Discuss the development of the violin, from its early ancestors to present day.

Include major physical changes to the instrument and bow (mentioning

prominent makers), and how these changes altered the acoustical qualities, as
well as what inspired these changes, as represented through the various musical
periods.

The predecessors of the Violin are known: The Arabian rabab; the pear-shaped rebec, also from
the Orient, which was popular in Spain and France in the fifteenth century; the Gothic fidula
(fiddle); the French vielle, the English crwth; the Italian viola. These instruments were played
with bows but otherwise they have little in common with our violin, which was an incredible
improvement over all predecessors. The violin wasn’t developed gradually, as are almost all
other works of art: it emerged, almost in its final perfect form.
There is much disagreement among the historians concerning the evolution of the violin. Even
its sex its enigmatic. The Italians call it Il violino and the French le violon; both use masculine
gender. To Germans (die violine) the violin is a she.

For a long time, it was generally believed that the violin was developed from the older viol,
which had a flat top. The great innovations (compared to earlier instruments) are the curvature
of its top and back, and its characteristic f-holes. The curved top spread and vibrations. Without
the sound holes, this spread would be hindered. The violin’s architectural design is beautifully
balanced. Its construction is dominated by laws of physics and acoustics. Nothing about the
violin can be changed without seriously disturbing its equilibrium as a work of art and a musical
instrument.
The true violin was created in the Italian Renaissance. Early chamber music was written for the
more intimate sounds of strings and keyboard instruments.
Claudio Monteverdi, another genius from Cremona and creator of opera, called the new
instrument the violino ordinario da braccio to distinguish it from the violino piccolo alla
francese.

Andrea Amati, who is considered the creator of the violin, was born in Cremona, probably
before 1510. By 1560 he was so famous that he received an order to make an entire set of thirt-
eight string instruments for the court of King Charles IX of France. Four violins still exist; one of
them dated 1566, is now in a private collection In America. Andrea Amati’s best violins were so
well made that even Stradivari, the greatest maker of all, could not improve the basic design.
Later Gasparo De Salo, a viol-maker in Brescia began making violins and violas. It is believed for
Gasparo to have known the early violins of Andrea Amati but he never copied them. The oldest
violins made by Amati were perhaps made after 1550. They were rather small, especially when
Compared with Da Salo’s instruments, with strongly curved tops, and with a thick translucent
varnish. Andrea originally used dark reddish colors and later switched to light brown and dark
yellow, almost golden.
Andrea Amati made instruments with a sweet but rather small tone, Gasparo was interested in
instruments with a big, sonorous tone. Both masters were giants in the history of violin-making
and each contributed to it in his own way.

Gasparo da Salo’s most important assistant and disciple, Giovanni Paolo Maggini, was Born in
Botticini 1580. He took over Gasparo’s workshop after his teacher’s death 1609. Maggini was a
great master and experimenter and did much for the Brescia school of violin-making. Both the
Cremonese and the Brescians decided to early make two different models of the violin—a small
one, about 13 and half inches, and a larger one, about 14 inches. Maggini’s violins have large
dimensions and a powerful tone. The sound holes are long and pointed, and the arching of the
top is considerable. Today the “Brescian” tone means dark and veiled, somewhat haunted.

After the death of his teacher, Nicolo Amati, Stradivari was one of the most famous violin-
makers in Cremona. Stradivari followed the Amati model in the early “Amatise” violins that he
made until 1690. A highly curved instrument has a sweeter but softer tone, a flatter instrument
has a stronger but hard tone. Jacob Stainer and the Amatis made violins with a higher
curvature; these had a sweet, dulcet tone, and they were extremely popular during the
seventeenth and eighteenth century.
In the early eighteenth-century taste gradually changed towards the robust models of
“Brescian” school. Stradivari’s flat models, especially those made after 1710, and the beautiful
sonorous violins made by Guarneri Del Gesu became much admired. His violins are rough and
wild and have a deep and powerful tone.

The violin was born in its final form. Thus, there has been a few improvements made since:
The angel of the neck and the fingerboard used to be much flatter than it is today and the
bridge much higher. All of this allows more tension on the strings to make instruments project
more in larger performance spaces. The fingerboard was lengthened to reach the middle of the
body. This was done to allow players to play more of the high end of the E string. To increase
the volume and brightness of the tone the bridge was raised, along with the positions of the
fingerboard, to increase string tension. The invention of the chinrest by Louis Spohr, facilitated
new violin techniques such as: vibrato, changing position and fingerings and other performance
technique that before was difficult to perform. Violin strings changed from gut string to metal
and synthetic strings.

Lorenzo Guadagnini Piacenza or Cremona, Francesco Gobetti, Alessandro Gagliano Naples

school, Francesco Ruggieri.

