White notes and their roll in music.
Would it be fair to say that a white note on the violin is a note played without using any embellishments?
and if that is true:
It is fair to say that white notes have a important roll in our music?
Replies (17)
surely there are cases where the note should be played without vibrato - but how would that be indicated?
White notes, like whole and half notes? My opinion is that if the composer doesn't specify how one should play it, use your discretion as a musician and do what sounds best.
Joshua
But how do you indicate 'no vibrato'?
Elise, "no vibrato" is often indicated by a composer by writing "non vibrato". Some players also just use it as a different color (like many players who use a hollow, non-vibrato sound at the beginning of Ysäye's Ballade).
As for the question about "white notes", I assume that you mean any note that has a "hollow" center, meaning half notes, whole notes, double whole notes, etc. To my knowledge, this doesn't have any purpose in most music other than to indicate a longer length for the note. So a white, or "hollow", note with a straight line for a stem is twice as long as a black, or "filled-in", note with a straight line for a stem (and no "flags").
Does that help?
Yes it helps. Thank you all for your replies.
That would be "role..." No?
Heh! And there I was thinking I was learning a new term ..
There's an awful lot you can do with a single white note, like varying the dynamic and projection, the attack, the finish, what string/position you play it on, what part of the bow, playing near the bridge, or the fingerboard, or perhaps using an open string or harmonic, how you link to the next note; and we haven't yet got around to vibrato in all its manifold aspects (including its absence)! A long white note is also around long enough for you to be keenly aware of its intonation.
May I suggest spending some time on the first few bars of the 1st violin part of Pleyel's Duo Op 8 No 1. It looks so simple, mostly white notes, but there's easily 30 minutes of work there. It reminds me of the adage that Mozart is easy for the amateur but difficult for the professional.
Let me get this straight: we're talking about whole notes and half notes? I thought you meant "white" in reference to a note's sound: plain, like a blank sheet of paper. I think it's nice at the appropriate time to leave notes plain, which can suggest many things, depending on the context.
But if you're referring to whole and half notes, I'm not sure I understand the question at all.
Every time I see this thread, I think of dinner, and butter.
Emily: thats where I got confused too. Oh, with both the meaning of 'white' notes and the breakfast bread :)
OK - I typed roll when I meant role. I will try to be more carful. What I meant by a 'white note', is a note that is played without vibrato and is a fingered note. Knowing that, then white notes play a very important role in our music.
Absolutely the answer is "yes"! It's just another form of expression and being able to play a clean, beautiful tone on a note without vibrato is an important ability for any violinist. There are times in the standard concerto repertoire (Sibelius has several instances I can think of) where a pure white sound is an important part of the expression. It is often used in places for contrast in order to get a specific tone color. In solo Bach it is crucial to play a pleasing tone without vibrato. Auer felt that vibrato should be used only ornamentally in this case. Why anyone would say that it's not important is a mystery to me.
OK, we're back on track!! And I agree. Creating a beautiful white note is surely one of the hardest tonal things to do on a violin....
Elise and Emily, I think I am now ready for dinner, and butter on my role. :)
I make white roles all summer long for kids at camp. They're simple and unadorned, yet no one would be happy without the roll they play in the menu.
Anne-Sophie Mutter uses a lot white notes in many of her interpretations... Spivakov, who surely has a wonderful and outstanding vibrato, used white notes quite often for expression but was bashed by a famous critic considering it was faulty to play that way, of course never mentionning that several other violinists like Oistrach ( in Bartok) ,Szeryng or above mentionned Mutter used it quite often...
Even Heifetz used it when he was 17-18 and you can hear him doing it quite often when he was a young violinist ( Chopin Nocturne arr. Wilhemny for instance-recorded 1917)
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October 24, 2010 at 07:02 AM ·
The simple answer is no.