Why is Gravity so important?
First and foremost, once you learn to harness gravity, you will sound and feel better. When playing fiddle, Our Big Friend is gravity – we lean on it. Ultimately, when I say “leaning,” I really mean leveraging. Gravity is the governor of balance, relaxation, and technique. If you’re playing WITH your big friend Gravity, you will have efficient posture and be able to play a long time without getting tired. On the contrary, if your posture works AGAINST gravity, then you will continually fatigue your muscles and joints, and your technique will be unreliable. That is because when playing violin, our body is working as a system of cascading levers.
OK, so why are levers so important?
Big muscles support small muscles – not the other way around. The “massive lever arm,” is what I would refer to the whole body; standing on the ground. That is why it is vital to practice standing up, if possible. You will feel the force of gravity acting on your body, and try to create a balanced, comfortable stance. If you must sit, then try to practice sitting on the edge of the chair. Classical orchestra members always sit this way, and you might notice the participants in a hot jam leaning in and sitting up on the edges of their chairs, as well.
Following the sequence of having a balanced posture to work with, the next lever is the support of the violin body; the fulcrum of the lever is the surface of the collarbone, and the counter weight is the skull. When the weight of the head goes down, the violin goes up. The weight of the head is sufficient to lever the violin with good posture. We will cover the work of the left hand in a moment
In order to practice posture, grip the violin comfortably on the shoulder (upper bout) of the instrument. Raise the violin so the strings are parallel to the floor; this is what I refer to as “flat strings.” The parallel strings to the floor is an ideal, and ultimately the strings may slope down slightly when holding the violin comfortably, but it is a good visual to work with.
When you are holding the violin on the shoulder, and the violin is up in playing position with flat strings, let the weight of the head fall on the chinrest. One tip I like to offer is to really cram the violin under the neck, into the same spot every time. At conservatories, students get “violin hickeys,” really skin irritation on the neck from practicing so much. The little black button of the violin should touch the flesh of your neck. This will form a solid connection to create a sense of comfort and stability. With a well fitting shoulder pad, you should be able to support the violin comfortably with solely the weight of the head; you would be able to walk around, talk, and move the arms relatively freely while holding the instrument up under the chin.
Cascading outward.
The body is symmetrical. Both arms REFLECT the forces acting on the body, and although the posture of the violin does not appear it, it is nearly symmetrical, itself. That idea will be developed later.
Suffice it to say now that gravity pulls down equally on both arms. So, create a balanced posture with the arms, so that one is not feeling tension that will reflect onto the other side of the body as well.
Remember in our lever system, large muscles support the smaller ones. So, I refer to the arms as “wings,” because the large musculoskeletal system of the back and neck is intensely involved with all the smaller, fine motor movements that are involved with playing the fiddle. If you’re feeling tension in your large, wing muscles, you’re doomed to hit a ceiling of technique, so it is crucial to be comfortable throughout your body while playing. When I was having neck and shoulder pain at college, my teacher identified that I was locking my knees.
We are going to play the A1 bowstroke with pizzicato. That is a pattern of Long – Short Short
Remember when I talked about how the violin posture is really symmetrical even though it doesn’t look like it? At the level of the WINGS, minus the axes of the forearms, each wing is really in the same posture. NOW, when it’s time to play, remember not to let tension creep in through movement. Pizzicato the A&D strings with a nice heavy Thunk, and use excess motion of pizzicato-ing your whole hand off the strings to create a groove of ||: Long, Short Short :||
I suggest to use a metronome marking of 60 or 72 BPM, with long equalling 2 clicks and short equalling 1 click.
In between clicks, you should be having the feeling of “coming back to the string” with plenty of buffer to Thunk the next click right in the groove. That is the feeling of subdividing the beat and is a powerful tool at your disposal.
See if you can get a good groove going on with that open strings pizzicato exercise. You should feel totally comfortable and be having a lot of fun. This is like a dance with the violin to see how comfortable you can be. If it seems easy, then try 90, or 120BPM pizzicato with excess motion.
Then, try A1 bow stroke allowing the bow to sink deep into the string. Use a lot of friction but not much motion. The bow sinking into the string is what allows a deeper and deeper feeling of stability. Hold the bow with no upward pressure from the thumb. You don’t have to squeeze. Because of your flat strings, the bow won’t slip down toward the floor.
In the end, it will help add efficiency, comfort, and fun, to work with gravity to allow the bow and violin to do what they want to do, which is, to create beautiful music. Happy practicing!