Books › Modern Violin-playing, 1920 › scan 74
Scan 74
Modern Violin-playing, 1920
18 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1is not used to supply pressure. For the force is applied from a point very close to the bow. It therefore loses almost nothing in transmission. And the shoulder-muscles are called on for only a fraction of their resources to prevent this backfire. It may be added that some violinists accomplish this by bringing the weight of the arm into play. But this method is not to be commended. Its mechanical result is the resting of the weight of the bow on the string: its artistic result is a "fat," colourless tone-production.
3As we have introduced the word "colour," we may mention the fact that, if a change in tone-colour is wished, it is to be effected by relaxing the guard mounted by the shoulder, and so allowing the wrist to rise in relation to the tip of the thumb.
5The bow is thus presented to the string at a different angle; the elastic relationship between hair and stick is altered; and the essence of the contact between hair and string undergoes a subtle transformation.
7If broader colour-changes are desired, they are to be obtained by adjusting the speed of the stroke to the quality of the contact. The greatest degree of intensity will, of course, come not from a high bow-speed, but from a low speed joined to a firm contact.
9To cross the strings we merely raise or lower the hand in relation to the forearm, which re-adjusts itself after the new string has been reached.
11If the tone is produced according to this method—that is to say, by pressure of the hand from the wrist, using only the forearm-muscles and such shoulder-control as is necessary to direct the pressure properly—the arm will remain supple, and will always assume a position which is natural, untiring, and free from awkwardness.
13There is really no necessity to teach or to study any arm-position. Consciousness centres in the hand. The arm hangs between wrist and shoulder. It is neither pushed up nor held down; but, with an easy natural mobility, adjusts itself to every change in the position of the hand.
15The only question now to be considered is the question of changing the bow at the point and at the heel. Nothing has caused more misunderstanding, or been the subject of more misinformation.
17We have already pointed out that the horizontal axis of the hand tilts slightly downwards towards the first finger. Some hands are so large and wide that this tilt is hardly noticeable. The late Dr. Joseph Joachim had such a hand. And it was therefore taken for granted that what he called "a sideways movement of the hand" in changing the bow, was that and nothing else.
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