Chapter 12

"Before the violin student can even begin to study, there are certain pre-teaching requisites which are necessary if the teacher is to be of any service to him. The violin is a singing instrument, and therefore the first thing called for is a good singing tone. That brings up an important point--the proper adjustment of the instrument used by the student. If his lessons are to be of real benefit to him, the component parts of the instrument, post, bridge, bass-bar, strings, etc., must be accurately adjusted, in order that the sound values are what they should be.

"From the teaching standpoint it is far more important that whatever violin the student has is one properly built and adjusted, than that it be a fine instrument. And the bow must have the right amount of spring, of elasticity in its stick. A poor bow will work more harm than a poor fiddle, for if the bow is poor, if it lacks the right resilience, the student cannot acquire the correct bow pressure. He cannot play _spiccato_ or any of the 'bouncing' bowings, including various forms of arpeggios, with a poor stick.

DRAWING A LONG BOW

"When I say that the student should 'draw a long bow,'" continued Mr. Severn with a smile, "I do not say so at a venture. If his instrument and bow are in proper shape, this is the next thing for the student to do. Ever since Tartini's time it has been acknowledged that nothing can take the place of the study of the long bow, playing in all shades of dynamics, from _pp_ to _ff_, and with all the inflections of _crescendo_ and _diminuendo_. Part of this study should consist of 'mute' exercises--not playing, but drawing the bow _above the strings_, to its full length, resting at either end. This ensures bow control. One great difficulty is that as a rule the teacher cannot induce pupils to practice these 'mute' exercises, in spite of their unquestionable value. All the great masters of the violin have used them. Viotti thought so highly of them that he taught them only to his favorite pupils. And even to-day some distinguished violinists play dumb exercises before stepping on the recital stage. They are one of the best means that we have for control of the violinistic nervous system.

WRIST-BOWING

"Wrist-bowing is one of the bowings in which the student should learn to feel absolutely and naturally at home. To my thinking the German way of teaching wrist-bowing is altogether wrong. Their idea is to keep the fingers neutral, and let the stick move the fingers! Yet this is wrong--for the player holds his bow at the finger-tips, that terminal point of the fingers where the tactile nerves are most highly developed, and where their direct contact with the bow makes possible the greatest variety of dynamic effect, and also allows the development of far greater speed in short bowings.

"Though the Germans say 'Think of the wrist!' I think with the Belgians: Put your mind where you touch and hold the bow, concentrate on your fingers. In other words, when you make your bow change, do not make it according to the Joachim method, with the wrist, but in the natural way, with the fingers always in command. In this manner only will you get the true wrist motion.

STACCATO AND OTHER BOWINGS

"After all, there are only two general principles in violin playing, the long and short bow, _legato_ and _staccato_. Many a teacher finds it very difficult to teach _staccato_ correctly, which may account for the fact that many pupils find it hard to learn. The main reason is that, in a sense, _staccato_ is opposed to the nature of the violin as a singing instrument. To produce a true _staccato_ and not a 'scratchato' it is absolutely necessary, while exerting the proper pressure and movement, to keep the muscles loose. I have evolved a simple method for quickly achieving the desired result in _staccato_. First I teach the attack in the middle of the bow, without drawing the bow and as though pressing a button: I have pupils press up with the thumb and down with the first finger, with all muscles relaxed. This, when done correctly, produces a sudden sharp attack.

"Then, I have the pupil place his bow in the middle, in position to draw a down-stroke from the wrist, the bow-hair being pressed and held against the string. A quick down-bow follows with an immediate release of the string. Repeating the process, use the up-stroke. The finished product is merely the combination of these two exercises--drawing and attacking simultaneously. I have never failed to give a pupil a good _staccato_ by this exercise, which comprises the principle of all genuine _staccato_ playing.

"One of the most difficult of all bowings is the simple up-and-down stroke used in the second Kreutzer _étude_, that is to say, the bowing between the middle and point of the bow, _tête d'archet_, as the French call it. This bowing is played badly on the violin more often than any other. It demands constant rapid changing and, as most pupils play it, the _legato_ quality is noticeably absent. Too much emphasis cannot be laid on the truth that the 'singing stroke' should be employed for all bowings, long or short. Often pupils who play quite well show a want of true _legato_ quality in their tone, because there is no connection between their bowing in rapid work.

"Individual bowings should always be practiced separately. I always oblige my pupils to practice all bowings on the open strings, and in all combinations of the open strings, because this allows them to concentrate on the bowing itself, to the exclusion of all else; and they advance far more quickly. Students should never be compelled to learn new bowings while they have to think of their fingers at the same time: we cannot serve two masters simultaneously! All in all, bowing is most important in violin technic, for control of the bow means much toward mastery of the violin.

