Thanks, Mr. Fischer!
I was fortunate enough to receive (with a little prompting) a copy of Simon Fischer's Practice for Christmas. My family has to order it direct from Peters, the publishers.
It is stunningly effective. I've only spent a few hours with it but it has already given me some wonderful insights. I already have, and teach from, Basics and Practice has much more and different stuff.
Please note: this is not an ad or promotion or anything like that. I am just passing on my experience. I would be really bummed if in five years I ran across a copy of Practice and found out I could have known all that good information five years earlier.
All you young, talented musicians who are studying with great teachers and at great schools take heart and be very very happy. You are incredibly more fortunate than you can imagine!
I will be 59 years old this year and I am just finding out things I should have known when I was seven.
On the other hand, I am experiencing the joy of learning exciting new things and my teaching and playing are more fun than ever!
Thanks to all of you and this site because without you I would never have even heard of these wonderful resources.
Replies (38)
Buri, I want to thank you also, because we knew about S. Fischer's works from you. My family plan to present me his 'Practice' book on my birthday (it's coming soon).
let us all have a toast of prune juice to Simon Fischer's basics :)
A great pair of books.
I used to love Simon Fischer's "Basics" column in The Strad, and to have these compendia is a real help for me, both as a teacher and as a player striving to develop.
If one knows what the problem is, then there is always a solution to be found in these books.
Thank you, Mr Fischer
Graham Clark
i suppose i need to buy this book now. Its always a trade off, maybe if i have smaller cups of coffee in the mornigns for a month i can afford it.
Is it worthwhile to purchase both Practice and Basics, or to purchase only the newer one - ie Practice?
I would say both is best, because Basics looks at the specific analysis of technical needs and particular problems, Practise applies the solutions to individual excerpts from the repertoire.
They can work together from different angles.
However, I would be more likely to recommend Basics if you wanted only one, because I like thinking about these things in the abstract.
If you prefer to give exercises a musical context, go for Practise.
gc
Greetings,
I agree with Graham. By removing allbut the most fundamental aspects 'Basics' gives you more an dmore stuff you can just keep going at until the end of time.
Practice is much more approable after Basics I think. Taken on its own I think it migh be a little overwhelming or unfocusasizing,
Cheers,
Buri
"unfocusasizing"
Buri, you haven't had your prunes today!
gc
Greetings,
aux contraire, only after a kilo or two of prunes can I invent new words. I was rather proud of this one...
Cheers,
Buri
PS if you don"t have either book then I recommend you go see the new Hanks movie 'Terminal' It"s quite charming and can do much to ease the disappointment.
Yes Buri! Without you, I'd never have discovered either Fischer or the Strad. Thanks! :)
i too shall add my praise to Simon Fischer, I have both books now (at terrible expense to my parents, ahh, I love them) and I've been told by my mum that I have to use practice *AT LEAST* 104 times (it cost AUD$104)
In australia, there is a real estate company called L.J Hooker, and their little jingle on the tv is "no-body does it better, LJ Hooker You're the best"
I've decided to change it to:
"No-body does it better, Mr FIscher, you're the best"
I ordered Practice for Christmas but unfortunately Santa didn't make it. Still waiting for it. Basics is really great and the exercises improved my playing so much, that I'm looking forward to have a copy of Practice. Does anyone know if Mr.Fischer is working on a third book ? (Can we order in advance ?)
Michael,
I only just saw this thread. And, like you, I got Practice for Christmas. Yay! I'm just now getting to delve in to the pages, and it's such a treat to see working examples based on passages in pieces I'm currently attempting. Makes me feel like a real violinist! This book will be infinitely helpful.
just an update…. ‘Practice’ is now available in some stores:
the link to the book at http://www.metzlerviolins.com seems to hang…. but they do have it ($60) and so does sheetmusicplus.com ($55, 3-4 week waiting period, they say):
http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/store/smp_detail.html?sku=PE.P07578&cart=30361476951006582&searchtitle=Sheet%20Music
Got my copy beginning February. It's a great work.
It probably won't change my playing as much as Basics. But I certainly learned some interesting things (like playing natural harmonics without leaving the finger on the string)
My Basics and Practice are finally arrived! They look to me like the kind of textbooks that you should work your way through bits by bits, but there may be a number of other ways to use them.
