Applying soundpoint practice to passages
Lesson time: (2min 53sec)
Simon Fischer shows how to take the sound-point exercises into real music, practising phrases on each sound point to find new tone and far greater control of the bow.
Course preview
This lesson is part of the course The Secrets of Tone Production Part 2: Fundamental Tone Exercises Introduced
Watch a preview of the full course below.
Lesson transcript:
Practicing Sound Points in Music
The next step is to practice notes, phrases, and entire passages from pieces on different sound points.
Understanding Sound Points
- Obviously, when you play the passage normally, the bow won't stay entirely on one sound point.
- After practicing on each sound point one at a time, there's always a remarkable new quality of tone and expression.
- You will also experience far greater control of the bow when you return to playing normally.
Speed and Variation
- You obviously can't play a varied phrasal passage at the same speed at the bridge as you can at the fingerboard.
- This is no problem. Simply play the phrasal passage faster near the fingerboard and slow down as much as you need to play it near the bridge.
Exploring Sound Points
- Yes, but you know, John, that's already a range of sound points.
- Can you stay right on one winding of the string in one place?
- Well done. Great.
Sound Point Analysis
- Now, let's move to sound point four.
- Well, that looks like five to me.
The Concert Mindset
- The secret of all of these things is to imagine you're playing a concert.
- Play expressively. Don't just rely on bare mechanics.
- Pretend that you must play this in a quartet or whatever.
- Focus on this phrase, this part of the sound point, this part of the bow in a quartet or a concerto.
- Play it as tellingly as possible, and you'll find that it all works much better.
Depth and Coordination
- Yes, really go deep into the string here now.
- That's it. It's got enough to take it.
- And again, that was a coordination thing, not a bow stroke.
Pushing Limits
- Okay, now number two, well done.
- Push the limits. See how near the bridge you can be on that sound point too.
- Still two, not one; needs to get slower. That's it, great!
Accepting Limitations
- There are plenty of passages that you can't possibly play on the bridge, even if you quarter the tempo or play even slower.
- So, fine, don't play them on the bridge. It's just fine.
- However, you can do those passages on sound points .5, 4, 3, and 2.
- It's perfectly acceptable.
About the instructor
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. read more