Quality of sound: upper partials
With
Simon FischerSimon Fischer explains upper partials and the harmonic series, and how they shape the quality of tone you draw from a string instrument.
What's in the course
11 lessons (0h 42m) · 1 free
01. Introduction
0:49
02. Four ways to approach the exercises
2:14
03. Five soundpoints
Free lesson4:39
04. The bow-hair and the string
5:18
05. Bow-pressure & pitch
0:48
06. Bow-pressure & string length
2:13
07. The tilt of the bow
4:14
08. About Resonance
3:15
09. Not following the line of least resistance
2:24
10. Quality of sound: upper partials
You are here2:14
11. Proportions
14:04
Lesson transcript
What Are Upper Partials?
A note played on a natural acoustic instrument, as opposed to an electronic one, isn't one single note. It's made up of a series of tones called the harmonic series, plus other higher tones. The quality of the sound is determined by the number and relative intensities of these upper partials.
Volume Control vs. Playing Dynamics
-
When you turn the volume control on your television up or down, the quality of the sound itself doesn't change.
- It gets louder or softer, but the quality stays the same.
-
It's different when you play more loudly or softly on a string instrument.
- When you move the bow closer to the bridge, the sound not only gets louder but the quality also changes.
The Role of the Bridge
-
The closer to the bridge you play:
- More audible upper partials are present in the tone.
-
The further from the bridge you play:
- The sound becomes more veiled and sweeter, as the upper partials are less audible.
Player vs. Audience Perception
The crucial point is that what you hear as a player, with the instrument close to your ear, is quite different from the sound that the audience hears from a distance. This occurs because:
- The upper partials in the sound are the first to drop off, while lower partials travel further.
An Example
-
A low note played on a large booming horn in a range of hills or mountains:
- May travel and be heard for several miles.
-
A high note played on a piccolo:
- Would fade out after a far shorter distance.
The Sweet Spot
This means that if you play near to the bridge, where more upper partials are produced, the sound next to your ear may seem edgy. However:
- Because those upper partials don't travel as far as the audience, but drop off before they reach them, the sound the audience hears is mellow and sweet.
The Danger of Too Much Sweetness
The danger is that if you try to produce too mellow and sweet a tone directly under your ear, the result may be misleading.
- In other words, if the sound you hear is actually the exact sound you want somebody many meters away from you to hear, the sound that actually reaches them may end up sounding nothing but too weak.
11 lessons
0h 42m of structured video lessons
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Meet your guru
Meet your guru
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.
