Ask Augustin 38 - How to play "cleanly"
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- čas přidán 21. 06. 2020
- It's been a while since the last Ask Augustin! I get the question "how do you play cleanly" pretty often, and it is a difficult one to answer, because there are so many factors that contribute to what one might describe as a "clean" sound, or "clean" violin playing!
The most obvious are intonation and sound quality, - that the notes are not only in tune but also played with a pure enough sound, without too much noise or distortion. I don't delve into intonation here since I have videos about that already, and wanted to focus on the other aspects of clean playing.
Just as important as the notes themselves is actually what happens between the notes!
The most essential part of working on a clean sound has to do with listening to yourself while practicing. It's easy to not even hear certain aspects of the sound, or shifts and noises between notes, because we are not expecting or wanting to hear them. The mind can play tricks on us like that sometimes and so we hear what we want to, not what really happens! This is why recording yourself during practice can be so useful. It can be tough to listen to yourself so closely and critically, but it is an important step in order to get closer to the sound you want.
Shifts between notes are one of the reasons why some players sound "cleaner" than others, even though both players might play perfectly in tune and with beautiful sounds.
When you have notes under a slur, it's important to work on your left hand so that the note changes are clear, and "clean" enough. Without getting tense, your fingers have to come down and lift up suddenly enough to create clean changes of the notes.
Finally, the coordination between right and left hands is essential for clean changes of notes when the bowing is separate.
One of the most counter-intuitive things about playing the violin is that the left hand needs to move slightly before the notes are played (and the notes are actually played with the right). I've become really aware of this as I've worked on synchronizing videos over the past few months. The fingers of the left hand usually go into position slightly early before the note is actually played. Only in very fast passages does it look like it happens at the same time - and yet, looking closely at a high framerate, the left hand still moves a split-second before the right in order to get clean note changes during fast passages. This is totally different from the piano, where you press a key and that's when you played the note.
I hope this gives an overview of what clean playing consists of. Each one of these aspects is quite a big subject! - Hudba
This man is the "Bob Ross" of Violin
This
Facts
no doubt!!! i am not even a violin player but i really enjoy hearing him talk about his craft.
OMeGa great comparison!
Oh God so accurate. I've never even touched a violin in my life but I could listen to him talk for hours.
He even has the calm voice and the big hair and everything!
Isn't this amazing - in this days we have oportunity to watch best musicians in the world giving online lessons ?! When I was on studies CZcams was just released! Recordings - on CD , vinyls - very hard to get - now we have IMSLP or we can order score in minutes via internet. Young musicians have great oportunity and luck that people like You Augustin are sharing their knowledge and great heart to music. Thank U for this. And I remember Your Dvorak concerto in Pozen Philharmonic - I was leading violas then- we have many great musicians in every concert but this one is always on my mind - unforgettable. I never heard Dvorak violin concerto played so beautifully. Greetings from Poland , thank U for all this awesome video's and performances. Hope you will visit Pozen on stage some day again 🙂 Stay healthy!
- Przemysław Mrowiński
Augustine tries very hard to play "unclean"...epic fail.
Amit Kumar funny comment!bless his heart!❤️
I just came to comments to note the same thing. Haha
It's unbelievable, even his "bad" shifting "noises" have so much appeal and character to them.
Hi, Augustin, this is a hard question to answer, but you elaborated it very thoroughly and comprehensively. Thank you
I'm surprised you're not more famous. You really have a good professorial personality.
Priceless teaching! From my "great" online violin teacher Augustin! These tips are tremendously helpful to me, since I was not aware of many of them...great additional tips building on your previous teaching sessions. Building articulations and accuracy with left hand pizzicato; fingers hit finger board slightly before each bow stroke; "micro" portato to help minimize shifting noises. :-)
Beautiful. What a charming, clear, helpful, explanation. Such a privilege to have access to his high level of artistry.
Thank you, Dear Mr. Hadelich!!!!
Love your kind and gentle way of explaining things. Thanks!
My teacher calls me on this at times, she then suggests I play staccato- like for a while to gain clarity.
Great lesson, thank you Augustin.
Thank you for the pizzicato trick :-)
Man! Thanks! I did this question to my professor and He doesn't know an answer.But you solve my problem
Brilliant observations and suggestions, as usual. It is strange that doing left-hand pizzicato actually helps prepare for a cleaner INITIATION of a note, but there it is, it really works. Thanks!
I like how his example of "less good " playing is actually pretty damn great sounding haha.
One of the most important things when a passage sounds unclear or mumbly is to make certain that you are lifting your fingers high enough. It gives your fingers an aerobic workout but it also allows the notes to enunciate. If you are hanging your fingers around the strings, they won't have the room to vibrate clearly anyway.