Unlike the violin, which emerged from the beginning almost as we know it today and
underwent no major changes, the bow passed through many phases before it became the
modern bow we’re using today. It gradually developed from the convex bow (baroque bow) to
the Concave bow (Tourte modern bow). Originally, the bow was just a bent stick with an
incision at either end through which the hair was tied. In the fifteenth century, the nosed tip
and the frog at the heel end were introduced. Then the frog was refined. It was secured to the
stick by a wire and furnished with a tooth metal clamp at the back to give the hair the needed
tension. The stick still curved upward, however, though it gradually become somewhat flatter,
as we know from Corelli’ s bow.
Tartini was the first virtuoso who suggested improvements. He became the creator of the
modern bow technique. The bow was made of lighter wood, and the stick lost its upward curve,
becoming straight and elastic. François Tourte perfected the balance of the bow and became
the Stradivari of bow-makers. Another celebrated French bow-maker was Dominique Peccatte,
who began as a luthier but later specialized in bows. Peccatte’s finest bows are considered
almost the equals to Tourtes. Another bow maker worth mentioning is Eugène Sartory, who’s
recognized as the 20th century most important bow maker.

Convex bow – Baroque bow Concave – Tourte Bow (modern bow) evenness of
the modern compared to Baroque bow, as well as more weight and more hair.

List at least seven major orchestral audition excerpts. Choose three and explain
why they are chosen for auditions (what would the committee most likely would
be listening for), as well as what specific skills are necessary for the successful
performance of each. Be able to discuss the excerpts within the work of the full
work as well.

Don Juan
Schuman scherzo
Brahms Symphony no 4 (1st mvt)
Mozart 39, 2nd and 4th mvt
Prokofiev Classical Symphony 1st mvt
Mendelssohn Scherzo from A Midsummer Night’s Dream

For a successful performance of this particular excerpt these specific skills are needed:

 Bow stroke—The Schumann bow stroke is different from the off stroke used in Mozart
and Mendelssohn. It’s slightly heavier and it has a lot of energy and it also alternates an
ON detache stroke at certain moments, especially in F dynamics. I suggest practicing ON
and not force the bow to become OFF. It will eventually happen when we attempt
original tempo. Practice in open strings.

 Intonation—very tricky in this particular excerpt due to diminished intervals. Hand is

constantly contracting and extending. Practice with big slurs in order to achieve
smoothness in the left hand.
  Tempo—auditionees tend to play this excerpt too fast. My advice is to always choose a
tempo that shows all dynamics and musical ideas written in the part. Tempo markings as
well.
 Phrasing—shaping this music helps overcome the technical challenge. Beginning of the
excerpt is two and two bar phrasing, then it breaks to one bar for two measures and
then becomes two bar phrasing again.
 Context-- Always be aware of other parts when practicing; context is very important to
successfully perform an excerpt.
 String crossing – very challenging for an alinement of left and right hand. In order to
have an agile left hand and smother string crossing I’d advice practicing with big slurs.
 Fingerings – choosing appropriate fingerings that matches the section, color of the
music and fingerings that help our intonation as well.

The start of the excerpt is always an issue, in terms of character and precision. I prefer giving
myself a little cue before I start. I play four notes only, just to get the flow for it, and then I start
adding more notes until I get to the first phrase.

Brahms Symphony 4th first movement

This excerpt is most of often required for orchestral auditions because of:
Things to be looking for in this excerpt and ways to work on it.

 Tone quality-- This excerpt in particular, is very rich in texture and requires control and
smoothness on bow changes. There are no major changes between bow strokes, so this
is a good opportunity to work on legato and musical phrasing.
 Continuation of the bow, even during rests. This flexible movement is facilitated from
fingers of the right hand.
 Style—Brahms symphonies are known to require a longer bow stroke overall/slow bow
speed. Thick sound but not heavy, still breathing within the intensity.
 Vibrato is a major element when it comes to Brahms 4th excerpt. We want it to be wide
but not intense, especially in the beginning. Control of the amplitude of the vibrato and
continuation of it as well.
 Accuracy between intervals in the left hand. Keep double-stops placed whenever is
possible. A few extensions are required in order to avoid hearing glissandos when
changing positions.

One of the biggest difficulties encountered in this excerpt is the immediate search for the high
pitch notes. We still want to look for a rich tone and not get crunchy when playing in high
positions. Large intervals (leap, practice gesture, “feel” of hand position)
Mozart 39, 2nd movement

What a committee looks for Mozart Symphony 39, 2nd mvt is:

 Rhythm. Dotted rhythm notes usually played slower and most of times sounds likes
triplets. It’s recommended to play the 16th notes shorter than notated.
 Intonation. Very challenging because of certain extensions happening in the left hand in
order to avoid going to the E string and change the color of the tone.
 Phrasing and shape—longer phrasing overall this excerpt. Articulation without
interrupting the phrase. Elegance in ending of phrases, never punch the very last note.
 Tone quality and style. Even though we have a simple melodic line it should sound very
warm and noble. Elegance in ending phrases and avoid punching the last note.
 Contrast between major and minor sections as well as change of character from
beginning to middle section.

