How to Make Your Left and Right Hands Cooperate in Spiccato on the Violin | Violin Lounge TV #219

February 9, 2016, 1:34 AM · In this episode I'm answering a question from one of our viewers about Beethoven's Violin Sonata nr 5 'Frühling'.

Hi Zlata,
I have a question. It is about Sautille. My bow can bounce. When I learn/practice to bounce 4 or 2 times for each note, no problem. But I can not bounce once for each note. It seems the problem is the cooperation between left and right hand. How to solve this problem? How to practice to reach the goal?
Attached is part of the "Beethoven's Violin Sonata 5". I wonder if that part in red circle is played with Sautille? How is the following part in blue circle?
Thanks a lot!
Simon

When you listen to recordings all the eighth notes are played spiccato or sautillé. In the video I show a shot of the sheet music, so you can see about which part I'm talking about.

The main difference between spiccato and sautillé is that with spiccato you control the whole movement and with sautillé the bow jumps mostly out of itself. This depends mainly on the tempo that you are playing in. Something practiced slowly spiccato can become sautillé when you increase the speed. Practically there are not so many differences as people often think.

To control the bow, coordinate your left and right hand and not let the bow bounce away, you start practicing this piece with an extremely low very controlled spiccato. In this your bow isn't really bouncing, but you are making the U shaped movement. In the video I show you how. This is to synchronize your left and right hand in slow motion.

By the way: the spiccato place of my bow is a bit more to the frog than most bows. It's possible that if you imitate me, you will notice you have to move a bit more to the middle of the bow to make it work.

If you speed it up from this slow motion spiccato, you can achieve the necessary speed without becoming sloppy. You need to maintain the fluent movement in your wrist and fingers to get a good spiccato. If you speed it up and it becomes sloppy, go back to a lower tempo. Repeat this until you get to the right tempo, while maintaining a fluent movement, a good spiccato and a good synchronization between your left and right hand.

Simon and viewers/readers, I hope I have answered your question and given you some good practice tips.

Is this video helpful to you? Please let me know in the comments below! If you like it, share it with your friends!

Love,

Zlata

PS: Do you have questions or struggles on violin or viola playing? Post a comment below or send an e-mail to info@violinlounge.com and I might dedicate a Violin Lounge TV episode to answering your question!

How to Make Your Left and Right Hands Cooperate in Spiccato on the Violin | Violin Lounge TV #219

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