Page 86 - The Strad (February 2020)
P. 86
Teaching & Playing
TECHNIQUE
A 30-minute routine to keep your playing on top form
Ideas to help violinists and violists maintain high technical and musical standards around a busy regime
MISHA GALAGANOV
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t can be di cult to stay in top technical and musical shape as a professional musician,
particularly for those of us who have busy teaching schedules and families, or for
string teachers who do not perform regularly. In order to maintain high playing
I standards it is important to review basic skills every day, to keep our muscles strong
and supple, and to keep our ears critical of our sound quality, intonation and phrasing,
so that we play as beautifully and as consistently as we can. Without e ective practice,
our ability to assess our own playing, or to convert the sound we hear in our mind into
the sound produced on the instrument, will degrade.
After years of experimentation I have developed a routine intended for players who
already know what they are doing on their instruments but who need to maintain perfect
BORN shape, to help them sustain top playing form in around 30 minutes’ practice a day. My
Irkutsk, Russia
system was inspired by a letter written by Tartini in 1779 (see bit.ly/34sB3Te), in which the
violinist–composer advises his student Maddalena Lombardini how to practise. At rst
STUDIED WITH
Pavel Galaganov, Mikhail I developed it for my own personal use, but now I also share it with my students, who work
Kugel, Barbara Sudweeks, gradually over time on its di erent elements, as separate technical goals.
Martha Katz, Wayne Brooks
TEACHES
University students aged EXERCISES
17+; private and pre-college
students (all ages) e timings suggested below are based on my own Change mode order every day, to avoid routine
experience, intended for players already familiar Practise two-octave scales in 3rds, 6ths, octaves
with each technique. Adjust these according to your and, if you are a violinist, ngered octaves and
own needs, while focusing on intonation, uidity 10ths. Frequently check your tuning against open
and sound quality. Listen for any imperfections. strings, and play with maximum resonance.
If you are short of time, practise one di erent
SCALES AND ARPEGGIOS (10–15 MINUTES) octave of each double-stopped scale per day
Practise in a new key every day or two, in four
octaves where possible (up to B major on the violin TRILLS (2–5 MINUTES)
and E major on the viola). You could move up Tartini recommended practising trills by starting
through the keys chromatically each day, choose slowly and gradually increasing in speed. In
randomly, or work through a cycle of 5ths. exercise 1, practise both semitone and whole-
tone trills, working up the scale until you have
Practise major and melodic, harmonic and used all adjacent ngers. e speed of a falling
natural minor scales and arpeggios in a slow to nger is the same regardless of the tempo, so the
moderate tempo. Focus on intonation and sound. faster the trill, the closer the ngers need to be to
EXERCISE 1 8!$ধ9' ;,-9 6!ħ'82 £'+!;3T )89; >-;, ! >,3£' ;32' ;8-££ l g m !2& ;,'2 >-;, ! 9'1-;32' l g *!;mW '6'!; '?'8$-9' <9-2+ !££ $329'$<ধ=' )2+'89
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