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Left Hand
Articles and videos to help improve all aspects of left-hand technique, from mastering fast passages with evenness and clarity, to building finer strength and flexibility, and achieving confident chords and double stops.
Latest Left Hand
Replacing shifts with a stretch: Daniil Shafran’s left-hand technique
Oskar Falta examines Soviet cellist Daniil Shafran’s unique left-hand technique and vibrato in this extract from the September 2021 issue
Left-hand agility in Dont Etude op.35 no.8
In this extract from the May 1999 issue, violinist Zakhar Bron shares tips on hand shape and intonation when playing thirds in Dont Etude op.35 no.8
Technique: Octaves for cellists
Cellist Seth Parker Woods on overcoming the fear and finding joy in octave practice
6 ways to improve left-hand flexibility
Tips from The Strad’s archive on increasing suppleness of movement and reducing tension
Flexibility
Technique: Left-hand lightness for cellists
Richard Tunnicliffe on how to develop healthy and sustainable habits in the left hand
Strength
How to develop left-hand finger strength
Up and down movement is the basis of left-hand technique and many pedagogues have invented fiendish exercises to improve it. Rok Klopčič takes a look at some of them
Warming up
Slow practice should be used only when needed as a learning tool
Are you wasting your time? As musicians we should be doing more to question the standard warm-up and practice regimes, writes violist Paul Neubauer
Fast Passages
6 tips for practising fast passages: violinist Susanna Klein
Susanna Klein gives advice on left and right hand dexterity and coordination for violinists wanting to improve their virtuosity
Trills
Trills and embellishments: exercises from Wilhelmj and Brown’s A Modern School for Violin
Violist Misha Galaganov recommends exercises from August Wilhelmj and James Brown’s out-of-print A Modern School for Violin, to accompany his Technique article in the October 2021 issue
Chords and Double Stops
How Bach enhances right-hand dexterity: Violinist Rebeca Nuez Suarez
Rebeca Nuez Suarez discusses the contribution the Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin by Bach can make to gaining dexterity and strength in the right hand
Harmonics
How harmonics and singing can help to build a sound technique
Violin and viola pedagogue Jane Metcalfe discusses using techniques inspired by Kodály and Colourstrings methods