Books › Modern violin-playing, 1920 › scan 82
Scan 82
Modern violin-playing, 1920
20 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 42. See the scan on archive.org.
1MODERN VIOLIN-PLAYING
3EXERCISE 8
5This exercise has already been described in Chapter IV., page 37, and its performance has been shown in Plate 14. It should be repeated very slowly ten or fifteen times; and the utmost care should be taken that the fingers of the right-hand remain entirely relaxed during the downward pressure from the wrist.
7EXERCISE 9
9Place the left-thumb against the first phalange of the right-thumb. Then, with the first two fingers of the left-hand, bring the second phalange of the thumb over, as far as the stiffness of the joint will allow, taking care not to press so hard as to cause injury.
11This exercise is specially designed as a training for the thumb in those movements that accompany the change of bow from up to down, and vice versa. It is a necessary exercise because most players allow the second joint of the thumb to become stiff from disuse. Plate 19 shows the thumb straightened: Plate 20 shows it bent. Notice particularly that, when it is thus properly bent (Plate 20), it is actually arched, and that this arching is due to the fact that all three joints are equally moved. Compare this carefully with the imperfect bending shown in Plate 21, where only the first joint is moved. This important exercise (No. 9) should be performed ten or twelve times on end, and the performance should be repeated at intervals during the day. After a while, an attempt should be made to move the second phalange without the assistance of the left-hand. The "limit-positions" of this exercise will then be those shown in Plates 19 and 22.
13EXERCISE 10
15Is not an exercise, but a medical prescription. The application of the wet-sponge of an ordinary therapeutic battery round the joint will often help it to gain flexibility.
17When the positions shown in Plates 19 and 20 can be assumed with more or less ease, the exercise should be vitalized and made practical by transferring it to the violin-bow, held perpendicularly. Plates 23 and 24 show us vividly what this transference amounts to. But the whole process needs careful analysis.
19Starting, then, as in Plate 23, the hand is tilted slightly upon the
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