Books › Modern violin-playing, 1920 › scan 131
Scan 131
Modern violin-playing, 1920
26 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 63. See the scan on archive.org.
1THE HIGHER POSITIONS. SHIFTING
3UPWARDS
41y. From a low to a higher finger.
52y. With the same finger.
63y. From a high to a lower finger.
8DOWNWARDS
91z. From a high to a lower finger.
102z. With the same finger.
113z. From a low to a higher finger.
13Any one of these kinds may be performed either rapidly and cleanly (so that no break is heard), or slightly slower (so that there is a suggestion of portamento). And the portamento will have a different sound, according as the shift is made from a low to a higher finger, or from a high to a lower finger.
15Besides these six kinds of shift, there is another which, though it belongs to the second species, can be disposed of at once—the shift of a half-tone with the same finger and within the limits of one position. It is convenient to deal with this shift here, because it is the simplest of all, and involves no change of thumb-position.
17As an example, let us take the shift from D to E-flat with the third finger on the A-string in the first position.
19In making this shift, the finger, hand, and forearm are passed forwards together, leaving the thumb where it originally was. If the thumb really supports the violin, and if the hand is really free, there will be no difficulty in performing this action, which transfers the finger-tip from D to E-flat without removing the knuckle from the striking-plane.
21It is, in other words, a movement, from the elbow, of the whole forearm and hand; and it depends for its success upon inflexibility of the wrist and knuckle, and independence as between the hand and the thumb.
23The moment the arch of the finger is changed, or the finger is moved forward from the wrist, the technique is incorrect, for the two reasons that (1) the knuckle is no longer in the striking-plane, and (2) the finger-action for the rest of the passage is bound to be impaired.
25If, after the E-flat has been reached, the rest of the passage is in the second position, the thumb is then moved slightly along the neck to the proper position of comfort. But if, after one or two notes, the passage shifts back to the first position, the thumb is not moved at all.
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