demonstrated. “Lifti a ° ee I prefer that it remains in contact - the little finger j ttle pressure at the tip. As o 7 but with n ‘ pressure should be nen d i approaches the frog, ho a also say that the lite finger a order to maintain balance, | of the bow rather than asa rest slightly on = Sno “Slightly towards the palm of gaia! the top.” ar “Precisely,” h 7 ly,” he nodded. “Concerning the change of thi would you advise to —— oer oe Mr. Galamian, Generally, this is caused b Jers, particularly at the fe oe speed of the stroke at the peas ri unconscious acceleratio; i about either by the ar to the change. This may b; n. of the “In order to correct ee ‘7 = ia manner a pupil the fault we must determi ote ly what I would do. The logical speed of his hl a the opposite. That is, if = a relied , : , if he a have him cnonien et an action of the fingers aria ff the wrist causes the j making bow changes with em haw) eliminatioy c jerky bow chan, aoe is overco z of the wrist motion and u: Be. 1 maggest the ample “| ndersand . se of arm until the bad habit t wens bows change with the x ou believe it possible to make a smooth ‘Oh yes : rm, and witho en yes, certainly! ut the wrist? and also ne 'y! As the pupil bri © wrist? slightly. In ne the tip, I suggest Fel _ bow toward the £98 ~ In this manner I have { retarding the movement very e found it possible to eliminate + nh in B 8 tha and thingby overcoming the tendence re : yw aang I find that it works y anc y be Y tO make the ef! r a ery well,” apidly arm bow change should bea at an recommend that chat 7 suld you ao “we actic y yes. However, anent pr I would say yes, Hi ; eelop i ycr mot P : some = p a slight wrist or finge “Ts. develop a slig ly ae orally M time a Pupil wil] ton which is not of se the fingers generally in making the bow ance. | a the point. What is ‘Mportant is not how . but that = of stroke, but the speed at which - per one the enange He demonstrated, with a very ick Ow we aa 3s it i8 _“_ see, I did not use any wrist at all. at the frog. at th v,”” I suggested, ; e tip and play an up-bow,” I gg change ; start at the p s sta e tip,” he demonstrated, “it -bow at the tip, ¢ : — bo wimoyes.UP " htly below the middle, the upper » bo iol s n. Suughtly “As the » lower arm ith the with starts d e ie Wo ena ts ver he wrist and then y close to the frog, it is th it gets very as it g' an arm, motion. ittle finger © little very i e bow arm. ion, now centering on the tinuing discussion, Aconnot believe in sending the fingers aheaq>» re various speeds. There is the speed : , upper arm, of the fingers—the coordinati Of the lower army i Pakes a good bow stroke. Yet if T had a these arious speeds makes : could make a successful bow change without the finger beh uld leave him alone.” j ReNiow: about the amount of hair used in drawing the i dines uate of the bow hair at the frog “Then you do “No. You see, there a you advocate about “Yes, that is so.”” “Would you advise using the full hair for practice , . “Definitely not. Taking into consideration that the frog natural weight, the amount of hair should be less than at the poi to compensate for the lessening of the weight as we approach ie tip. As we pass the middle of the bow, gradually flatten the bow hair so that practically all of the hair is used at the point.” “What would you suggest when playing long strokes in double forte?” “In double forte passages it is desizable to use the flat of the hair even before reaching the middle. This is not to be done by turing the bow with the fingers, but by actually flattening the wrist, Now,” he added, “when playing quick martelé strokes at the tip, not only should we use the flat of the hair, but the bow stick may be turned slightly toward the player instead of toward the scroll. It creates greater resistance.” We next talked about the staccato stroke. “How do you present it?” “Well, we know there are two kinds. The rhythmic staccato which has as its basis a fast martelé where the notes are actually executed with a finger motion, and of course, the fast staccato taken with stiff arm.” “T have never seen a player with a fast staccato and relaxed arm.” “That would be most rare. It is the stiff arm which gives the bow the required impetus.” “I know how difficult it is to make definite rules for the pet formance of this stroke. Some performers can execute it wi gteater speed than others.” : T agree with you. The speed is very difficult to control. Pupils 346w the bow in towards the body when he yccatr tend to