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Tension/relaxation in martele strokes

Technique: So I am working on Kreutzer 5 and 6 and have a question about martele.

From Chris Keating
Posted October 26, 2009 at 08:48 PM

 So I am working on Kreutzer 5 and 6 and have a question about martele.

How tense should my arm be? I am finding that to get a good tone my right arm ends up being quite tense, is this the way it should be?

Also, and I think this is related, how staccato should the stroke be?

The stroke obviously consists of an accented release and then a pressureless pull - should that pressureless pull continue for the full value of the note written? 

Greetings,

1) Don`t tense the arm.  You can do it with a slight pronattion (turning in of the forearm) .  Also pinch the stick between finger and thumb and release.  Tension in the whole arm is not good.

2)  There are two kinds of martele.  Weak and strong.  The strong version actually sustains the sound after the attack.

3)  The basis of the stroke is the finger action so it is a good idea to have mastered colle first. 

4)  In the pnch /release ( version of the martle you go to the following note immediately (on the next string in the Kreutzer)  after releasing the attack.

Cheers,

Buri

 Thanks very much for the response.

I think what I am working on is what you refer to as "weak" martele. A bit of pronation is helping a lot, I think the other problem I had is that my bow was tending to walk its way towards the bridge, affecting the tone.

Kreutzer 6 is the first of the studies that I've found really challenging  since I started re-learning a few months ago... I imagine this is as much because I'm raising my standards of myself as it is down to the study itself.  ;)

 Greetings,

if you have started relearning may I recommend Drew Lechers book on technique to you.  It is a gold mine and I often use it instead of cnventional etudes with my students.

Cheers,

Buri

You certainly can, but sadly it doesn't seem to be available in the UK. 

Good Heavens.

There is this high tech thing called the Internet.   You go to Drew`s website press a few buttons and your money disappears;)

Cheers,

Buri

 Ah, I misread it as shipping only available to USA, rather than shipping charged in US Dollars... ;)

that@s the first exercise in the book;)

So I am working on Kreutzer 5 and 6 and have a question about martele.

How tense should my arm be? I am finding that to get a good tone my right arm ends up being quite tense, is this the way it should be?

Yes, it should be tense, a good martele requires tension.  The key however is to untense immediately after your initial attack.  Practice slowly stroke by stroke and get your arm accustomed to this tense/release stroke.  Eventually you will be able to do it faster and faster and your arm will have learned to release on its own.

Also, and I think this is related, how staccato should the stroke be?

It can be as staccato as the music calls for.  Since this is an etude you can experiment doing it every way you like ranging from extremely short and clipped, to having a bite at the beginning of the stroke that tapers to the end.

The stroke obviously consists of an accented release and then a pressureless pull - should that pressureless pull continue for the full value of the note written? 

All of that depends on the music and what you want it to sound like.  This being an etude gives you room to experiment with that.  I normally do not worry about holding the value of the notes because what's important is the attack/release.  I will however suggest that you use the full value of your bow while you learn this technique and gradually use less bow as you speed it up.

 Greetings,

I think the word tension can be misleadingsometimes.  In order to get the initial attack of the martele one has, in my oinon to combine correct finger action with pronation.  The bow has ot grp the string and then release it.  If you press too hard at the beginning the note will be squashed,  if too little it will be weak and mushy.  The act of feeding extra weight into string to grip it creates a feeling of resistance throughout the forearm but I don`t think there is any big contraction of the forearm. It is a completely differnet feeling to the tesnion dcreated by bunching your hand into a fist and feeling the arm muscles contract.

Cheers,

Buri

I'm actually finding it much easier to sustain the tone somewhat since if the bow is more in contact with the string it is less likely to bounce or jerk.

It's difficult enough for me to keep the contact point constant through a fast stroke, without it starting to jerk about...

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