Calvin Sieb Violin Techniques

Calvin Sieb
The Development of a Violinist
©Photo by Lois Siegel

2004
Violin Techniques
The Opposing Techniques of Hans Letz and Ivan
Galamian
Letz had the conception of a 'light', "chamber music" kind of sound. The idea of chamber music
was really in a chamber - a chambre (French). The chambre was probably a salon of a rich
person who could afford to hire a small group of musicians to play in a private salon for an
evening of special entertainment for a select and elite audience. It was a more delicate approach
to a sonority that would be pleasant in a relatively small place.
Letz also insisted on a German bow hold with a high wrist at the frog.
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He avoided flat hair bow, and emphasized a very small use of vibrato.
In order to avoid a rough sound at the frog, one was taught to lift the right wrist and turn it
slightly clockwise as you approach the frog so that the wrist was taking the weight off at the frog
and the bow was tilted so that only part of the hair was in contact with the string.. Of course if
you lift the wrist and let the hand hang, there is no pressure, thus no scraping, but there is also
no control by the fingers or the hand in that’ wilted flower’ position. One doesn’t turn a doorknob
to open a door with the hand in that position.
I discovered that if I used my strong back muscles to lift the weight of the arm at the frog, I could
play a light pianissimo at the frog with complete “door knob position” control. Thus I could play
from the E string to the G string at the frog by just twisting my hand (opening and closing the
doorknob). The motion is technically called supination and pronation. The bow stoke is controlled
by suspending the bow arm from the strong back muscles. To feel that back muscle “lift,” try the
following:
1. Place your arms in front of the chest, the elbows bent at 90 degree angles and fingertips nearly
touching.
2. Lift your arms keeping that arms/hands position
3. In same starting position take a medium deep breath.
4. Same thing but this time, take a very deep breath and let your arms rise up as you breathe in.
I teach my students to use their right arm in what I call a “Position of Force” in order to achieve
complete control in rotation of the bow hand That is, if I make a fist with my right arm as if to
push something with much force , and then rotate that arm clockwise and counterclockwise, as if
turning a doorknob back and forth, I arrive at the hand/wrist/forearm position that gives me the
most amount of control where it counts , that is in the bow arm fingers, hand and wrist.
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Galamian used a solid "gutsy" sound that projected well in a large hall. He insisted on a solid
right hand bow grip and strong sound, using more flat hair position. He explained how to
produce a much warmer vibrato on notes long enough for vibration. He used a larger, slower
wave of sound.
Vibrato
Vibrato is an embellishment of the sound that imparts an emotional color. This enhances the
music. An ordinary sustained note that does not vary is very plain and without warmth. Vibrato
can be considered as a wave of changing intonation where the note to be vibrated is played,
descends in pitch slightly, returns up again to the note, and continues this undulating movement
for the length of the note. The distance from the top and the bottom of the wave may vary
between an 8th to a half of a tone below the note.
A round, rolling vibrato requires a soft, plaint pad, as opposed to a finger that is comparatively
firm for clear articulation. Lowering the left hand can place the fingers in a lower, flatter and
softer attitude, more or less on the fingerprint. This positioning of the flat finger on the string for
the vibrato is the same as the finger position the cellist uses to create vibrato. The cellist uses the
more fleshy part of the finger.
The vibrato is created by the finger rolling, oscillating, not sliding, back and forth on the string.
The motion, from the point on the string that marks the intonation of that note, is always down in
pitch and back again to the original pitch of the note. The sound replicates the natural vibrato of
the human voice. As with the human voice, the amplitude and the speed of each wave is dictated
by the emotion of the singer/player...slower for calmness and faster for excitement.
There are two techniques used to produce this rolling of the finger on the string:
1. The motive force is the arm:

The movement of the forearm, passing through a straight wrist, moving the hand back and
forth
while the finger remains, oscillating, on the string.
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2. The motive force is the hand alone:
The hand, in a movement as if 'knocking at the door,' moves the hand back and forth through a
flexible wrist, thereby rolling the finger back and forth on the string.
As a musical line develops and changes in intensity, the vibrato should also develop
simultaneously, in the same way, becoming an integral part of the phrasing. I have devised a
preparatory exercise in order to imagine and then to control the type, shape and intensity of the
vibrato that, ultimately, will enhance the musical line.
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Suggested steps:
1. On any single note, place the finger that produces the best, round vibrato
2. Play the note with a small, round vibrato and begin to think and to sing to yourself the
musical phrase to which you wish to add vibrato.
2. Without changing the pitch of the note, mentally 'sing' the phrase, continuing the vibrato on
that
same note. As you 'sing' (think) the phrase, you can change and shape the vibrato to
correspond
with the intensity of the melodic line in your mind.
This procedure will help you define more clearly the kind of vibrato you wish to use to color any
specific phrase. Aside from varying the speeds and pressures in bowing a phrase, the most
important tool used in expressing the emotions of a phrase is the vibrato.
The vibrato does not basically change the original music, but rather it adds color to the music in a
way that is similar to the addition of maquillage (makeup) to a face...not changing the essentials
but heightening the effect.
Bow Techniques
Web Page Design by Lois Siegel
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Calvin Sieb

The Development of a Violinist

©Photo by Lois Siegel

2. Lift your arms keeping that arms/hands position

3. In same starting position take a medium deep breath.

1. The motive force is the arm:

Web Page Design by Lois Siegel

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