draw away from the bod the a That process is very much an individ grace for the bow to gradually draw closer to ¢ is bes w, and for the bow to draw away from opr” yet there are some who do just as well vic “ jnteresting, phase of the staccato, yet a This is a Ge discussed practice suggestions for pupils, “My tive i isto divide the staccato passage in very small aha oe wally Jengthen the section by adding a note each time. In devel 8 xd Z the martelé staccato, T ask the pupil first to ogra ee ig separate notes, at the tip, using fingers only, and then to oy ewo, three and four, etc., notes in one bow. The same ee js to be followed in doing the stiff-arm staccato, the object being,” he elucidated, “to use as little bow as possible.” co “Do you think that the two types of staccato can be studied gimultaneously?” “Of course—by all means.” “will you say a word about the difference in pressure on the stick between the two strokes?” “An interesting thought,” Galamian complied. “In the slow staccato which is based on the martelé, the pressure is released between each stroke. But in the fast, nervous, staccato, the pressure is constant, so that it might be considered a series of stops but with the pressure remaining the same on the bow.” Vibrato was discussed. Some artists favor the arm, some the wrist, and some the finger, and others feel it is essential to have all three, Mr. Galamian’s comments: “I agree with those who feel that all three are necessary. But, it is also important that the player have complete freedom in the use of each. By this I mean specific ally to be able to go from one to another without difficulty. He added, “A pupil should be able to play a tone which has a white sound, no vibrato. He should then be able to use the finger . Vibrato, the wrist, and even the wide-arm vibrato. For a goo vibrato,” he pointed out, “cannot have just one of these alone for ey length of time. There must be a combination of i ted tween these phases of the vibrato, there lie about 4 Y 89 up-bow on y on down-bow ual matter. I fee] j : t he body on staccato the body on down- 347Mr. and Mrs. Galamian with Sada Applebaum in 1950. Their two large boxers loved to join in the socializing. types of vibrato. Yes, it is the innumerable variations and combina- tions of these three which produce the great art in connection with the vibrato!” “Tt is difficult to discuss with pupils just how active the wrist should be, and how passive the arm, or how active the fingers, and how passive the wrist.” About those passages where the notes are too fast for vibrato with the wrist, finger, or arm, Galamian said, “When one desires to play various passages with additional warmth, I ask the pupil to adopt a rather flat finger action. That, Of course, requires flexibility of the joint. The object in this case is to have the finger action include more of the flesh or pad of the 348hat means letting the finger break g diet yorite passages do you prescribe oe a : E Irato With ane plied, Any CXPFESSIVE Passages too fast for ‘¢.can find many examples in the Tg i Wrist second movement of Schumann's ji literat sin Brahms’ D minor, and G stator face So ONnatas, oaths frat fa at the joing.” ges He Fe OF arm We. For Mata, ete, br es the cnn sate ctcn "On of the left elbow has an “The positio! : ‘ ‘as an important sibratos | should like to mention. Many players ee me sat there is 2 standard position for the left elbow. How: = i ‘with short fingers will find it helpful to have the let eee well und cs handicapP ler the violin. Those with long : ed if their left elbow is far hy oe be much ‘with long fingers should keep the elbow much more x lees “Let us discuss the manner in which we color our sound - Galamian. We know that different tone colors can be Se with the left-hand vibrato, and with different bow pressures. That is generally known. But players should experiment with the various types of pressure on the bow to alter the color of the tone don't you agree?” i “if a player wishes to get a more metallic or sharper sound,” he replied, “there should be a slight stiffening of the fingers on the bow. And there should be greater finger pressure on the bow. Drawing the bow with this type of additional pressure on the stick will give the desired sound, The other type of sound one might wish to get which might be described as less sharp is where the weight would not come from the fingers, but from the wrist and arm, One should get the feeling of sinking into the strings more, The tone seems then to be more deep and not quite so metallic, As a general rule, however, if a player's tone is dull and not metallic enough, it will help to develop a firmer pressure on the bow, with the fingers more stiff.” Chord-playing, particularly in the works of Bach, was brought Xp. Galamian averred: “As a general rule, there is too mue breaking thythmically of chords. One should learn to play even four voi : ut voice chords simultaneously.” 