I think you hit it in the first 10 seconds - most people think about clean in terms of intonation. But it's not only that - it's actually also Clarity. One of the greatest attributes of your playing is that you do play really clearly with really good articulation.
This is a brilliant series of videos. Thank you so much!
did not know bowing was so involved! Makes sense. Thank you for taking the time and trouble to explained it. Please do more of these types of videos? You certainly know what you are doing. Love your playing.
Wow you're my teacher, too, now? How cool is that to be able to learn from you at home?!!!! Thank you so much Mr Hadelich! 🙏
Great ! Always very clear and pedagogical !
Thank you for this instructive video. It is so wonderful to learn things from those who have mastered the instrument. I am a fan of your playing and music! 🙏🙏🙏
Thank you for this. You explain so clearly and thoughtfully!
this is reeally really helpful, you have no idea
Thank you so much. You explain amazingly well!!
You just hacked violin learning. Cannot thank you enough. So amazingly didactic in so many ways
Thank you! This was very helpful and actually quite timely! I have been struggling with a massively bouncing bow (mostly down bow in the middle of the bow) but also playing clean note / string changes.
This was huge for me. thank you so much!
Thank you for all your videos !!
Augustin, you are truly phenomenal! When you said at 1:38 about listening, you hit on it. It is completely about that, for intonation and also "clean" as far as all the notes being audible and well-articulated. 2:00 it is surprising that some people do not realize that same-finger shifts in faster passages can make them have a smeared sound. I see this a lot in edited editions of some pieces, whomever edited them sometimes doesn't obey that rule. Some string players sound cleaner than others because of smart fingering choices, or lack thereof. So much easier said than done. Bravo!
Thank you so much for these tips! Great lesson!
Thanks, Augustin, very helpful indeed! 🙏
Yeah, this is excellent! It's so accurate.
To the one person who gave a thumbs down. Unless you happen to be Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Hillary Hahn, or one of the best in the world, I would suggest that you not criticize somebody who plays at the highest of levels, until you are able. In short, take your thumb....out of your mouth, so you can use a fork to take in a big piece of pie... in the flavor of humble. I have played for 52 years, have a cd coming out, and this incredible violinist made me think of a few things to improve my playing.
Randy Lazer the greats that you have mentioned would never give that a thumbs down, if for some reason they felt there was an error they would have elaborated on what was said and made the class even better. That guy or gal probably never picked up an instrument. In my experience the people that have the most negative opinions never played.
This video gives me a lot of important information. Thank you for your explain.
This was so helpful, especially this part 4:19. I always pull my fingers up, which takes a lot more energy.
Nice tutorial, good reminder on timing of right and left hand and how it's slightly different.
So much information delivered very cleanly:) - and quickly (lIke the scale:). Personally I found this enlightening, thanks so much for sharing.
Thank you, this is so helpful.
Thank you for these valuable insights.
what a great explanation !
Really excellent knowledge shared here. Thanks!
Thank you!
Thank you!!
Thank you for these videos.
Very helpful. Thank you!
thank you for this great content!
Son mil pequeños detalles a tener en cuenta...y a veces se consigue un sonido puro...solo a veces... Mil gracias por estas clases magistrales! 👏👏👏👏👏💜🎶💜🎻😊🍀
This helped me understand how to fix my problems. Thank you for making this video. :D
This Guy is jus amazing
Thank you 👍
Thanks for sharing, Augustin. That's help me. :)
Grazie, Maestro!
Thanks a lot! 🙏✨👌🏻
Wow, adding a little bit of LH pizz to faster scales/runs is genius!
Thank you sir for this vedio!
Você inspira muitos violinistas. Parabéns!! Pena não ter legenda para o português, kkk
"Cleanly" is your character~~~~
Wow!
Always very interesting. Bravo!
Please make a video about position changes.
I felt so down and dick this week, you really make my day❤ Awesome video, thank you!!🙏🙏
My answer is this - Double Stops - a lot of them. A LOT! AND IN EXTREMELY SLOW MOTION PLAYED SOTTO VOCE - SOFTLY.
Godddddd your so awsome!!!!!!
:) Oh man are you right, Augustin, that listening to a recording of yourself inevitably leads to you hearing things you don't like. I look to your playing for how to play "cleanly" especially your bow technique. Thank you ^^
Coordination between left and right hands can be especially critical on string crossings.
There are so much going on with every part of the bow. Something I wish I learnt when I first started.
Basically, so many factors going into making good clean sounds that it’s impossible for most people.