THE LEFT HAND

"It is evident, however, that the correct use of the left hand is of equal importance. It seems not to be generally known that finger-pressure has much to do with tone-quality. The correct poise of the left hand, as conspicuously shown by Heifetz for instance, throws the extreme tips of the fingers hammerlike on the strings, and renders full pressure of the string easy. Correctly done, a brilliance results, especially in scale and passage work, which can be acquired in no other manner, each note partaking somewhat of the quality of the open string. As for intonation--that is largely a question of listening. To really listen to oneself is as necessary as it is rare. It would take a volume to cover that subject alone. We hear much about the use of the _vibrato_ these days. It was not so when I was a student. I can remember when it was laughed at by the purists as an Italian evidence of bad taste. My teachers decried it, yet if we could hear the great players of the past, we would be astonished at their frugal use of it.

"One should remember in this connection that there was a conflict among singers for many years as to whether the straight tone as cultivated by the English oratorio singers, or the vibrated tone of the Italians were correct. As usual, Nature won out. The correctly vibrated voice outlasted the other form of production, thus proving its lawful basis. But to-day the _vibrato_ is frequently made to cover a multitude of violin sins.

"It is accepted by many as a substitute for genuine warmth and it is used as a _camouflage_ to 'put over' some very bad art in the shape of poor tone-quality, intonation and general sloppiness of technic. Why, then, has it come into general use during the last twenty-five years? Simply because it is based on the correctly produced human voice. The old players, especially those of the German school, said, and some still say, the _vibrato_ should only be used at the climax of a melody. If we listen to a Sembrich or a Bonci, however, we hear a vibration on every tone. Let us not forget that the violin is a singing instrument and that even Joachim said: 'We must imitate the human voice,' This, I think, disposes of the case finally and we must admit that every little boy or girl with a natural _vibrato_ is more correct in that part of his tone-production than many of the great masters of the past. As the Negro pastor said: 'The world do move!'

VIOLIN MASTERY

"Are 'mastery of the violin' and 'Violin Mastery' synonymous in my mind? Yes and no: 'Violin Mastery' may be taken to mean that technical mastery wherewith one is enabled to perform any work in the entire literature of the instrument with precision, but not necessarily with feeling for its beauty or its emotional content. In this sense, in these days of improved violin pedagogy, such mastery is not uncommon. But 'Violin Mastery' may also be understood to mean, not merely a cold though flawless technic, but its living, glowing product when used to express the emotions suggested by the music of the masters. This latter kind of violin mastery is rare indeed.

"One who makes technic an end travels light, and should reach his destination more quickly. But he whose goal is music with its thousand-hued beauties, with its call for the exertion of human and spiritual emotion, sets forth on a journey without end. It is plain, however, that this is the only journey worth taking with the violin as a traveling companion. 'Violin Mastery', then, means to me technical proficiency used to the highest extent possible, for artistic ends!"

XXI

ALBERT SPALDING

THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ARTIST

For the duration of the war Albert Spalding the violinist became Albert Spalding the soldier. As First Lieutenant in the Aviation Service, U.S.A., he maintained the ideals of civilization on the Italian front with the same devotion he gave to those of Art in the piping times of peace. As he himself said not so very long ago: "You cannot do two things, and do them properly, at the same time. At the present moment there is more music for me in the factories gloriously grinding out planes and motors than in a symphony of Beethoven. And to-day I would rather run on an office-boy's errand for my country and do it as well as I can, if it's to serve my country, than to play successfully a Bach Chaconne; and I would rather hear a well directed battery of American guns blasting the Road of Peace and Victorious Liberty than the combined applause of ten thousand audiences. For it is my conviction that Art has as much at stake in this War as Democracy."

Yet Lieutenant Spalding, despite the arduous demands of his patriotic duties, found time to answer some questions of the writer in the interests of "Violin Mastery" which, representing the views and opinions of so eminent and distinctively American a violinist, cannot fail to interest every lover of the Art. Writing from Rome (Sept. 9, 1918), Lieutenant Spalding modestly said that his answers to the questions asked "will have to be simple and short, because my time is very limited, and then, too, having been out of music for more than a year, I feel it difficult to deal in more than a general way with some of the questions asked."

VIOLIN MASTERY

"As to 'Violin Mastery'? To me it means effortless mastery of details; the correlating of them into a perfect whole; the subjecting of them to the expression of an architecture which is music. 'Violin Mastery' means technical mastery in every sense of the word. It means a facility which will enable the interpreter to forget difficulties, and to express at once in a language that will seem clear, simple and eloquent, that which in the hands of others appears difficult, obtuse and dull.

THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ARTIST

"As to the processes, mental and technical, which make an artist? These different processes, mental and technical, are too many, too varied and involved to invite an answer in a short space of time. Suffice it to say that the most _important_ mental process, to my mind, is the development of a perception of beauty. All the perseverance in the study of music, all the application devoted to it, is not worth a tinker's dam, unless accompanied by this awakening to the perception of beauty. And with regard to the influence of teachers? Since all teachers vary greatly, the student should not limit himself to his own personal masters. The true student of Art should be able to derive benefit and instruction from every beautiful work of Art that he hears or sees; otherwise he will be limited by the technical and mental limitations of his own prejudices and jealousies. One's greatest difficulties may turn out to be one's greatest aids in striving toward artistic results. By this I mean that nothing is more fatally pernicious for the true artist than the precocious facility which invites cheap success. Therefore I make the statement that one's greatest difficulties are one's greatest facilities.

A LESS DEVELOPED PHASE OF VIOLIN TECHNIC

"In the technical field, the phase of violin technic which is less developed, it seems to me is, in most cases, bowing. One often notes a highly developed left hand technic coupled with a monotonous and oftentimes faulty bowing. The _color_ and _variety_ of a violinist's art must come largely from his intimate acquaintance with all that can be accomplished by the bow arm. The break or change from a down-bow to an up-bow, or _vice versa_, should be under such control as to make it perceptible only when it may be desirable to use it for color or accentuation.

GOOD AND BAD HANDS: MENTAL STUDY

"The influence of the physical conformation of bow hand and string hand on actual playing? There are no 'good' or 'bad' bow hands or string hands (unless they be deformed); there are only 'good' and 'bad' heads. By this I mean that the finest development of technic comes from the head, not from the hand. Quickness of thought and action is what distinguishes the easy player from the clumsy player. Students should develop mental study even of technical details--this, of course, in addition to the physical practice; for this mental study is of the highest importance in developing the student so that he can gain that effortless mastery of detail of which I have already spoken.

ADVANTAGE AND DISADVANTAGE OF CONCERT ATTENDANCE FOR THE STUDENT

"Concerts undoubtedly have great value in developing the student technically and mentally; but too often they have a directly contrary effect. I think there is a very doubtful benefit to be derived from the present habit, as illustrated in New York, London, or other centers, of the student attending concerts, sometimes as many as two or three a day. This habit dwarfs the development of real appreciation, as the student, under these conditions, can little appreciate true works of art when he has crammed his head so full of truck, and worn out his faculties of concentration until listening to music becomes a mechanical mental process. The _indiscriminate_ attending of concerts, to my mind, has an absolutely pernicious effect on the student.

NATIONALITY AS A FORMATIVE INFLUENCE

"Nationality and national feeling have a very real influence in the development of an artist; but this influence is felt subconsciously more than consciously, and it reacts more on the creative than on the interpretative artist. By this I mean that the interpretative artist, while reserving the right to his individual expression, should subject himself to what he considers to have been the artistic impulse, the artistic intentions of the composer. As to type music to whose appeal I as an American am susceptible, I confess to a very sympathetic reaction to the syncopated rhythms known as 'rag-time,' and which appear to be especially American in character." For the benefit of those readers who may not chance to know it, Lieutenant Spalding's "Alabama," a Southern melody and dance in plantation style, for violin and piano, represents a very delightful creative exploitation of these rhythms. The writer makes mention of the fact since with regard to this and other of his own compositions Lieutenant Spalding would only state: "I felt that I had something to say and, therefore, tried to say it. Whether what I have to say is of any interest to others is not for me to judge.

PLAYING WHILE IN SERVICE

"Do I play at all while in Service? I gave up all playing in public when entering the Army a year ago, and to a great extent all private playing as well. I have on one or two occasions played at charity concerts during the past year, once in Rome, and once in the little town in Italy near the aviation camp at which I was stationed at the time. I have purposely refused all other requests to play because one cannot do two things at once, and do them properly. My time now belongs to my country: When we have peace again I shall hope once more to devote it to Art."

XXII

THEODORE SPIERING

THE APPLICATION OF BOW EXERCISES TO THE STUDY OF KREUTZER

A. Walter Kramer has said: "Mr. Spiering knows how serious a study can be made of the violin, because he has made it. He has investigated the 'how' and 'why' of every detail, and what he has to say about the violin is the utterance of a big musician, one who has mastered the instrument." And Theodore Spiering, solo artist and conductor, as a teacher has that wider horizon which has justified the statement made that "he is animated by the thoughts and ideals which stimulate a Godowsky or Busoni." Such being the case, it was with unmixed satisfaction that the writer found Mr. Spiering willing to give him the benefit of some of those constructive ideas of his as regards violin study which have established his reputation so prominently in that field.

