The Secret of Practicing Part 9

Some weeks ago I was asked if I could provide some kind of operating instructions for Bruch’s violin concerto.
Well, it’s hard to do this, first because of the amount of information. If I wanted to write such an operating manual I would have to publish an entire book.
Second, because every violinist has different problems. Ideally I would have to write an article for every single violin player dealing with this violin concerto.
Of course this is not possible, for reasons of time and space. But I’ll try to focus on those passages which create the most common problems.

Let’s begin with the first measures:

These few bars are underestimated very often. They look so simple and as if they could be played very easily…
This is wrong. The first measures of a concert are immensely important for us. Think of the daily business world and assume you meet somebody you haven’t seen before. This person gives you his business card.
How is the overall impression? What about the design? Is it neat and clean or does it look as if the guy has carried the business card unprotected in his trousers pocket for weeks?

The first measures of a violin concerto are your business card!

Don’t crumple it. Hand it over to the audience in immaculate condition and they will listen much more positively.

Begin the first note without vibrato and then “warm up” the tone by starting to vibrate. This is possible with an open string if you vibrate the “G” one octave higher. Take care of your vibrato and don’t play further than the first two bars.
If you encounter intonation problems solve them as I suggested here. Go on only if you are satisfied with the result. Since it’s a pretty slow introduction almost without orchestra you can take your time. Vibrate every single note in this introduction!
Don’t practice more than two bars in context. Put them together only if you are happy with your intonation.

The second entry should be practised accordingly, but think of your vibrato!

Now let’s have a look at the first measures with “real” orchestra:

Sometimes it’s hard to hit the third to the point. Our first finger (in our case the “D”) is the most important finger. It’s easier to get the first finger right than the third when you are in the third position. So we train accuracy of the first finger:

We start in the first position and move to the third position. This way we make sure that the first finger is placed absolutely correct. So we practice a shift merely. The subsequent third is no problem any more because the first finger is already in position.

How to train the following passage I already wrote here.

A little later it gets interesting again. How do we train the octave after the high “G”?

Occasionally the fingering differs from my suggestion above. Sometimes the octave is played 1-3. But since we are in the sixth position, which is not exactly high, it’s still possible to play octaves 1-4, which is much easier. So give it a try with 1-4.

Now we are coming from the eighth position and we want to descend to the sixth position. Do you remember the series about shifts? We slide on the last played finger to the desired position.
In this case that’s the second finger “G” to the second finger “E flat”. We place the fourth finger to the “G” after that. Then we simply add the first finger to the “G” on the A string:

To save time it’s best to start in the eighth position on the half notes. This passage is much easier if you try it like this.

Have fun practicing – and good luck!