Name three violinist- composers. Discuss their compositional style as well as their
Importance to violin rep/or technical development.

Nicolo Paganini was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist and composer. He was one of the most
celebrated violin virtuoso of his time. His 24 Caprices for Solo Violin Op.1 are among the best
known of his compositions and has served as an inspiration for many prominent composers
such as Liszt and Chopin. The caprices were composed after discovering the Locatelli 24
caprices. Paganini also represents the beginning of Romanticism.

 Nicolo Paganini technical innovation in categories by German violinist Guhr:

 Scordatura (mistuning), which Paganini applied to a limited extend. For certain

compositions he tuned the violin one half step down. He used this scordatura for the
concerto No.1, Carnaval of Venice and Moses Fantasy, where he pulled the G-string up
to B-flat. However now days we play Paganini in normal tuning.
 Concerning Paganini’s bowing, Guhr observed that he took “up-beat” phrases with a
down bow and accentuated phrases with an upbow. Such unorthodox procedure is
followed by some modern violinists, but it breaks the rules. He manipulated his now
 bow exclusively with forearm and wrist while holding the upper arm close to his body.
One of Paganini’s specialties was the ricochet, a number of self-bouncing notes on one
bow, either up or down. Concerto No. 1 and Caprice No. 5
 Among Paganini’s most striking effects were left-hand pizzicato (derived no doubt from
his guitar playing) and double-stops harmonics. The left-hand pizzicato works in
descending scales and arpeggios if the player tears the fingers off the string sideways
instead of lifting them.
 Paganini’s double harmonics were totally innovative. It is an extremely risky effect which
virtuosos of today like to avoid.
 The ability to perform an entire piece on G string, which demands almost acrobatic
control of the fingerboard. Guhr observed that Paganini often used unusual fingerings. It
may well be that he changed positions by stretching, rather than by the more
conventional shift.

Eugene Ysaye

Ysaye belonged to a generation that had absorbed Paganini’s technique and

Joachim’s musicianship and proceeded to modernize the violinistic vocabulary for the twentieth
century. He represented a synthesis between technical perfection and a great intensity of
expression. Ysaye stood between Joachim’s classicism and Sarasate’s elegance. Born in Belgium,
Ysaye started the violin at the age of four under the tutelage of his father. At the age of seven
he played in his father’s orchestra. He first studied with Wieniawsky then with Vieuxtemps.
Ysaye had an extreme impact on reviving French chamber music. Among his friends were
composers Franck, Debussy, Saint-Saens, Faure and Chausson. They saw In Ysaye the idea
interpreter of French music, and honored him with dedications, including such important works
as the Violin sonata by Franck, the String Quartet by Debussy, and the Poeme by Chausson.
He was the idol and had great impact on Kreisler, Elman, Flesch, Enesco and Thibaud.

Ysayes technical development:

 Vibrato, the French vibrato pioneered by Ysaye and Kreisler, became wider and used
more abundantly. Although, he disapproved of the extreme usage of it, in cases when it
completely covered the pitch.
 Portamento. This technique was widely used and misused in earlier nineteenth century.
Ysaye perfected a technique by which a finger moved subtly into a tone from below, not
as much as shift from one position to another as a sensuous expressive device. More
refined.
 Tempo rubato. Ysaye’s playing was free with rhythmic liberties. Although, he always
encouraged the pianist to always be in time without following his slight deviations in
tempo.
  Franco-Belgian method of string crossing by using the forearm stroke to develop a more
powerful and sustained tone connecting one string to another. Technique which he
developed with his student Joseph Gingold.

Ysaye fought many causes such as bringing copyright laws for composers and advocating
women’s playing in orchestra, at a time when orchestras were man’s sole domain. On his
advice, Wood accepted six women in his own orchestra in 1913.
Ysaye had a tremendous influence among the younger generation of violinist like Flesch,
Kreisler, Elman, Enesco and Thibaud.

His most enduring contribution to the violin repertoire is the collection of Six Sonatas for
unaccompanied violin, Op. 27, published in 1924. Ysaye dedicated each to a younger violinist,
the first four to Szigeti, Thibaud, Enesco, and Kreisler. The No. 5 is Crickboom, a former student
and member of the old Ysaye Quartet. No 6 to Spainard Manuel Quiroga.

Joseph Joachim

Joseph Joachim inaugurated a new era—that of the art of interpretation. Prior to Joachim, the
great violinists rarely, if ever, performed the music of other composers; they concentrated on
playing their own works, tailored to fit their own technical ability, designed to highlight their
personal style. Joachim became the ideal interpreter of great masterworks.

Joachim, admired as the personification of German classicism, was no German at all. He was
born the son of a Jewish merchant of modest means in Hungary.
Mendelssohn was a very important influence in Joachim’s life. He guided him through the first
steps of his career; especially when moving to London and did his first debut with Otello
Fantasy. Soon enough he’ll be introduced to Liszt.

