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The Secrets of Tone Production Part 1: Knowing your Instrument
HomeCoursesThe Secrets of Tone Production Part 1: Knowing your Instrument
CourseViolinClassicalIntermediate
Part ofViolin

The Secrets of Tone Production Part 1: Knowing your Instrument

Simon Fischer

with

Simon Fischer

$13/month

Unlocks this course + 5,000+ other lessons across every instrument.

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Cancel anytime30-day refund

$13/month

Unlocks this course + 5,000+ other lessons across every instrument.

Subscribe to Watch
Cancel anytime30-day refund
Duration42m
Modules11
LevelIntermediate
LanguageEnglish

Lesson Plan (0h 42m)

About this course

Renowned violinist and string pedagogue Simon Fischer reveals the five fundamental tone exercises for string players in a four-part course based on his acclaimed DVD 'The Secrets of Tone Production'.

If applied correctly, these insights and exercises can radically improve tone production on any bowed string instrument, including baroque instruments - yet they are so simple that any string musician can benefit from them.

The exercises and principles Simon breaks down have been taught by the greatest string teachers over the last 250 years, and practised by the greatest players: names like Lucien Capet, Ivan Galamian, Dorothy DeLay and Pablo Casals. Leopold Mozart taught at least some of this material, meaning Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart must have benefitted from these tone production secrets too.

This course covers Part 1 (Knowing your instrument) of Simon's DVD, which focuses on understanding precisely how the bow and bow-hair interact with the strings and instrument body to produce sound, and how you can harness this knowledge to greatly improve your tone.

Music featured in intro: Brahms Violin Sonatas, performed by Simon and Raymond Fischer. CD available here.

Part 1 of a 4-part course, click here for Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

Who it's for

  • Intermediate string players wanting a richer, fuller tone
  • Returning players rebuilding bow control after a break
  • Self-taught violinists, violists or cellists filling technical gaps

What you'll learn

  • Find and use the five soundpoints on any string
  • Adjust bow pressure to match string length and pitch
  • Draw a resonant tone by working with the instrument

What you'll need

  • A violin, viola or cello with a working bow
  • Some prior playing experience with basic bowing
  • A few minutes most days to try the exercises

Meet the Guru

Simon Fischer

Meet the Guru

Simon Fischer

Simon Fischer enjoys a distinguished and wide-ranging career as a performer, educator and recording artist.

He has performed worldwide as a recitalist, and committed three Brahms Sonatas to record, a recording that received high praise in Gramophone Magazine.

Simon is recognised as having a place amongst the world's elite teachers. He is a professor at the Guildhall School of Music, and has held positions at the Yehudi Menuhin School, Wells Cathedral School and the Purcell School, and for 15 years was a visiting professor at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music. Having studied in London with Yfrah Neaman, and in New York with Dorothy DeLay, Fischer's approach unites the best elements of the French, Russian and American violin traditions.

Fischer's published work greatly influences the teaching of the violin. Having written for The Strad magazine since 1991, his monthly articles have attracted a worldwide following. Published by Edition Peters, his technique books Basics and Practice (translated into Korean, Italian and German), Scales and The Violin Lesson, and the DVD The Secrets of Tone Production (now available to stream via MusicGurus), have become standards on many continents. His book and DVD Warming Up was described by The Strad magazine as "23 pages of pure technical gold".

In 2014 Simon Fischer was awarded the European String Teachers Association prize "In celebration of a lifetime contribution to String Teaching".

In his four-part Secrets of Tone Production course, Simon guides you through getting to know your instrument and then working through his fundamental tone exercises step by step, so you can produce a richer, more controlled and more beautiful sound on the violin.

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