In measure 246 in the Brahms Concerto we find a particularly interesting passage for the solo violin. We’ll have a look at this because today we will concentrate on practicing double stops or, in our case, even triple stops.
I did without fingering because first of all I want to show you a possible way of practicing this part.
First of all we break up the triple stops into double stops which are much easier to handle:
We always connect two neighbouring chords with one another and repeat this. Due to simple lack of space I just wrote one repetition. But we should stick to our four-repetition-rule here as well.
If there are any issues with a double stop it should be broken up further as I already showed in this post when we had a look at the octaves.
When we are happy with this we assemble the double stops to triple stops:
Repeat as desired. Then we go on to the second part:
We should play the original rhythm when our intonation has reached a certain level. Not before. So be patient, it’s worth to take your time.
For the beginning be remain in the 4/4 beat. Because of the resulting rest we have more time to sort our fingers.
And again – after a few repetitions the second part likewise:
If those exercises sound good enough we can risk playing both measures in context:
If we followed the above exercises thoroughly there shouldn’t be any surprises. But if intonation still leaves something to be desired we have to repeat the procedure. Further playing and messing around with the passage in context would only stabilize bad habits.