Joachim was one of the few violinists to have such connection with some of the greater
composers of all time, such as Mendelssohn, Brahms and Schumann. He had a tremendous role
in shaping their violin repertoire.
He performed most of Schumann’s chamber works with Clara, who adored his playing. With
Joachim in mind, Schumann composed a Fantasy for Violin and his Violin Concerto in D minor,
written for Joachim which remained unpublished. Schumann’s mental collapse prevented him
from for finishing some of the revisions.
The Joachim-Brahms friendship spanned for over forty years; they were only two years apart.
Every one of Brahms’s work involving the violin, solo or chamber music, was planned for
Joachim as a composer. Their collaboration was never closer than during the Brahms Violin
Concerto. Brahms originally intended it to be four movements and sent it Joachim, who later on
wrote the Cadenza. Under Joachim’s revisions of the concerto, Brahms decide to change it to
three movements instead. Joachim was the one who played the concerto with Brahms
conducting the orchestra.
He also did many revisions of the Dvorak Violin Concerto but did not end up performing the
concerto when premiered.

As a teacher, Joachim was never focused on his student’s technique nor he ever entered into
technical details. Throughout the lesson he kept the violin and his bow in his hands and
whenever he was dissatisfied, he would play the passages himself.

As a performer, Joachim considered himself a servant of music. It was his task to recreate the
works of great composers. His tone was not large, but extremely pure and capable of infinite
shadings. He used vibrato sparingly and avoided sentimental slides. His aim was objectivity, and
the composer’s manuscript was his law; to change a composer’s directive was unthinkable.

Joachim’s finest composition was the Concerto in Hungarian Style. He wrote two more violin
concertos, but they have disappeared from the repertoire.
With the death of Joachim, the nineteenth century came to an end. It started with Paganini, the
greatest virtuoso of all time, and closed with Joachim, the greatest musician of his generation.

Chose two bow strokes, discuss them in detail and describe how you would teach
them.

Spiccato (OFF stroke)

The stroke in which the bow appears to bounce lightly upon the string. It is played in the part of
the bow that’s easier to manage mostly in the lower half. Spiccato can be described as simple
as the motion of letting the bow fall into the string; rebounding. In theory spiccato shouldn’t be
hard to achieve because the bow is designed to bounce. The law of gravity can be applied also.
Primary motion of spiccato comes from the forearm while the hand and fingers remain very
flexible. (cultivating flexibility in hand and fingers). Starting the stroke with an attack or pinch
originated from the fingers. Bow should be placed in between the bridge and fingerboard.
Fingers are the precision tool that refines the articulation we’re looking for.

Spiccato—relation between height and speed.

We should be able to control different speeds of spiccato. From the slowest one to a very fast
bouncing bow. The lower the bouncing the faster the speed.

How to control spiccato and play with various bow speed.

  Set up a metronome timing on a slow tempo (maybe 70) and let the bow bounce and
rebound at the tempo chosen. Three bounces per beat on open string. (three beats
instead of two because involves more the fingers and aims for more flexibility overall)
We first turn off the metronome and find a speed where our bow rebounds easily and
we feel comfortable; then find that speed on metronome.
 Next step is to find a lower bounce, and it is for sure going to be faster; then our task is
to find what the new speed is. It should feel very natural, almost floating in the hand. It
can also be described as a detache that happens above the string. This can be another
way of considering spiccato. (write down all speeds down)
 Last step would be placing the metronome to any tempo and adjust our spiccato to it.
Hopefully we should manage to control it after all these exercises.

Detachè

Pure Detachè bowing describes separate bows that played with an even weight, moving
smoothly from one note to the next. Detache is the most useful bow technique that appears in
baroque music. It is very useful on learning how to use the bow as a whole. Detache at the tip
and frog can definitely more challenging; so we start from the middle bow and work upwards,
with the bow gradually becoming longer. Detachè- -detached from French.

 1 Best way to practice detache is to play even continuous quarter or eight notes on
open strings (eight-inch area on the bow). The primary motion will come from different
sections of your arm depending on where you choose to play in the bow.

When playing in middle/upper half- primarily motion is forearm, facilitated by elbow joint. If
you’re near the frog your primary motion would be the upper arm facilitated by the
shoulder.

Why is detachè useful to students:

 Coordination/alignment with left hand and a good practice to solve string crossing
issues.
 Evenness of tone and sustained sound. To achieve this, the pressure and bow speed
must remain the same throughout.
 Building tone quality.

Detache between string crossing. Instead of using all arm, focus on a rotary motion of the
forearm. As the bow gets smaller, the primary motion goes to the wrist by also maintaining our
fingers very flexible.
Detache stroke sounds very basic bow stroke, but it also can be very hard to achieve if used the
wrong arm motion. This stroke helps achieving bow connection at the tip or frog throughout a
slower bow speed and great awareness of fingers.

