Books › Modern violin-playing, 1920 › scan 118
Scan 118
Modern violin-playing, 1920
24 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1CHAPTER VII
3THE HIGHER POSITIONS. SHIFTING
5The theory of the left-hand technique for the first position was laid down in Chapter II. This theory holds good for all the other positions. In the higher positions, the outward appearance of the hand is changed; but from the first to the third position there is not even any outward change. The student may therefore practise in the second and third positions without any further addition to his first position technique.
7It is generally taught that the base of the hand should rest against the body of the violin in the third position. And the lame explanation is usually given that, by so doing, the player "knows where he is" and "feels secure."
9But let us see what this amounts to. An inexperienced Alpine climber finds himself on a ridge six-feet square, with a drop of a thousand feet on either side of him. He also "knows where he is." And, if he will only take the precaution of sitting down, will "feel secure." But he can't remain there for ever. His object, like the violinist's, is to get somewhere. And his troubles, again like the violinist's, are likely to begin when he starts climbing again.
11There is, indeed, no reason at all why the base of the hand should ever touch the body of the violin. And there are at least six good reasons why it should not.
131. Touching the base of the hand to the violin lowers the knuckle out of the striking-plane.
152. It makes the proper arm-vibrato impossible. (This alone is enough to condemn it.)
173. It destroys the proper balance of the playing-finger, and also the relaxation of the rest of the hand. (This is inevitable, because the player immediately senses his hand, not as four separate fingers, but as a solid wall.)
194. It robs the thumb of its true function, because the violin is then supported on the base of the hand.
215. The difficulty of getting out of such a position to resume the technique in a lower position is great.
236. The violin does not need the base of the hand for its support. The thumb can quite well do the supporting.
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