How do you use them?
Wow! Yixi. You resurrected an ancient post.
Well, usually if I encounter a problem of my own or of a student I look in both Basics and Practice to see what I can find that might help me. There is always something...usually a lot. Start at the beginning of sections because they are the most "basic" :). then work onward until your problem is fixed, or better; or until the stuff gets too hard to do. The sections get pretty hard pretty fast.
Sometimes I'll just browse through and pick something for fun. Sometimes I'll just read without touching my fiddle.
There are certain things I always keep returning to and I mark them with a yellow sticky.
I think in the intros of the books that there is also a discussion of how to use the books.
A word of warning, though. To get results you really MUST practice the exercises with your violin. I have been tempted to just read and think, "OK I've got it. But I have found that your have to read and study carefully..and then work out the stuff on the fiddle.
Good luck and have fun!
One more thing...you don't have to go in any sort of order.
Thanks Michael for your tips and for starting this thread! Yes, I've put Practice on the music stand and tried a few exercises as warm up for bowings this morning. I love it! Given that I don't have a lot of time to practice (1-1/2 hr/day), I think I'll use Basic and Practice instead of Sevcik to work on specific technical problems that I run into with the pieces I'm working on. They will be covered by a lot of sticy notes with various colors very soon:)!
I'm not sure that Practice will substitute for Sevcik.
Perhaps Mr. Brivati could advise further.
Completely different issues. Sevcik doesn't tell you exactly how to play the violin - Fischer does. Sevcik gives you useful exercises which, if performed correctly, can improve technique.
Hi Susan, I agree with you on the difference between the two, but I think that the problem with Sevcik is precisely that, unlike Fischer, it doesn't tell me how to practice these exercises properly. We all know too well that pratice improperly does one more harm than not practicing at all, and I'm a little reluctant to do too much Sevcik or Schradieck because of this. My teacher has been mainly working on my etudes and pieces but leaves me to work on specific techniques on my own. Fischer's books on the other hand have tons of short exercises and they all make sense to me so far as I can see. This is why I'm toying with the idea of using Fischer instead of the other two. I'd be most interested in knowing what I could miss out if I take this approach.
Thanks FMF
LOL Bram!
Only trouble is that I'm not sure if I'm laughing with you or at you...
Neil
:)
Michael and everyone who has commented, thanks so much. I'm always trying to find ways to bring together technical exercises with real music. I often Xerox pages from instructional books which are very effective and give them to students who encounter that issue in pieces they're studying. I have even thought about doing my own searches for pieces of music that I could pair with exercises to breathe life into the exercises. I'm eager to see the new Fischer book.
Buri,
I really love the two books by Fischer, so much so that I'm using them (especially the Practice) instead of Sevcik or Schradieck for warm-up and quick technical fix. Any concern for this approach? What I'm missing out?
Greetings,
I think we can divide the issue into a number of parts. We might ask:
1) What do you need to do everyday?
2) What specific technique do we need to improve?
3) Which is our weakest arm? (Players always have an orientation towards one arm or the other)
If you believe it is important to identify and practice every kind of left finger/hand/arm and bow action every day then there is the Flesch Urstudien ,Dounis Daily Dozen and Artists Technique. Personally I think the Dounis bowing stuff is a litlte weak and prefer using Kreutzer etudes if I am using them.
However, I tend to get the bets reuslts from working out my own program and like you I use Basics for much of this. These days I practic ebowing for an hour every morning (my weakest arm). plus a vibrato exercise. I do the following:
1) Son file 15 minutes.
2) Basics Sound point exercises using whole bows.
3) Martele.(Kreutzer)
4) Key bowing exercises (Basics)
5) Vibrato exercises from Basics (10 minutes)
At weekends I pick a specific tehcnique such as pulsing within a bow stroke and pracitc eit for a couple of hours.
You could put a good program together using Kreutzer and scales. The early etudes for all manener of bowing. The e mjaor for shifting and so on.
It would also be perfectly reasonable to put together a good tehcnicla program from sevcik. 15 minutes on the shifting book.
Odd though it might sound, some of the exericses from the beginners sevcik books (opus 6) are good for simple bowing exercises to be playe dwith exaxt precision and a pure sound (preferably while counting out loud) . Just a few minutes is useful. The opus 2 bowings start ina similar vein but there are not quite so many example sof very simple bow divisions. You could then pick some more advanced bowing exercises from the opus 2: some for the wrist and some for the whole arm. Its veyr good stuff.