List three different strategies for teaching vibrato, and where they would best
serve a student.

Vibrato is often divided into three categories: hand, wrist and arm. In order to have an organic
one, requires the participation of most of our forearm, hand (finger) and wrist, but It is very
important to channel all the movement to a part of our hand in order to determine the type of
vibrato we’re looking for.
With most of my students I try to teach the wrist vibrato because it derives from a very organic
motion such as “knocking”. It is mainly channeled at the wrist, but it is also supported by a
flexible finger movement and the forearm.

Different strategies for different kinds of vibrato:

1. Wrist vibrato—practicing knocking motion in a higher position (where we can hang the
violin on our thumb) with a forward and backward motion. Practice this for two-three
weeks (free motion) without touching the string.

Once the motion stops being angular and becomes flowing than we add the fingers and the
bow to it.
It is important that we don’t press the string. Our hand should stay as flexible as possible at the
beginning stages of learning the vibrato. Our finger (preferable 2nd finger because the balance
of the hand) should be placed lightly on the string and should be sliding from a harmonic. We
go through the same procedure with all the fingers, starting with the second finger and using
fourth for last.
When we add the bow, we make sure the vibrato starts from the same moment as the bow
touches the string. This will avoid the delay of vibrato that happens in most of cases.
  Metronome is very useful when we work on variable vibrato speed. We try to match the
vibrato do chosen metronome speed. We do this exercise for less than a minute.
 Bow distribution is very important when working on vibrato.

2. Hand vibrato (or finger) --Starting vibrato in third position so the hand is rested at the
shoulder of the instrument. We start at the tip of the finger by moving the knuckle of
the finger back and up. We start from the second finger.

Flexibility of finger joint is important, no matter what kind of vibrato you use.
When working on a hand vibrato, it is preferable starting on a second finger on A string and
collapse it down, to which should sound like a half step. Play the motions on separate bows,
then slur them. Two notes slur, four and eight until you reach the speed of vibrato you want.
Then add the other fingers. This exercise helps vary the speed of your vibrato.
The knuckle vibrato does involve a little of the wrist with the exception of the fourth finger
which doesn’t need much of a wrist motion.

3. First position (possibly arm vibrato)

Learning how to vibrate from the 1st position is a little harder than the methods described
above because our hand tends to feel a little tight due to the position itself. In the 1 st and 2nd
examples the process of learning how to vibrate was facilitated by our thumb and then by our
shoulder. When using first position id recommend learning the motion of vibrato by placing the
scroll up against the wall. By doing so, the wall will lift all the weight and our hand will be
flexible enough to start working on vibrato.

Set the metronome at 60 practice the vibrato wiggle from two motion on the beat, from two,
then three, four until eight, until it start feels like a real vibrato.
Move the metronome to a faster speed and do the same work. Control the speed of vibrato by
the subdivision

Name three major violin pedagogues you feel are important. Give their basic
biographical information, as well as discuss why they are important, on what
areas did they focus, and who are they prominent students? Trace you own
educational “family tree”
Carl Flesch belongs to the “Berlin circle”: he lived and worked there for over twenty years. Born
in Hungary in a Jewish parentage, continued his studies in Vienna and Paris, but neither of
these cities left a distinctive mark on his style. His dominant quality seemed German, marked by
a classical approach to music, purity of style, a sturdy sense of rhythm tending toward slow
tempos, and a deliberate objectivity of interpretation.
Flesch built his reputation as a soloist and chamber music player. His musical versatility was
much admired: he could play the Beethoven and Paganini concertos with equal proficiency and
proved that terms musician and virtuoso were not mutually exclusive. After five years in
Romanian capital, he accepted a professorship at the conservatory of Amsterdam until 1908,
combining teaching and concertizing. Later on he moved to USA and held a position for four
years at the Curtis institute of Music as a head of violin classes. After coming back to Europe he
spent time in Berlin and London and lastly moved to Lucerne where he devoted himself to
teaching unit he died of an heart attack.
Flesch as a teacher by choice and conviction, though he continued to perform publicly to much
acclaim until late in life.

As a performer he was a consummate master, but somewhat lacking in spontaneity. As a

teacher, his approach was decidedly analytical rather than inspirational. It was teaching on the
highest, most mature level. He appealed to the student’s intellect; he taught fundamentals
concepts of technique and interpretation, showing how to deal rationally with problems as they
arose. Not advocate of music making, gave students the musical freedom they needed.

Carl Flesch published works;

 Basic studies
 The two-volume Art of Violin Playing
 Problems of Tone Production
 Flesch Scale System

When he published his monumental Art of Violin Playing in 1920, he offered the sum-total of
his twenty-five-year experience as a teacher and performer.

“Study should be governed by intellect, performance by emotion” To diagnose a problem is

already part of the solution.

