Helpful Handicaps in Violin Playing
Many handicaps—devices or schemes calculated to overcome certain difficulties —incautiously used may result disastrously; certain others, however, are at the same time highly effective and absolutely harmless.
The violin player's problems may be divided into three groups: first, position; second, the left hand; third, bowing. Perhaps the most important thing for the violinist to learn is a good position of both the body and the instrument. As an aid the following "handicap" is suggested: stand with the hack (left heel, left shoulder blade and the head just back of the left ear) touching a projecting corner of a wall or a door jamb; five or ten minutes' practice a day in this position will bring excellent results. If the violin has a tendency to droop, as is always the case with young players, suspend a weight of perhaps a pound or so from the peg box; after five or ten minutes' practice and upon removing the weight, the instrument will almost seem to have acquired a slight upward poll; it is understood, of course, that a reasonable effort will have been made to keep the violin in a horizontal position while working with this handicap.
To correct the fault of a backward pull of the bow as it approaches the point, stand with the right shoulder touching the wall, the angle between the back and the wall being: about 45 degrees; if the right hand draws backward it will touch the wall, as a reminder at the end of the down stroke; reversing the position of the body will cause the point of the bow to strike the wall at the end of an up stroke. Long slurs, including an unusually large number of notes in the same bow, are usually difficult; try to play these passages twice in one bow; this is preferable to trying to play the passage in a half bow. Strength and case in bowing may be acquired by lying upon the back on the edge of a firm couch, with the violin raised vertically. This position is a severe one, and requires considerable determination, but it has great possibilities in the all-around mastery of violin technic.
For the left hand stretchers and strengthening devices should, if used at ail, be adopted only after certain proof of their harmlessness. The following suggestion is so obviously without danger that there need be no hesitation in trying it out: take an old, rather close-fitting glove (left hand); clip off the finger ends and the thumb back about one-half inch from the end; trim the wrist also in such a way that the metal fastener is removed; five or ten minutes' practice—especially for loosening up the fingers, particularly in cold weather—will give most desirable results.>
Undoubtedly the best "handicaps" one might use are a critical mind and a determined will; but while these are being cultivated, the suggestions given above will prove effective if given a fair trial.