Sevick opus one book two onwards coiuld then round out the hour.
I also think a lot of Dont is worth investigating.
So I think you probably gatehr form this that it is pretty much a question of knowing yourself. The stuff in Basics is all absolutely standard.
Praciticng vibrato , a variety of bow strokes , shifting and double stop scales everyday is \our inescapable burden.
But also Bach!
Cheers,
Buri
Buri, this is very helpful and timely. I’m changing teacher next month so I want to think through what you’ve said before presenting my plan in a coherent fashion to the new teacher. She may already have her own plan for me, but I don’t see why not work something out together.
For sure I would like to do more scales, Kreutzer, Rode and Don’t 35. I need to be working on intonation, vibrato, tones and various bowings. I don't feel solid technically speaking and that's what I really want to improve. My current teacher is very keen on helping me with pieces, but not so much on fundation such as etudes or scales. I guess I'm not taking exams and being an amateur player, it is a reasonable shortcut that she is taking me through by focusing on pieces. Lately though I’m pretty much on my own to work on the etudes and scales, but I'm reluctant to do so in fear of doing myself more harm than good since I don’t really know how to do them right. Unlike Fischer, these books don’t tell me how. For the same reason, I find Fischer is just god-sent, as each exercise is very well explained so I feel safe to practice. I don't need my teacher's approval to work on them, but if the new teacher likes Fischer, that’ll definitely be a plus.
SO helpful, Buri! Thanks!
I heard about simon fisher -Basic and Practice through violinist.com.I got a copy of Basic from internet .I begin the study of violin from 1993 onwords but coud not understand the technique of violin playing properly.But I can do the technique after the the book I got.One copy of Simon fisher- practice is also required can yoou spare.
The only shame with "Basics" and especially with "Practice" is that Peters didn't spiral bind them. I got so fed up with the pages turning over by themselves, or falling out, that I took "Practice" to a stationers and got them guillotined and then spiral bound in three volumes. I was a bit nervous given the expense of the books but it works! I hope the new "Scales" book - when is it coming out? - is not bound in the same manner.
I have one of these -can't be without it
http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?CatIds=&webid=599470&affixedcode=WW
Couldn't get to the website as I don't have a Canadian postcode. What is it that you have? Sounds interesting!
Just Google Toronto Postal Codes........
Greetings,
Yixi, I can@t help feeling that for a player such as yourself Drew Lecher`s book would work really well. For a blank slate beginner it is easy to map out etudes because the route is so traditional (and very overblown at times) but Drew`s book is somewhat differnet in that it covers technique at any level (you just adjust the exercises accordingly) and is super efficient. It can be quite hard to let go of the tardition view that etude practice is an essential part of practice but if you trust that its goign to work and jsut do small but focuse dicnrements you might be amazed at the improvements in your technique.
Cheers,
buri
Got there in the end (see below). Thanks! Yes, there is one at work but using a wire binding works better for the Fischer book. I was very nervous about losing any text when re binding the book.
GBC CombBind® C75 Personal Binding System.
Buri,
I got Drew's book but haven't really got into it. Shame on me really since Drew is so helpful and will answer any questions in detail when put to him. I should pay more attention to his book this year, but of course, Fischer's books are absolutely amazing and THANK YOU!!!
Sorry for the late reply, Buri. I should be visiting this site more frequently.
Happy belated Chinese New Year to you!
Yixi
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December 27, 2004 at 04:56 AM · Greetings,
Practice is destined to be an all time classic. A lot of the material can be found in Basics but when applied to the hundreds of musical examples it all hangs together so much better, and good heavens , is it bigger or what? He has also explored lots of new ideas over time which show through, not least of which is the clear influence of Alexander Technique . Perhaps all those exercises in Basics were givign him some tension problems?
It is also reassuring for Sue to find that the supermodel that has so intrigued us over the years is as liable to the wear and tear and life as the rest of us. When book three comes out (prbably entitled 'the role of the prune') I expect Jeniffer's hair will be in curlers , a high collar and long sleeves and perhaps a tatty old pair of sneakers.
Cheers,
Buri