Kreisler called it “the most significant work in this field” and recommend it to every violinist.
Sevcik, himself a great teacher, wrote, “with your work you have provided violinists with a bible
to which teachers will continue to refer as long as there is violin playing in the world”

Flesch restructured the violin technique, abolishing old taboos, such as the low right elbow, the
avoidance of second and fourth positions, the tale of grips—the old German, the Franco-
Belgian, the Russian. It was Flesch who popularized the Russian bow grip. (from observing
Elman and Heifetz)
Flesch had very definite ideas about “good” and “bad” fingerings. His fingerings aren’t always
the easiest, but always the most logical and the most musical. (A certain concert violinist once
said, “There are two fingerings: the one which is good and the one which you take on stage
when you panic.”)

Prominent students:
The young Polish group in Flesch’s studio included Szymon Goldberg, Henryk Szeryng, and Ida
Haendel. All played the violin since early childhood and had concertized as prodigies.

Ivan Galamian, born in 1903 in Tabriz, Persia, of Armenian parentage and brought to Russia as
an infant. He studied the violin at the Moscow Philharmonic School under the distinguished
teacher Konstantin Mostras, who was a disciple of the Auer school. After graduation, he
emigrated to Paris. Here he became interested in the bowing theories of the eminent Lucien
Capet and studied with him in 1922-1923. Galamian concertized briefly, but soon concentrated
on teaching. He moved to NY in 1933 and opened a private studio; soon his reputation as an
outstanding teacher spread.
Galamian was named to the faculty of Curtis Institute in Philadelphia (1944), and in 1946 he
was appointed to the Julliard School in New York. He kept both positions until the end of his
life, but did most of his teaching at his private studio in NY.
Galamian used to teach from eight in the morning until six at night, with only one interruption
for lunch. He was organized and totally dedicated to his work, a man of few words, with the
distinctive ability to analyze and correct his students. His lessons were always intense work,
with no time for small talk.
Galamian was very much concerned about his students—their studies, careers, and their work
habits. He believed in hard work and in the fact that careers are not made in heaven: they are
built with effort. A career does not have to be as a soloist; in fact, Galamian considered the
virtuoso field saturated. Galamian took pride in having trained so many quartet players, in
addition to soloists, concertmasters, and teachers, proving the versatility of his teaching
method.
Galamian’s approach to violin playing was analytical and rational, with minute attention to
every technical detail. His method was based of Russian and French traditions, with occasional
hints to Flesch’s ideas. Galamian’s method of holding the bow is not Russian grip, nor is it
purely Capet’s: it combines the best elements of both.
The secret of Galamian’s success was his ability to develop the innate potential of every student
without forcing him into a mold. One can always recognize a Galamian student by his bow grip
(the typical extension of the index finger), by the intensity of sound, and by the fastidious
technical preparation. FLAT NUCKELS AND FLAT WRIST

Principles of the Violin playing and Teaching – Galamian’s published book about his method. He
edited many standard violin works providing his fingerings and bowings. He believed in hard
work, discipline, preparedness. BACH SONATAS AND PARTITAS

Prominent students:
Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Charles Castleman

Ruggiero Ricci was born in 1918 in San Bruno, California, the third of seven children of a poor
Italian immigrant trombonist. Ruggiero received his first musical instruction from his father and
cannot remember a time when he did not have a violin in his hands. Not only was there an
opportunity of him becoming a second Menuhin, but also the chance of a poor family using the
money and fame of a young prodigy. They looped two years off the child’s age in order to make
him seem younger during his first debut in San Francisco, with his teacher Louis Persinger at the
piano. The program included the Mendelssohn violin concerto and various virtuoso music by
Vieuxtemps, Saint-Saens, and Wieniawsky.
Ricci had an unhappy childhood. His father did not hesitate to put pressure on the boy. After
studying with Persinger, he was taken and sent to study with Mishell Piastro. He was Auer’s
most accomplished students and had just moved to New York as newly appointed
concertmaster of New York Philharmonic. Piastro was not a perceptive teacher, according to
Ricci. Piastro had him play the Brahms violin concerto at a very early age while adjusting on a
large model Strad that was too big for him.
At the age of fourteen (although advertised as twelve) Ricci embarked on a European tour that
was very successful. Every effort was made to duplicate Menuhin’s success, even to the point
on bringing Albert Einstein to the concert and extracting a statement from him.

After fourteen years of concert-giving, at the age of twenty-four, Ruggiero Ricci was called up to
serve in the US Army Air Force for three years. He performed frequently at army camps and
hospitals where no suitable piano was available. This whole experience prompted Ricci to
explore the unaccompanied literature of his instrument.
After his discharge from the army forces, he gave a recital in New York, which included the Bach
solo sonata in A minor, Ysaye’s E minor sonata Op.27 No.4, Hindemith’s sonata Op.31 No.2, two
Paganini caprices and other unaccompanied pieces by Kreisler and Wieniawski. Since that time
he gave more solo recitals in NY, London, Paris and Berlin.

