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'It is even unnecessary to know the names of the notes' - From the Archive: February 1942

2022-02-14T14:25:00

archive

Violin pedagogue Percival Hodgson advocates a system of pattern recognition to help young players, rather than the laborious method of learning the names of notes

The brain appears to have an inescapable need for turning everything into patterns. This propensity applies to violin playing in many directions, and should be stimulated in all. For example, if we sing or hum a tune, the chain of sounds becomes an aural pattern; bowing is only correct when the hand and arm movements describe beautiful curving patterns in space; reading whole groups of notes at a glance is only possible when the written symbols of music lose some of their detail to us, thus forming easily recognisable visual patterns; and it is impossible for left-hand movements to gain rapidity until they link themselves into a chain.

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