Playing Hub

Technique: Playing with expression

2020-10-13T02:43:00

DanielLevitov

Ideas to help you experiment, and to find new sounds and means of expression on your instrument

Too often string players focus on technical precision at the expense of artistic expression. Of course, having a reliable technique, with consistently good intonation, vibrato, bow control, sound, and so on, is incredibly important. But we spend too great a portion of our time trying to find ways to make everything sound exactly the same, when on stage that is the opposite of what we need to achieve. To give an engaging performance, we need to work on flux and change, because the human ear holds on to sounds that are different and developing. One of my goals as a teacher is to reduce the jump between ‘dry’ technical work and expressive practice…

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