As a child Ricci began to see patterns in music. He began by concentrating on Paganini and his
music. He carefully analyzed all twenty-four Caprices, breaking them down into a system so
that he could see Paganini’s manner of fingering, bowing and shifting.
“I learned more about technique from Paganini than I did from any of my teachers.” Ricci is one
of the few violinists that played all the Caprices at a single recital. He was also the first one to
record them, and the records has been selling for over twenty years.
Ricci’s sound is round and intense, and his vibrato can vary at will. His bow arm is extremely
powerful. Although his fingers are not long, his left hand is able to stretch easily from the lower
positions to reach notes high up on the strings. This he achieves by shifting very little and using
the thumb as a pivot. As a brilliant technician Ricci has few rivals. His left-hand pizzicato has
been described as ‘hair-raising’, his trills ‘electric’, and his harmonics ‘airily transparent’. His
staccatos and spiccatos evoke similar superlatives. His perfect intonation has been
accomplished by the concentrated practice of scales in thirds, sixths, octaves and the playing of
piano music in the violin. Keyboard studies are invaluable for developing technique on the
violin, especially extensions. Milstein also shares this opinion. They both entertained each-other
by playing all the Chopin Etudes, which they both new from memory.

 Learned most of his technique pattern (fingering, bowing, shifting) from studying
Paganini’s Caprices.
 Round and intense sound, and his vibrato vary at will. His bow arm is extremely
powerful.
 Usage of thumb as pivot in order to stretch from lower positions to notes in higher
registers.
 Brilliant at left hand pizzicato, spiccato, trills (described as electric), harmonics (airily
transparent)
 Perfect intonation achieved by playing scales in thirds, sixths, and octaves.
 Developing great technique, especially extensions, by practicing Keyboard music.
 Program innovator. His is probably the largest and most original repertoire of any living
violinist.

THE ART OF GLISSANDO – PEDAGOGICAL VALUE

Discuss three major etudes (etude books), giving a detailed summary of each.
Compare, contrast and discuss their strengths and purpose.
Rodolphe Kreutzer-- 40 Etudes or Caprices (later additions added two more etudes to make a
total of forty-two). These etudes show his incomparable pedagogical talent. Kreutzer’s etudes
show both basic and advanced technical material and are equally useful for students and
artists. Joachim and Flesch never gave up playing them to keep their technique flexible.
They were written to demonstrate the possibilities of the Tourte bow (development of the
modern bowing technique). Another important of Kreutzer’s didactic goals was developing
fluency of contraction and extension of the left hand.
These etudes are basic violin fundamentals for both left and right hand.
These etudes were written for his students and are mainly elaborations of passages of his
concertos.

The etudes follow from a logical pedagogic progression, with the exception of the first etude
that appears to be out of place; perhaps placed at the very beginning to make it look
challenging. Some editions have the etude book start with the second etude. (mainly technical
purpose)

Etude 2 Kreutzer
This etude is excellent in order to develop a very solid detache bow stroke. Great etude to work
and evenness of sound and smoothness of bow changes. Generally played in the middle of the
bow, but its recommended to be practiced at the frog and upper half of the bow. It generally
feels like a workout for right our arm. It develops flexibility and awareness of the joints we’re
using in order to make this stroke happen. It is a great etude for left- and right-hand alinement.
(smoothness of bow changes and evenness of the tone)

Pierre Rode (1774) The Twenty-four Caprices, which combine musical invention and technical
purpose. Written in 1815, they are still in use, though their technical demands are moderate.
Especially in comparison to Paganini etudes, which were published only five years later.
The Rode caprices cycle through the circle of fifths, presenting each major key then its relative
minor. This provides not only a great material for working on basic elements of violin
technique, such as intonation, coordination of both hands, various bow strokes and bow
distribution, they also help you develop a well-balanced singing tone.
In terms of difficulty these caprices fit well between the Kreutzer and the Don’t etudes.
While the Rode caprices don’t feature the same level of difficulty as the Paganini caprices do,
they help you develop balance, evenness, and sound quality.
They’re clearly a perfect balance between the Kreutzer etudes and Paganini caprices. Different
from the Kreutzer ones, these caprices are more than a violin study. You can embrace the
musicality while working on technical issues. (repetition as a way to ?
Caprices No.2 (Pierre Rode)
Despite the tempo marking, allegretto, this caprice needs a lot more energy. It should be played
in the upper half of the bow and use a lot of bow speed in the fortepianos. This etude shows
mainly a detachè stroke that varies from upper half of the bow to middle. SLUR, DOTTS
Think of double-stops wherever is possible and In patterns like mm 5 and 6 do the string
crossing with a rotary motion in the right hand wrist while keeping the elbow fairly low.