Parabéns
You emphasize avoiding shifting noises during finger replacements yet in episode 8 you recommend sliding on the previous finger, which creates a very clear hiccup as the portamento is cut short when the new finger is suddenly put down an interval above.
it's possible to smooth that hiccup out with the bow, and in terms of how the fingers are substituted.
Episode 8 was more about slides that are intentional (and musical), while In this episode I focus more on eliminating shifts that are unintentional. Particularly during a substitution, when after the shift the same note is played again, we usually should not hear any slide.
Realmente, para mim penso que o maior problema do dedilhado limpo seja a falta de sincronismo entre a mão direita e a mão esquerda... E creio que a adoção da gravação sugerida possa me ajudar. Obrigado, Professor Augustin!
hey nice vidéo, do u have any tips for arppeggios ? sometimes we can hear my left hand doing open string pizz
The trap that some people fall into is trying to play like Paganini, with fingers flying around all over the place instead of keeping them close to the string. If a finger is way up, away from the string, it takes a tad more time to get it back down when you need to play a note with it. Sounds corny but it is true. A lot of teachers themselves don't know how to play cleanly in the way Augustin describes, and thus, don't teach their students how to do it either. You have to place each note deliberately under each finger and the best way to do that is to, like I say, keep fingers close to the string!
Oh btw - a golden rule in fast passages is "no same-finger shifts." Otherwise it produces a 'nyaww' sound. If you listen to the recordings of the great masters like Hadelich, they sound so clean because they finger the passages so they end up sounding really clear.
Thanks for this informative video! A related question to ask: are we supposed to press all fingers down when we play? Example when we play finger 1423, for finger 2,3 are we supposed to press down together with 4th finger when we play the 4th finger or press only when we play their individual note? I find myself playing extra note (finger 2/3) if I press them down together when I’m playing the 4th finger.
that's a great question!
I would myself in that scenario leave the 1st finger down throughout, put the 4th by itself and then the 2nd (placing it just before lifting the fourth), and leave the second while putting on the third (and the 1st is still pressed). If you want to put the 2nd finger down with the fourth, that can work, but if the notes are under a slur your fourth will need to come down at least a tiny amount of time before the 2nd, or the change of notes won't be clean -- and this may take away from the strength of your fourth.
Sometimes in order to play certain half-steps in tune, when the intervals are very narrow, the lower finger has to come down first.
Ten years ago, I used to lift all the time, and it worked but the strain on my hand was much greater.
So I guess the answer is, it depends entirely on the passage! But this is exactly the right thing to be wondering about - the way in which you place and lift your fingers can make things much easier or much harder for the left hand (and massively reduce the strain put on it), and it is never to late to change or question these habits.
Thank you very much! You’re truly amazing! Keep it on! Like your series very much! So informative!
Augustin Hadelich thanks, this really helped me!
Hi! Any tips on how to play fast passages? My fingers are too slow so I cant play clean
I HAVE THE SECRET ANSWER TO THIS! IT IS SIMPLE AND SOLVES A LOT OF OTHER CHALLENGES. BEFORE PRACTICING SCALES, FIRST THING EVERYDAY, YOU SHOULD PRACTICE SIMPLE OCTAVES AND SIMPLE SCALES IN DOUBLE STOPS. DOUBLE STOPS ARE THE ANSWER TO MANY PROBLEMS ON STRING INSTRUMENT. AND PRACTICE THEM ALL VERY VERY VERY SOFTLY AND EXTREMELY SLOWLY. DO ALL THIS FOR AN HOUR BEFORE DOING ANYTHING ELSE. ALWAYS THINK OF YOUR WET FINGER ON THE RIM OF A FINE WINE GLASS! PRESSURE, SPEED, EVENNESS, AND ALWAYS AIMMING AT PRODUCING THE BEST TONE WITH THE SLOWEST AND EVEN SOFT TOUCH.
Definitely agree. That what I do, octaves also are good warm up, they stretch your fingers. Double stops are good practice for intonations
@SarumChoirmaster next time you want to write a message do not use all caps. It's intrusive.
His last point about fingers come before the bow was so hard for me to imagine. how do u press the notes before the bow change? i understand it if its just one note, but for every note?
OK
Hearing myself on recording is always painful.
Who have this a thumbs down? Is Janine Jansen whiling away the hours in quarantine trolling Augustin?
Matt Dahm lol!😂
❤️❤️Christ loves you, he died for you. Hallelujah. Jesus is coming back.❤️❤️
Quick Summary: I just need to do everything better. :-)
My ears hear everything - every little bow sound and every little finger movement and it’s so distracting. I’m working very hard to make less (or fewer) unintentional sounds …
4 dislikes are jealous lol