Scan 28
The American history and encyclopedia of music, 1910
10 lines. Read by computer on 11 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1slight leaning forwards of head, shoulders, and chest when playing. The advantages of this artificial position are not quite apparent while it is evident that freedom of the lungs is restricted. And this is probably the reason that Rode's method found only little response among his contemporaries.
3Great violinists, pioneers and founders of celebrated schools, like Spohr, Paganini, Joachim, Wieniawski and others, had in the act of playing a striking resemblance to a well-grown tree, and not even in most passionate musical climates were they carried away in sufficient degree to lose physical self-control and present the appearance of a class of violinists who show their emotions by gazing fixedly at the floor below and by swaying the body rapidly to and fro.
5The beginner has from the start to adopt an upright, natural position of his body. Later on, when he has advanced so far as really to understand and enjoy the music he is playing, and after his own individuality is more developed, the original, rigid position will surely lose some of its severity, perhaps so much so, that in case his nerves, or sentiment, or sentimentality, or all combined, get the upper hand, the danger may arise that the original correct position may gradually change into an unesthetic one. This possibly ought to be kept in mind always, and tendency to an incorrect posture religiously avoided.
7Regarding the position of the feet, it is generally accepted as a rule to balance the weight of the body more or less on the left side, for the reason, that the right arm may be more at liberty to execute with the necessary freedom all physical motions.
9It is necessary to hold the left elbow close to the body, the right some little distance away, particularly so when playing on the G string. The old German school taught the quite rigid adherence of right elbow to the hip, the French-Belgian school inclines more to the other extreme. The middle way may prove the better here as in many other things.
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