Which hand has the problem?

February 22, 2006 at 8:59 PM

Has anyone ever experienced this?

I'm working on the last page of the Introduction & Rondo Capriccioso, the Più allegro section. I can play it well at about a third of the proper speed (which is REALLY darn fast). If I try to increase the tempo, the stuff high up on the E string gets all out of tune. Left hand problem, right?

Because my teacher frequently recommends shifting on a slur for intonation (to better isolate the sound change), I tried playing the passage slurring six notes at a time. Voilà! No more intonation problems. But as soon as I bring back the separate bows, it goes back to sounding like crap.

So what's going on here? I suppose it could be something like distraction...I need a certain level of concentration to get my left hand fingers in the right place, and can't afford to divert any brainpower to bowing. But it's not as if it's a particularly difficult stroke; I don't think bowing decreases my concentration. (Then again, isn't that what drivers who talk on cell phones always claim, as they wander into the next lane and forget to signal?)

On another note, I've given up the first Sevcik Op. 9 exercise (octave scales with some stuff for the intermediate 2-3 fingers) for now. I can't do it without putting my hand in a weird position that seems to strain it a lot, and this morning I woke up with pain in my forearm, which scared me. I'll ask my teacher if I'm doing something wrong, but until then I'm not going to risk injuring myself.

From Stephen Brivati
Posted on February 22, 2006 at 10:57 PM

Greetings,
>If I try to increase the tempo, the stuff high up on the E string gets all out of tune. Left hand problem, right?

Not necessarily. The slighest over use of bow /arm weight and the string will be pushed out of tune. This is a major problem of violin playing that even some rather advanced players are not suffciently carfeul about: in the high positions intonation is often the function of the bow rather than the left hand.
Also, you are probably now trainign your ear to hera the wrong thing through all your dilligent work on what seems to be a difficult section.
You would be well advised to practice the same passages an octave (or two lower) over and over until you have the pitch clarit restored in your head. Also chnage your scale routine: practice the Flesch (or whatever) in only the key of the page you are working on. This is really useful. I am playing the d minor partita of Bach in a couple of weeks and for the whole of this perios I will play only the d minor version of the Flesch scales.
Cheers,
Buri

From Rob Schnautz
Posted on February 23, 2006 at 3:52 PM

If this involves fast string changing then it's definitely both hands either not trusting each other or not developed enough to play the ditty...I have that problem a lot of times...but not the pain...that means you practiced too hard for too long...try shorter time...say twenty minutes...and see if that doesn't help...as you get better, you can play longer...by my third year, I had gone from twenty minute practices to two hour practices!

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Which hand has the problem?

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