Violin Forum/Message Board

[Ode to Tragedy]

Link: http://violinsheetmusic.org/classical/g/gottschalk/

I am getting on just fine learning this piece except for a couple of parts.

If you take a look at the piece you will guess which parts it is...

Those big intimidating clusters of notes around the middle .

A couple of questions on these bits.

Firstly what is the best way to slur really long blocks of notes like this? I find I run out of space on the bow before I get to the end. I have also been trying to learn 'fur elise' with the same issues.

Secondly what does it mean when it reads sharps and flats one after the other? How would I play that? It confuses me cos if I am already playing a C normal then if it says to go sharp while slurring I couldn't take my hand off the note or it would go back to open A...so should I just slide my finger to C sharp without removing it from the string?

So in the first large block it reads- C, C#, D, D#. How would those be played?

I was rather surprised how quickly I picked this tune up except for those pieces. I've found it really fun to learn and am gonna pick more challenging ones like this in future.

I'm still working on easier pieces but concentrate on tone and form etc.

[Lemuel]

BRAVO!

I'm glad you are picking up this piece quickly (and learning the violin so quickly).

Yes, you would slide your finger from C to C# (2nd finger), and then from D to D# (3rd finger).

The number of notes you can get in one bow, up or down, is a function of two things

1) The speed of your bow. The slower you pull up and down, the more notes you can get in one stroke. Many beginners pull way too fast not realizing that you can get adequate sound pulling slower across the strings.

2) The speed of your left hand fingers. This takes practice and over time, you build dexterity.

Start by pulling the bow up and down slowly without any fingering on the left hand. See how slow and steady you can pull the bow over the open strings. Then introduce left hand fingering in 1st position while maintaining the slow speed of your bow and see how many notes you can get into one stroke.

You may want to pick up some Sevcik exercises. Though boring, they have been very helpful to me. Then name of the book is:

Sevcik School of Technic for violin, Op.1, Part 1 - Exercises in the 1st position, Carl Fischer Music Library #L282

[Ode to Tragedy]

Thanks,

Yes what you say is pretty much what I'd been finding in terms of the speed of bowing- in terms of the pressure do you have to use more or just the same? I guess I'll find out soon enough .

I will practice what you say- seeing how many I can get on one bow stroke.

Unrelated note: I downloaded the sheet music for Aria from the Goldberg variations. It seems manageable comparative to the dying poet piece except for those 'mordent' 'squiggles'.

I read up and they seem pretty much the same as vibrato just faster from the sounds of it- is this true?

I think it is a bit overambitious to try and learn those just yet but I might for fun, but I will prob learn that piece without the squiggles.

I realized there are quite alot of really nice sounding easy pieces such as air on the G string. It's a really nice sounding piece. I didn't find that one as fun to learn as dying poet as it wasn't really challenging. I of course do not play it to perfection so I suppose I will make the challenge to learn to play it WELL rather than just to play it- so appreciating diff pieces for diff reasons.

Replaying air on G I noticed it wasn't so much that I didn't enjoy it as much as I got into it more that time, it was more that the different tune brought on a different mood. Dying poet is still my fav. atm tho

Also one of the main nuisances I have while playing at the moment is playing the string next to it while playing one string. How do I work on correcting this?

[Lemuel]

For pressure, just play with the most relaxed pressure, do not try to harder or softer pressure - it just confuses the matter. Constant and relaxed bowing is the point here. (Generally speaking however, the slower the bow, the lighter the pressure should be, otherwise the sound starts becoming rough and harsh.)

I assume the squiggles you are talking about are the ones like look like this:

/\/\/\/

This is not the same as vibrato. This is called a trill and is a rapid movement between any two adjacent fingers, with the note shown corresponding to the lower note.

Again the Sevcik exercises mentioned above will help build dexterity and independence between fingers. The trill is rapid. Playing notes in rapid succession (especially between 3rd and 4th) fingers will be most benefited by these exercises.

In my opinion the dying poet is easier.

It is important to establish correct habits in the beginning, no matter how simple the song is. They set the foundation for more difficult pieces later. In other words, it would be better to establish correct playing with simple pieces first than to venture on to more difficult pieces.