beginner's question about notation

June 26, 2007 at 5:16 PM

My teacher is on vacation in China for the summer, and as a rank beginner I have some pretty rudimentary questions about violin notation. I'm looking at Bach's Siciliana transposed for violin by Auer.

The numbers above the staff seem to indicate fingerings, but in a few places above the staff the A has a 4 above a zero, or sometimes it's a D, and in one instance the D has a 3 above a zero. Would someone please tell me what this means?

Much thanks.

Jim

From Albert Justice
Posted on June 26, 2007 at 6:20 PM

That means you may use either open or f4. As you get stronger with your pinky, try and start using f4 as often as possible in those cases--or that's my opinion.

From Karin Lin
Posted on June 26, 2007 at 6:26 PM

Do the notes that have those 4-0 and 3-0 markings correspond to the open strings, or an octave above them (e.g. is the A the second space, or the first ledger line above the staff)? If the latter, the 0 indicates that it's a harmonic, which you play by touching the string lightly with the named finger (4 or 3) at its halfway point.

From Albert Justice
Posted on June 26, 2007 at 6:44 PM

hmmm--beginner, Bach--go figure... Could be either. It's like my grandfather use to say...

From Tom Holzman
Posted on June 27, 2007 at 3:28 PM

It might help if we could see it. Can you post an example or two?

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