TWO TYPES OF STUDENTS

"There are certain underlying principles which govern every detail of the violinist's Art," said Mr. Spiering, "and unless the violinist fully appreciates their significance, and has the intelligence and patience to apply them in everything he does, he will never achieve that absolute command over his instrument which mastery implies.

"It is a peculiar fact that a large percentage of students--probably believing that they can reach their goal by a short cut--resent the mental effort required to master these principles, the passive resistance, evident in their work, preventing them from deriving true benefit from their studies. They form that large class which learns merely by imitation, and invariably retrograde the moment they are no longer under the teacher's supervision.

"The smaller group, with an analytical bent of mind, largely subject themselves to the needed mental drill and thus provide for themselves that inestimable basic quality that makes them independent and capable of developing their talent to its full fruition.

MENTAL AND PHYSICAL PROCESSES COÖRDINATED

"The conventional manner of teaching provided an inordinate number of mechanical exercises in order to overcome so called 'technical difficulties.' Only the _prima facie_ disturbance, however, was thus taken into consideration--not its actual cause. The result was, that notwithstanding the great amount of labor thus expended, the effort had to be repeated each time the problem was confronted. Aside from the obviously uncertain results secured in this manner, it meant deadening of the imagination and cramping of interpretative possibilities. It is only possible to reduce to a minimum the element of chance by scrupulously carrying out the dictates of the laws governing vital principles. Analysis and the severest self-criticism are the means of determination as to whether theory and practice conform with one another.

"_Mental preparedness_ (Marcus Aurelius calls it 'the good ordering of the mind') is the keynote of technical control. Together with the principle of _relaxation_ it provides the player with the most effective means of establishing precise and sensitive coöperation between mental and physical processes. Muscular relaxation at will is one of the results of this coöperation. It makes sustained effort possible (counteracting the contraction ordinarily resulting therefrom), and it is freedom of movement more than anything else that tends to establish confidence.

THE TWO-FOLD VALUE OF CELEBRATED STUDY WORKS

"The study period of the average American is limited. It has been growing less year by year. Hence the teacher has had to redouble his efforts. The desire to give my pupils the essentials of technical control in their most concentrated and immediately applicable form, have led me to evolve a series of 'bow exercises,' which, however, do not merely pursue a mechanical purpose. Primarily enforcing the carrying out of basic principles as pertaining to the bow--and establishing or correcting (as the case may be) arm and hand (right arm) positions, they supply the means of creating a larger interpretative style.

"I use the Kreutzer studies as the medium of these bow-exercises, since the application of new technical ideas is easier when the music itself is familiar to the student. I have a two-fold object in mind when I review these studies in my particular manner, technic and appreciation. I might add that not only Kreutzer, but Fiorillo and Rode--in fact all the celebrated 'Caprices,' with the possible exception of those of Paganini--are viewed almost entirely from the purely technical side, as belonging to the classroom, because their musical qualities have not been sufficiently pointed out. Rode, in particular, is a veritable musical treasure trove.

THE APPLICATION OF BOW EXERCISES TO THE STUDY OF KREUTZER

"How do I use the Kreutzer studies to develop style and technic? By making the student study them in such wise that the following principles are emphasized in his work: _control before action_ (mental direction at all times); _relaxation_; and _observance of string levels_; for unimpeded movement is more important than pressure as regards the carrying tone. These principles are among the most important pertaining to right arm technic.

"In Study No. 2 (version 1, up-strokes only, version 2, down-strokes only), I have my pupils use the full arm stroke (_grand detaché_). In version 1, the bow is taken from the string after completion of stroke--but in such a way that the vibrations of the string are not interfered with. Complete relaxation is insured by release of the thumb--the bow being caught in a casual manner, third and fourth fingers slipping from their normal position on stick--and holding, but not tightly clasping, the bow.

"Version 2 calls for a _return down-stroke_, the return part of the stroke being accomplished over the string, but making no division in stroke, no hesitating before the return. Relaxation is secured as before. Rapidity of stroke, elimination of impediment (faulty hand or arm position and unnecessary upper arm action), is the aim of this exercise. The pause between each stroke--caused by relinquishing the hold on the bow--reminds the student that mental control should at all times be paramount: that analysis of technical detail is of vital importance.

"In Study No. 7 I employ the same vigorous full arm strokes as in No. 2: the up and down bows as indicated in the original version. The bow is raised from the strings after each note, by means of hand (little finger, first and thumb) not by arm action. Normal hand position is retained: thumb not released.

"The _observance of string levels_ is very essential. While the stroke is in progress the arm must not leave its level in an anticipatory movement to reach the next level. Especially after the down-stroke is it advisable to verify the arm position with regard to this feature.