Paganini caprices

His 24 Caprices for Solo Violin Op.1 are among the best known of his compositions and has
served as an inspiration for many prominent composers such as Liszt and Chopin. The caprices
were composed after discovering the Locatelli 24 caprices. These caprices are the perfect
example of highest technical and musical challenges. A student must not jump into learning
these caprices if they don’t have a solid technique and a mature musical approach. Technique
and musicality are needed in order to aim for a successful performance of Paganini Caprices.
Once you start discovering these caprices is when you realize the full potential of the violin and
the enormous challenges, work and discipline that it requires for someone to perform this work
of art.

Caprice No.2

Paganini Caprice No. 2 is my absolute favorite from all Paganini caprices. The beauty of this little
poem prevailed on its technical difficulty.
Choosing the initial bow stroke will make a difference of the overall mood of the piece.
 Staccato middle bow –it will make it sound very energetic and bouncy because overall
string crossing.
 Portato upper half of the bow—will give it a melancholic touch and it will sound very
warm and make all the string crossing much smoother, but also harder to manage.

Extension of the left hand is definitely a challenge in this caprice as well as intonation.
Connection of the right hand between string crossing gives room of flexibility on the left hand.
Alternation of bow strokes (bouncy at the frog and nice portato at the upper half) will be a
solution of technical challenges presented in mm.. ,
Preparation of the right elbow is crucial in order to prepare all the string crossing.
Very important to define the character we want in this caprice before we start working on it.

List at least five significant chamber works that feature the violin. Explain their
importance and make rehearsal suggestions specific to each.
Dumky Piano Trio

Dumky or Dumka is the diminutive word for Ukrainian “duma” (meaning “thought”, “idea”,
“reflection”) In music terms it usually goes for a melancholic character. When working on this
composition, Dvorak intended it as a little piece for violin, cello, and piano that was supposed to
be both sad and happy; some places a melancholic song and other places like a merry dance
like song, and overall it had to be lighter in the texture. This constant change of mood it can be
translated in the continuous tempo changes that is presented in all movements.
Very hard to approach and define all these emotional rollercoaster Dvorak s taking us to. Just
the first mvt, four different tempo annotations:

Lento maestoso-Allegro quasi doppio movimento – Lento maestoso- Allegro.

This should all translate to different moods such as, Passionate/reflective for every time the
lento maestoso appears and happy/joyous during the allegros. All these tempo and mood
changes are reflected in the violin part with all the constant register lips throughout the first
mvt.

Shostakovich piano trio, 2nd mvt

Shostakovich Piano Trio No.2 is a tribute and lament for his dear Friend Ivano Ivanovich
Sollertinsky. This second movement, Allegro ma non troppo, presents a scherzo-like movement
that often feels like joyful dance-like moments, but overall is nothing else than a frenetic dance
of death. Only Shostakovich can make a major mode sound far darker than a minor one.
The original metronome marking and the marcatissimo pesante bow stroke help establishing
this frenetic dance mode. Somehow the dance and death combination are linked with this crazy
fast tempo and the solid pesante stroke (consistent length of quarter notes) that’s presented in
the very beginning in the violin part, and overall throughout this movement. Another element
that help us feel the break of this dance into a lament are the constant harpins written in violin
and cello part.

Mendelssohn piano trio No.1 D minor, 3rd mvt (leggiero e vivace)

This movement is one of the most important and impacting piece of a chamber repertoire
featuring the violin. Just think of the spark, playfulness and good humor that Mendelssohn
brings in this third mvt. It recalls the character and the style of his Overture A Midsummer
Night’s Dream. Light spiccato bow stroke for the violin that should be very clear and well-
articulated and played not too fast. This particular movement show the ability of the violin to
match piano’s articulation and give it even more layers of shape of the same articulation.
This joyous movement does also have some “dramatic” moments opera like that do soon
resolve to the main happy character. All these elements make him feel like the Mozart of the
nineteenth century.

Schubert string quartet “Death and the Maiden”, 2nd mvt

Death and the Maiden it is named after the theme of the second mvt, which Schubert took
from a song he wrote with the same name. Second movement is a theme like a death march in
G minor and five variations in which profoundly expresses different emotions.
The main theme is the only part when all strings are unified, in terms of music and articulation.
Each of the variations have an alternation of the lyric melodic line (first presented in the main
theme) with the different rhythmical articulation in different sectors of the string.
The fourth variation is the only variation in a major key, G major. Very lyrical with cello and
second violin carrying the melody under a long violin line in triplets.

Mendelssohn Octet

Mendelssohn dedicated this work to his violin professor Eduart Ritz, who’s birthday was two
days after he completed the work. The virtuosic first violin part was written with Ritz in mind,
Mendelssohn played one of the violin or violas in the occasion.
This first mvt sound like a concerto for the first violin part; almost a combination between a
solo part and a symphonic style which makes it a double challenge for the first violin. One
should play out like a soloist but still in a chamber ensemble setting, when you’re required to be
less free than a soloist would be performing with an orchestra. In a way it’s getting the best out
of two worlds. The first theme in the first movement present a more courageous soloistic style
of playing and the second theme introduces us to a more lyric chamber payed like repertoire.