Relative Level of Wohlfahrt Studies

March 27, 2012 at 05:53 PM · My sense of it, based on the instruction I had as a kid:

Wohlfahrt: 40, 50, 60 -- in that order.

I had Kayser's 36 Studies, Op. 20, after Wohlfahrt and before Kreutzer. Violin Masterclass puts the Kayser at Levels 3 and 4; ditto for Wohlfahrt's 60 Studies.

Check out also Buri's What Should I Practice? -- see list near end of article.

March 28, 2012 at 03:32 AM · It occurred to me that if my daughter (who is approximately 10 years of age) were assigned one new Wohlfahrt study every week, it would take two years to get through all three books. That just seems like a long and relatively flat road. She got to the Bach Double (2nd Violin Part, end of Suzuki Book 4) in two years, and therefore if she continues at her present rate of development, she'll be playing the Handel Sonatas in another two. I know that there is an abridged book of 60 studies that are taken from all three of the regular opuses. Does anyone have any experience with that? Or do you assign your students two Wohlfahrt studies per week? Am I thinking too hard about this?

March 28, 2012 at 12:29 PM · You are probably thinking too hard about it!

The Kayser Op.20 progresses a lot more quickly than Wohlfahrt Op. 54. The first Kayser study uses extensions in first position and by #12 you are already at grade 5 level. Book 2 is grade 5 to 6 and book 3 (studies 27-36) will take you all the way to grade 7 if you really feel that way inclined. I consider #9 a basic requirement for grade 4 level - it contains 108 bars of basic finger patterns in lots of keys and is of great value especially if you play in block patterns with all the fingers down. Incidentally I found an old piano accompaniment to the first ten of these studies some time ago in a second hand bookstore.

I use the Wohlfahrt Op. 54 for slower advancing students. Wohlfahrt Op. 74 is basically interchangeable - it depends on the student. I have a soft spot for this set as I learnt them as a kid.

I never use all of the studies in any book even though I am well aware the sense of achievement a student gains from finishing a book. Aiming at a constant turnover of studies is desirable but not always practicable.

It might be interesting to try to put together a book of what I think are the best studies leading up to Kreuzter - a sort of "Gradus ad Parnassum". This would also include Dancla and the Dont Opus 37. But I have always found it much better to assign particular studies to particular students.

Just make sure that your daughter (?) is getting good teaching and is enjoying learning her studies!

March 28, 2012 at 01:31 PM · Martin, thank you so much, that is just the kind of insight I was hoping to gain.

As for my daughter's teacher, he is fantastic. Overall my daughter enjoys playing the violin but we've not reached the point where she is greeting me at the door with her violin in her hand asking me to practice with her. But if I say "practice time is over" and she's got half of the piece left to play, she will finish it out on her own.

Of course I plan to ask my daughter's teacher the same question I posted here, but curiosity and impatience got the best of me and I couldn't wait for her lesson. Partly I wanted to be able to ask the right question, because as a returner who played the violin for 12 years as a kid, I'm kind of embarrassed that I don't know more about the study literature (probably explains why I never got very good). Also, opinions on studies often are tied very closely to a teacher's own experience, and I wanted to explore the "spectrum of opinion." In the end I'm sure I will follow her teacher's recommendations as I have found them to be quite reliable.

March 28, 2012 at 07:35 PM · A master teacher I knew years ago steered me to Whistler and Hummel's "First Etude Album", which starts out quite easy, and then on to Whistler's "Preparing for Kreutzer" Book 1. I find by the time they finish book 1, they are definitely ready for Kreutzer, so I've been following this series for years now, with great results. Both these books are full of selections from a variety of sources. The First etude Album really seems to improve sight-reading skills, and the Preparing for Kreutzer gets into high positions, trills, double-stops, etc. Everything one needs, in much fewer books and fewer years than a full progression of Wohlfahrt, Mazas, etc.

March 28, 2012 at 07:55 PM · An editor named K.H. Aiqouni (I think) did two books of compiled Wohlfahrt etudes, taken from all three of the original opuses. Most students go through some of them. I did, and 35 years later my kid did. I don't know that you have to study each and every etude. I enjoyed them. They are easy on the ears and can be fun to learn.

March 29, 2012 at 01:57 AM · @Lisa, I was going to ask about that condensed two-volume set of selected Wohlfahrts. I could also just get the complete volumes and then pick-and-choose with help from the teacher. One nice thing about the condensed set is that for the first half there is a CD of Rachel Barton Pine playing them.

@Annette, regarding "Preparing for Kreutzer" in the Whistler series, that is what I did as a kid. I did the Whistler books. I did not do Wohlfahrt or Kayser. But I did have another condensed set (in two volumes) by Charles Levenson that combines Wohlfahrts, a few easy Kaysers, and exercises by Alard, Sitt, Beriot, etc. The first book is first position. The second book is first-second-third position. Some of the studies in the Levenson books were just dreadfully boring. That is maybe why I am a little leery of Wohlfahrt in general. There was another book in the Whistler series called "Developing Double Stops" that gave me the hate, though. Jim and I have discussed that before in another thread.