Practicing 6th Position

November 8, 2007 at 03:27 AM · Greetings,

Sorry to be blunt to the point of rudeness, but If you are already trying to find 6th position but you think you need a tape then I`m afraid your whole approach to the isntrument is flawed. By this stage , irrespective of the for and against arguments for tapes in 1 to 3rd, you should have realized the violin is played by having a mental conception of the note before going there and then using your ear. If you don`t know your destination you cannot plan a route.

Cheers,

Buri

November 8, 2007 at 04:04 AM · So how does one practice shifting to 6th position as well as playing in 6th position? Does one just use their ears or is there another method.

November 8, 2007 at 04:07 AM · Try practicing using the octave harmonic as a guide for your second finger.

November 8, 2007 at 04:15 AM · Greetings,

good questions Kevin. You have correctly recognized that the whole bsuiness involves a number of differnet problems. The first thing I think you need to do, following the principles of flesch actually, is to get to know 6th position inside out without shifting. It shouldn`t be too difficult to find a first finger in 6th by a certain amount of trial and error , first playing the note you want in first position. Removing the hands from the isntrument and the bow from the stirng and then attempting to play the same note higher up. Listen to what you paly. Don`t correct it. Just decide if it sharp or flat and then repeat the proceduire of finding the note in 1st, taking hands awya and going for 6th. After some minutes qwork on this, take a book like Scradieck and get to know the position inside out on ten minutes or so workl a day. I would clal this lateral study of the fingerboard.

Next i would suggets you practice one finger scales to help you with the horizontal study of the fingerboard. Use hooked bwoings and lighten the finger between the shidts you make between each note of the scale. Always make sure you can hear the next note you are going to play before you paly it.

Then you get to bigger shifts. Make sure you understand the principle behind the diffenret kinds of shifts. Then you need to find some shifting exercise (sevcik opus 8 or is 9 is good).

One thing you need to be aware of is that there is some shift of contact with the instrument form 1st to 6th. In first the inside of the forefinger and thumb contact the neck. In sixth the conatc of the forefinger switches to contact of the palm. If you have thre epoints of contact you will be in trouble. Also bear in mind that it is good to keep the `face@ of the finger at the sam eangle towards you face as you slide up. Also check that your harm hand and fingers are workign as one unit to take you where you wnat to go,

Cheers,

Buri

November 8, 2007 at 04:33 AM · Thanks Buri! I will work on it now :D

November 8, 2007 at 07:13 AM · There are two very simple excercises which will give you competance all over the finger board.The first is finding your bus stops.These are the third and fifth positions which are much easier to find.Practice placing a first finger directly in these positions.Programme your brain to go directly there.Once these spacial movements are firmly fixed in your brain the 2nd, 4th and 6th postions become instantly available.For second just place the 2nd finger where the first goes in third,ditto for 4th,place 2nd finger where the first goes in 5th.For the 6th place the 1st finger where the second goes in 5th.I play a game with my students of naming a note and finger on a string and they have to play it and name the position.The second ecercise is the good old finger patterns.Go up through the positions using all the finger patterns.Pick a different finger pattern each day and NAME the notes out loud as you play them.This will embed the tones and semitones.Remember a lot of what we do in terms of technique is like programming a computer and what comes out is relative to what you put in.

November 9, 2007 at 08:17 PM · I absolutely agree with Buri. Finger tapes sorry to be blunt are ridiculous to use. None of the good teachers I know use them. What if the string is out of tune? Students should be taught hand positions not fishing around for individual tones.

November 9, 2007 at 10:15 PM · Buri rocks!

November 9, 2007 at 11:50 PM · What worries me is that you couldn't put a piece of tape there on your own even if you wanted to. That tells me something is wrong with your approach. You may need to backtrack.

A sensible solution may take you down a long road, which begins with being able to hear a pitch and match it, and ends with being able to imagine the sound of the note you want to create and make your finger land on that pitch. It's as simple as that, and it can be incredibly hard if you haven't trained your ear to hear pitches and recognize sharpness, flatness, and intervals in general.

Begin your ear training in first position, and if you've done it right, you will be able to replicate what you learn in sixth, fifth, or any other position you like.

November 10, 2007 at 12:01 AM · I just noticed I missed a few posts in which this had already been discussed. Sorry for the redundancy. Hope you are having good luck figuring everything out!

November 10, 2007 at 02:55 AM · Yup I am! :D It's going along great so far, and I thought I needed tapes. Haha :D

November 10, 2007 at 06:35 AM · :)