Violin playing
The violinist usually plays his instrument by placing it under the chin, on the left clavicle. The strings are set in vibration by the friction of the bow or by pinching the fingers (at the pizzicato). The fingers of the left hand except the thumb, are used to shorten the length of the strings to produce different notes. There are so many techniques on the violin for a wide range of sounds and draw all the possibilities of the instrument.
Holding the instrument and the bow
In classical music, you play the violin by placing it on the left clavicle. But this is not a general rule: if fiddlers and fiddlers and other traditional violin, the violin is often placed against the bust in Carnatic music, we play most often sits with the scroll of the violin 's press the foot. Some violinists play the instrument by placing their right clavicle, and thus reversing all the gestures, but the other cases is very large majority. The decision of which side they were putting the instrument when learning is independent of the lateralization (right or left handed).
In the case where the device is worn on the left, the fingers of his left hand except the thumb is on the other side of the handle used to support it, support the strings at the button to produce different notes of simple strings. The explanations that follow consider this case.
Holding the violin is assisted by two accessories:
* The chin placed on the soundboard to the left of the tailpiece and is not used on baroque violins but is necessary since the 19th century to the modern violins it also serves to protect the skin contact ; many professionals do the carving in the shape of their jaws;
* The epaulier optional, placed under the bottom, used to bridge the gap between the violin and the shoulder to prevent it not mount it.
Both are intended to enable the instrument to better match the shape of the body and thus play more comfortably.
The bow is supported by the thumb and maintained by the other fingers. The tip of the thumb is placed under the baton before the increase. Middle and ring are placed round the rod and wrap to keep it on the go. The key lies roughly opposite the thumb. The little finger is placed, and rounded on its end, on top of the stick. This little finger plays an important role in alleviating the weight of the bow in the game near the heel of the bow. It can sometimes be raised at the game, either as an exercise or not. This index, placed on top of the stick, which is designed to vary the pressure of the bow on the string.
Usual game
The usual game is legato (tied). Violinist rubs the strings with the bow and do not differentiate each note, the game is very fluid. Ideally we do not distinguish the difference between ear pushed and pulled. These two words come to name the two phases of a return of the bow: when one goes from the heel to the tip, and pushed around.
Hammered
Blocking the bow after a lapse of time or longer which mutes the sound and then detach each note. On offense, the bow is pressed against the rope, then abruptly relieves the pressure, releasing the bow, and you play with the speed of the bow to the tip (or any other place where you decided to stop the note), the bow rests on the rope with only a pressure index.
The Staccato is a succession of pounding. It can be in the same staccato bowing, or alternately pulled and pushed each note.
Jump
The shape of the stick of the bow, slightly curved, giving the game the possibility of many jumps
* Ricochet: when the bow bounces on the ropes several times in one stroke of the bow is a ricochet. The speed of a turn is variable. To make a slow turn, he must start his bow to its equilibrium point. To make a quick turn, he must start his bow closer to the tip. Over the bow bounces up, slower is the ricochet. Ricochet is often performed simultaneously with a medley. Often used in difficult pieces, such as the Caprice No. 1 Niccolò Paganini or The Round elves Antonio Bazzini.
* Saltato or bouncing. The bow in the middle, turns naturally to hop (to briefly lose contact with the string) as soon as we alternate shot and pushed fast enough, and with a rather low pressure of the index.
* Spiccato: in the first third or second quarter of the bow, it is to blow the bow by a return movement of the wrist (not the whole arm), which must remain flexible.
Double string arrangements
The shape of the bridge is voluntarily four strings in a non-planar configuration. However, as two points of space are necessarily in the same plane, the bow can be placed on two adjacent strings, and you can simultaneously play two different parts. The violinist is also supporting a bit more on the bow, put three chords in almost the same level and play a chord of three notes almost at the same time. For agreements of four strings, in general, the agreement arpeggio, that is to say that it has three double strings in a row (re-ground at the same time, re-followed the same time and then the mid-together). Variations to accommodate the style of the piece sometimes occur, particularly for agreements in baroque pieces.