349“But when the melody voice is in the bass and there wie ‘Our voices?” i “T do not recommend playing the tWO Upper notes an If the player does not find it possible to play th then ar one time, then I suggest playing the low note first, and a. is the upper three, but to accent the lower note before Boing tg ing upper three. The lower harmonic note should be held as | Be possible. As a general rule,” he pointed out, “I prefer ag me possible to adhere to the original writing of Bach.” as During one of our get-togethers, we touched upon the a of body motion while playing. “The psychological angle is important, and the teacher mug be careful to analyze the body motions of the pupil. He ie be very careful to diminish body motion. Of course, body move. ment is a large emotional aid to the player and assists in interpreta. tion. Many players, if forced to stop body movement, would find their playing robbed of thythmic expressiveness—interpreta. tion as a whole would suffer. The teacher may find it hard to determine the body motion which is most natural to the player, and that which is affected,” Mr. Galamian summed up, “but he must do so.” “How would you analyze the difficulty of the bow shaking on long, soft notes?” “First, it may be a natural nervousness, but most of the time, in my opinion, it comes from tenseness of the right arm or wrist, and very often, from the wrong angle of the bow in the relation- ship to the string.” Said Mr. Galamian: “We often find violinists lacking control in the middle when the bow is suspended from the elbow rather than from the wrist. Then again, there is another reason, and a very obvious one. It might just be a lack of sufficient work in the solution of that particular problem. The player should concentrate on the ‘son filé’ for the development of a beautiful double piano. “Tt is unfortunate,” he reflected, “that there is the danger always for pupils to enjoy developing their strong qualities, and to dislike working on their weaknesses. If the violinist has technical facility, he continues to work on technic, but neglects his musicianship. going down. 350«al boys however, who has no ‘4 he ™ sa fingers are entirely suj herr fingers,’ embr. Cae gsc. Though this ieee = cxentalan B ils, for example, who have more techni onten occurs. I have pop vill work and hammer away on fname they need, but wd, but really do not. They over-estimate he they think they vin ing, which is ea mesic and neglect the id, “There is anot er danger to guard agai ve of becoming too analytical” So fe acu i is the balance Bither one is not analytical enough or aot < core yet bo! extremes are dangerous! So many are one analytical! other!” he ae extreme or “the danger © over-analysis, of course, is sel : d that reminds me,” Galamian humorously ea the rpethousand-footed animal who was asked by ano mean e mal, ‘How marvelously you walk! I am very interested in knowing what you do with your four hundredth and second foot when your six hundredth and first foot goes forward?’ ‘Well let me see,” answered the thousand-footed-animal, and as soon ms he began to ponder the matter, he stumbled and fell! Well, it is astory,” Mr. Galamian laughed, “but it tells a tale!” Mr, Galamian has always been concerned with the analysis of the art of violin playing. Thoughtful always about the solution of the multitudinous technical problems, his main concern is the development in each individual of the innate talent, and this to the fullest extent. “1 was always, from an early age,” he disclosed, ““nterested in problems of pedagogy- That always fascinated me.” “What about practicing during one’s early years?” i, “If we analyze the development of the well-known arust, he replied, “we see that in almost every case the success of their entire career was dependent upo? the quality of their practicing In practically each case, the practicing was constantly superset either by the teacher or an assistant to the teacher. The at : not all, Children do not know how f© work alone. The teache must constantly teach the child how to practice. 351