Left Hand Hammer fingers. fingers. For strengthening and indepen indepe nden de nce of th t he fingers. fingers. Play P lay 4-note slurs with the fo llo llo wing fingerings. fingerings. C hoose hoose one of the follo follo wing sets, sets, a nd repeat combination 4-8 4- 8 times. times. Choose a string to play them o n, and any positio positio n up to fo urth position. Lift Lift eac h finger high and strike the string independently of other fingers. Allow the left arm to move and be involved in rebalancing the hand (the elbow will be lower for your 4 t h finger, and higher for your 1 st finger; draw ovals and figure-eights with your elbow as you play). 1) 2) 3) 4)
1234 1243 1324 1342 1423 1432 (see example) 2134 2143 2314 2341 2413 2431 3124 3142 3214 3241 3412 3421 4123 4132 4213 4231 4312 4321
Variations: Play the same exerc ise on each string. Play the same patterns in every position between half position and fourth position. Play the same fingerings, but with extensions. Octave Shifting. Start on B-flat on the A-string. Slide up an octave on your 3rd finger, and the n slide back down again; use two note slurs. Shift with the arm and hand as a unit. Repeat. Move up to the next note, B-natural, and slide up and down the octave again. Continue moving up chromatica lly until it seems unreasonably high, repeating each shift at least twice. Using a metronome (or a simple foot tap), slide for an entire beat, and rest on the landing note for an entire beat. Make the glissando louder than the landing notes so that you really listen to the shift; bear into the string during the slide. Your ear should tell you when to stop; keep s liding until you hear the right note. Better to over-shift than under-shift for this exercise. Shifting is not like target practice, but rather like driving-- direct your hand where to go, do not just shoot a nd hope it will get there.
Variations: Try shifting to more dissonant intervals, like the minor ninth or a major seventh. Those dissonant intervals force your ear to listen to the pitch and guide your hand. Also try other intervals: perfect 5th, major/minor 6ths, minor 7th s, or two octaves. Also try expanding arpeggios.
Try shifting up to 2nd finger or 1st finger, instead of always 3rd.
Vibrato: Vibrato slider : Place your 2nd finger on the note G on the D-string. Shift a minor third up to the B-flat. Slide as you shift, making a glissando. Slide back to G. Practice shifting smoothly and evenly between the two notes at a steady tempo. Keep your hand shape curved, with your 2nd finger light a nd relaxed; don’t allow your hand roll over the string as you slide. The bow should be playing four quarter notes in a slur. Coordinating the two hands may be tricky at first; if it is too difficult then focus only on the left hand at first, without playing with the bow. When you feel comfortable, reduce the size of the shift to a major 2 nd, so that you shift betwee n G and A, and double the speed; you will now be playing 8th notes, with eight-note slurs. Shift smoothly and evenly, and a lways play with a good tone. When this becomes comfortable, reduce the size of the shift to a minor second, so that you shift between G and A-flat, and double the tempo again so that you play 16th notes in sixteen-note slurs. Shift evenly up and down, at a steady tempo. Finally, plant your finger solidly to the fingerboard and shake your arm as if you were shifting.
Oo-ee-oo-ee: To loosen up your finger joints for a wider vibrato. Plant your second finger solidly on the D-string. Bring your thumb around to the right side of the neck, and let the knuckle of the first finger continuously brush against the other side of the neck. Push your hand down using your whole arm, so that your knuckle curls in, keeping your finger tip on the string; then drag it back up so t hat the knuckle straightens out. The vowel sounds your ce llo will make as you drag and push your hand should sound like ooo-eee-ooo-eee. Move your hand with your arm; do not try to bend and straighten your finger — let your arm push and drag the finger so that it bends and straightens passively. Think about the way your joints move. Your knee can only bend one direction; so your knuckles also only bend in one direction. The odd placement of the hand in this exercise is intended to allow the knuckles to move freely.
To exercise both the upward and downward motion of the vibrato, try playing oo-ee-oo-ee with this rhythm:
Right Hand Long tones. Choose an open string and play a long tone with your entire bow, frog to tip. Make a singing, vibrant, resonant, and steady tone. Focus on keeping the sound steady and even (not wavering), and making gentle, unaccented bow changes. Keep your head up and listen to your sound in the room. Bow nearer to the bridge than where you are used to. Try it with a resonant fingered note, like G or D. Try it with a note that is not readily reso nant, like A-flat or F-sharp. Play without vibrato at first, to focus your tone. Then you may add vibrato to color the tone. Bow vibrato. Like long tones, but pulse the bow. The idea is to make a resonant tone by alternately releasing and suspending arm weight into and out of the bow. A drawing of the feeling in the arm might look like a sine wave. Try it with many pulses in the bow, 6-8 little pulses, and fewer, larger pulses. After p laying with the alternations for a while (about a minute), then try to find the happy bala nce between suspended and released arm weight. Slurred-Staccato. This teaches your fingers how to grip the string in any part of the bow. Bow on one pitch from frog to tip and back, with many stops along the way. Try to make the same sound each time you set and pull or push your bow. When playing past t he balance point of the bow, pressurize the bow with your fore finger a nd thumb, pronat ing your forear m. Remember to relax the pressure when your get back to the lower half of the bow. Various bowstrokes: detache, legato, staccato, marcato, spiccato, portato Various dynamics: f, p, crescendo, diminuendo, s ubito, accents Bowings for scales