Ci-cons, an example from the Chaconne from Bach's second Partita. Y alternating passages in double stops and chords, whose implementation requires rather special fingerings (including an extension of the fourth finger to produce the agreement if-re-fa).
Pinch
With the pizzicato, violinist strum with the right index finger. This technique is generally used for accompaniment, or parts of jazz. However, the pizzicato can be used more original than a simple accompaniment, and we note two particular jobs in the Violin Concerto No. 1 Prokofiev:
* Violinist at the beginning of the third page, shells black solo single, which has a confusing aspect in its simplicity;
* In the fourth page, an agreement of four tones is played pizzicato semiquaver several steps away. The tempo is fast, in order to do that, the violin strings are plucked in their entirety by placing themselves near the button, so that the strings are aligned as possible.
The violinist can also make a pizzicato particular, the Pizz Bartok, which involves pulling the string vertically and a little high, falling only to slap it on the sidelines, adding to the sound of the note a percussive effect.
Placement of the bow
You can put the bow at different places, including
* Mid-way between the bridge and touch (normal);
* Near the bridge, to gain power and body;
* Almost on the bridge (sul ponticello), for his very whistling, fever, high pitched, sometimes low;
* Key (sul tasto), for his distant and remote, sometimes called white.
* You can drag the body of the violin between the rod and wick. This is the jazz violinist Joe Venuti who first had the idea of using this technique, which can play all four strings simultaneously. The sound is also much more rugged.
The technique al ponticello particular, used by Joseph Haydn in 43 measures of the second movement's 97th symphony, a passage noted vicino al ponticello succeeded him.
Col legno
With this technique, it is no longer hairs that are in contact with the rope, but the wood of the bow. The effect produced by rubbing the rope with little interest (the sound is almost imperceptible), it is more often hit the rope to get a remarkable percussive aspect. This technique is particularly remained famous through the play in March, following the Planets by Holst, but this is not the first use: one can cite among others Hector Berlioz employs some steps in the last part of 's Dream Night of a Sabbath of his Symphonie fantastique.
Bariolage
The medley is the rapid transition from one string to his neighbor. You can then play the notes at a very high rate, and execute passages dramatically when they require little actual effort, such as a medley (very common) ground on the ropes - D - A - E - E - A - D - ground. Ci-cons, a sample taken from bariolage Violin Concerto No. 2 by Mendelssohn, 1st mvt, measures 323-329: In this part of the cadenza, the soloist plays about 12 notes per second, but should in fact move fingers that both times.
Portato
Literally worn: the violinist plays more notes in one bow, but the space slightly less pressure on the rope between each, to carefully articulate musical discourse. It points out the score by horizontal lines over (or under) the notes involved.
Tremolo
The tremolo is the rapid repetition (not measured pace) a note. His execution took place, for reasons of convenience, to the point and only with the wrist (and not the whole arm). There are two main types of use of orchestral tremolo:
* Grade in piano or pianissimo, it is a thin carpet of sound. Well-known examples are the beginnings of the seventh and ninth symphonies of Anton Bruckner, where the strings open the first movement alone, in tremolo.
* In forte or fortissimo, it exudes power and violence. One example is the beginning of the opening of the Flying Dutchman by Richard Wagner.
Usual game
The fingers of his left hand just press the button on the cord so as to shorten the length of it. The length, with the voltage, determines the pitch of the note. Note: As the thumb is not used for anything other than hold the handle, called the index finger first, and so on up to 4 only.
Thumb position
Major Technique, it is to move the left hand along the handle, which allows you to play higher notes on the same rope. This system allows the violin to add to his two-octave range already established two octaves and two tones. The distances from the left hand are codified by a system of positions.
Positions: the First position, where the hand is at its base height at the eighth position. Between each position, there is a note so that out of the string, first finger position in First produced so, in a second position C, in third, a re ... Beyond the eighth, the positions are used but are not numbered: the numbering applies only to positions that have worked consistently at the violin. There are half a position where the fingers are all a semitone below its height in First position.
