Technique – Page 4
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Premium ❘ Feature
Technique: Mapping out the fingerboard
Exercises to train your brain and fingers, to help you become a more fluent performer and improviser
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Feature
7 mental techniques to boost your practice
Effective practice without the frustration and drudgery? Piet Koornhot looks at ways to direct your imagination.
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Focus
'Every bow movement should be calculated' - Aaron Rosand
The American maestro discusses the need for relaxation and finesse for good tone production in a 2007 article for The Strad
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Premium ❘ Debate
Early vibrato was one aspect of a vastly different sound world
A response to Beverly Jerold’s article 'Did early string players use continuous vibrato?' by Kevin Class
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Feature
Cellist Jian Wang on the importance of slow practice
The Chinese artist explains why his method of practising hand movements has its origin in the jungle
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Premium ❘ Feature
Quick exercises to improve string playing technique
Bruno Giuranna, Mimi Zweig, Bonnie Hampton and Boris Kuschnir reveal their secret teaching weapons
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The 4 stages of memorising music for performance
With the right concepts and skills, any musician can successfully learn music by heart, as Gerald Klickstein explains
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Feature
How to shift smoothly and cleanly by cellist Jeffrey Solow
When it comes to shifting, the American cellist and Boyer College professor gets his inspiration from the physics of ball games in this 2007 article
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Premium ❘ Feature
None of my teachers were any good at explaining technique - Ruggiero Ricci
Celebrating his 90th birthday in July 2008, the legendary violinist looked back at his teaching influences and revealed that he was largely self-taught
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Premium ❘ Feature
Technique: the importance of practising in 5ths
How the ability to play in perfect 5ths can help you to hone your position, intonation and vibrato
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Debate
Young students must learn to listen if they are to practise effectively
String students who struggle in the early stages of learning often don't know how to listen. Patiently help them to train their ears, says Peter Quantrill, and practice sessions will become ever more fulfilling
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Premium ❘ Feature
Technique: Walking bass
Essential foundations for producing a jazz bass-line with good sound, rhythm and harmony
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Review
Book review: The Violin in 5ths: Developing Intonation and Sound
Anne Inglis reviews Rodney Friend’s inspiring volume
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Blogs
Émile Sauret, moderation and the ‘saccade’ bow stroke
As Nazrin Rashidova continues her recorded exploration of Sauret’s Études-Caprices played on his own Stradivari, she contemplates an unusual technical challenge
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Blogs
Yuri Zhislin on the 6 pillars of violin playing
The violinist and violist boils down a career’s worth of experience as soloist, chamber musician and teacher
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Premium ❘ Feature
Ask the Experts: helping double-jointed students
Five teachers and health specialists respond to a reader's query on how best to teach a double jointed student.
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Premium ❘ Feature
Ask the Experts: purchasing the right Baroque bow
A trio of Baroque bow makers give their thoughts on what to look for when making the leap into historically informed playing
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Focus
The secret behind Paganini's amazing technique
Generations of violinists have tried to discover what it was that made Paganini so legendary. In this article from 2014, the late great Ruggiero Ricci shared his thoughts with Strad readers
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Video
‘With Nicky’ 9: Recap – vibrato in Massenet’s Méditation
A recap from Nicola Benedetti’s vibrato video, using the first two bars of Massenet’s Meditation as a vibrato exercise. ‘It’s important to remember that with all exercises, in the end, use your ears – they will tell you exactly how you want to sound and send messages to your hands ...
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Video
‘With Nicky’ 8: Recap – Playing Fast
A recap of last week’s video today on Nicola Benedetti’s journey of YouTube tutorials, in which the violinist goes back over one of the most important parts of developing the basics for the left hand: Playing Fast - Velocity Requires Flexibility. See the full series here