Thanks to the different positions you can play the same note very many ways, provided it is neither too high nor too low. For example, if you are playing with just the fourth finger in first position on the E string can be played with all the other fingers, and what about all the other strings. It may well have 16 ways of producing the same note. This is particularly useful for fast passages, where one needs a practical skill, not necessarily the easiest, or in any circumstance where you want to get a particular sound. Indeed, this was not so sharp at all the same stamp as it is played on the E string or the G string.
Vibrato
Vibrato is a tool of expression, which reflects the character or the sense of a note or a phrase of music. It is produced by the movement of the wrist and the fingertip, back and forth on the rope. The height of the note is so changed, down below the actual market value of the note and back. Note that the vibrato is always given below the height of the note because the human ear perceives the highest point of the vibrato as the correct height. The speed and amplitude of vibrato are chosen so that the character of the piece is best reflected, both of which are independent and can create several variants with different combinations of speed and amplitude. The usual maximum amplitude in music is far below the half-tone.
Although it can vibrate the notes played with a finger, you can actually manage to vibrate the strings as follows:
* For example, to vibrate the G string, we put the finger on the D string so that we can produce a ground on the D string;
* It vibrates the high G;
* But they place the bow on the G string.
You can hear a sample sound file in the above-cons.
Trills and batteries
These techniques are not specific to the violin, but he is more familiar than other instruments (such as the harpsichord or some wind). They consist of the rapid alternation of two notes separated intervals from minor second (semitone) to the augmented fourth (six semitones). They are practiced in your finger to the base note leaning on the handle, while the other finger supports and stands up to cyclical, more or less quickly on the high note. The distinction between trill and drums is at the interval (lower or higher tone). We can produce batteries with very large intervals provided that the note is less than a string, and the upper note is played on the same rope, it is sufficient to rapidly raise and lower the finger to get the battery.
Harmonics
Sometimes we put a little finger at one point of the rope, without support, to block certain vibration modes: pointing the finger in the middle of the rope, for example, is removed for example the fundamental mode, and mean especially when the first harmonic, an octave higher than the score on this string. These notes are called harmonics and sounds quite shrill. The sound "shrill" expands the range of color and string instruments (eg in the last movement of Sibelius's violin concerto) and the sound is the reason why in some languages these sounds are called whistle (flageolet tone "in English," Flageolettton "in German, or simply" flažolet "eg in Czech).
Example from the third of the Romanian Dances by Bela Bartok: violinist only plays in harmonics. The harmonics are produced using the first finger for the note and the fourth, touching the rope to the harmonic. Both hands must move together maintaining the same interval throughout the piece. A further difficulty is the caustic, since the two fingers mentioned must oscillate at a rate of biting, and thus makes the whole left hand must pass this fast moving and flexible, carefully maintaining the interval between two fingers on the string.
Double String
Violinist gradually learn to control each finger separately and accurately, to bind the different notes on two strings, or place your four fingers together on each string and change positions several times in a row. This is a particularly demanding accuracy.
However, certain notes are never to be played together in double stops: it notes produisibles be serious enough on the G string, ie all the notes between the soil and D flat included.
Left hand pizz
It is pinching the string with the fingers of his left hand. Thus, one clip with the 4th finger when playing with the 3rd with the 3rd if you play with the second, and so on, the bow is used when playing with the 4th finger (playing and the role of 'extra finger'). Frequently used in bravura (ex: 24th Caprice of Nicolo Paganini).
Glissando
The finger slides along the string while exerting pressure on it. The effect is very characteristic, and can be done on a stretch of about two octaves, from low to high, or vice versa. We are shining examples Ravel, for figurative effects (wind, bird calls).
Harmonic glissando: as its name implies, a mixture of two techniques, which is to drag your finger on the string without pressure. The finger touches turns the natural harmonics of the string and false harmonics, whistling, indistinct and tenuous. Ravel is also used to imitate birds, but the most striking example of this mode of play is the introduction of the ballet The Firebird by Stravinsky, it's writing for all strings.
See also Violin
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