Honestly, I wish we had something like this for every section. I didn't get very far as a violinist and now that we do the majority of composing digitally using a keyboard controller with sample libraries (which makes every articulation and sound possible), it can be really difficult to remember all of the ideal ranges and what transitions are comfortable and reasonable on a real instrument. This was incredibly helpful!
Thank you, professor, for this video. Unfortunately, in 30+ years most of the contemporary pieces I have played, very rarely have I encountered those who really wrote following the points you described and advised.
You're so thoughtful, Julia! What a great topic. I'm always so impressed by the way you describe the intricacies of violin playing in such a logical way. Your students are very lucky! 😊
wonderful video, Mme Bushkova. I have been very lucky to have had access to some great string players to help me along with my string pieces. And I can assure anyone reading this that EVERYTHING Mme Bushkova says about performers and their preferences is quite true. Working with these wonderful musicians has actually convinced me to learn the viola myself.
Thank you for the video! All very sensible. Personally, though, I enjoy the challenge of getting music that is unidiomatic. it makes me search deeper in order to find ways of making the awkward or impossible sound musical. Every year I teach a short course of arranging for strings at my academy in Norway. I always show the students the third movement of Beethoven's op 130 (one of my favoritest Beethoven movements!): five flats and awkard as hell to play for all involved - but glorious music. I also show them the pizzicato movement of Bartók's 4th quartet: also extremely awkward and uncomfortable. Not to speak of certain passages in solo Bach, where he obviously couldn|t care less whether it was "convenient" or not to play. So, there is a balance to be addressed, I think. If composers only wrote "playable" music, the repertoire might get a bit dull, and we violinists might revert to our usual lassitude :D (just joking - a little...). Kind regards, Ricardo
So great, so much practical honest advices, which are really helpful to bring good lovely pieces to the music world ! And hopefully composers will also write easy playing concertos which will encourage "beginners" wanting to put efforts in practising, because they suddenly rise to concerto level !! Besides that, Maybe a piece like "Zigeunerweisen" could be written much simpler, which will spread like a fire !
You look and sound really nice, but if you were my violin teacher, I'd have to practice really hard during the week to make sure I don't piss you off. :) Thanks for the video!
Thank you! I just today started teaching a very small (5 violins and 2 cellos) high school ensemble for whom I'll need to compose. One cellist and one violinist are much more advanced than the other 5 musicians. Pieces suitable for one group will be too hard for the others, or pieces suitable for the beginners will neglect development of abilities in the more advanced. I'll need to write something with a comfortable challenge for the more advanced players and a simple rhythmic accompaniment to be played by the others. I have a 25 piece string orchestra in another school in which we are working on Haendel's Entry of the Queen of Sheba, and I'm wondering how to handle the editor's direction to play all quarter notes as staccato. Tomorrow we're going to implement the staccato quarters. On Saturday morning I'll ask for guidance on degree of staccato from a more advanced musician who directs an orchestra in which I coach the violins. I'll also stop trying to learn to play double stopped fifths and pitches above d6. Thank you for suggesting very reasonable limits!
What an excellent , vitally important master talk for all levels. However being myself a master of stupid questions, here goes. I understand that one cannot vibrate an open string. Given that i am well into my twelfth week of playing and my vibrato is still a bit unsure, i have tried varying bow pressure on the string in varying degrees, using index bow finger, to produce a small wavy vibrato. Takes a while to get the wave evenly but it is a bit better than open string. I call it Bowbrato. Is this used at all? As a sidenote Proffessore, because of your video and my diligent and focused practice, my teacher says im more like a third year student presently. Thankyou. I will be Spagannini by next summer! Provided u are still doing teaching! :)
In the orchestra we have to play SO MANY contemporary works, many are commissioned. Most of the time this is our reaction: 😩😩😩. And the general remark from instrumentalists is “Composers must be able to play their own compositions before asking other people to play them!” then they will know why they are actually forcing us to suffer. 😡 Not to mention that most of those unplayable pieces are NOT good sounding!
Hello Mme Bushkova. I have a question about my bowing. The thing is that when i down-bow my bow tends to start jumping and no mather how slow i go and what i try i am never able to create a consistent sound without the bow jumping. What can i do to improve it? Is it because i create a shock movement with my fingers or with my wrist when i change from up-bowing to down-bowing?
I believe I am answering this question in one of the Right-Hand videos. Usually, this happens because your middle fingers (on the bow) are too tight and pressing into the wood of the bow. You may not feel it but that is what they do.
It's a small thing, but A7 isn't quite the highest note on the violin. Actually quite a few works go up a whole tone from A7 to B7 (which is a harmonic) such as Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor (final note of the first movement). That note is also commonly played as an artificial harmonic, such as in Wieniawski's Polonaise in D major and in his Capriccio-Valse. To my knowledge, the highest note ever written for the violin is C#8, in Paganini Caprice No. 7.
Madam sometimes when I am playing broken chords on all four strings say the first few bars of Bach's Ciacconna ocassionally, the E string fails to 'speak'. How to avoid this annoying thing?
1) Check that your string is not old and is not a Gold string (=not the gold in color) 2) The angle of the bow when you cross to the "whistly" E string has to be very precise - the bow has to sit in the the same contact point and slightly slow down during the string crossing
Conclusion: Violin players are really lazy, and don't want to practice🤣 JK. Thanks a lot for this video, I'm writing a quintet for strings and saxophone, and me not knowing how to write for strings, this gave me a lot of insight, and disclosed somethings I might have to change, like those darn tritone double stops😅
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Honestly, I wish we had something like this for every section. I didn't get very far as a violinist and now that we do the majority of composing digitally using a keyboard controller with sample libraries (which makes every articulation and sound possible), it can be really difficult to remember all of the ideal ranges and what transitions are comfortable and reasonable on a real instrument. This was incredibly helpful!
Thank you, professor, for this video. Unfortunately, in 30+ years most of the contemporary pieces I have played, very rarely have I encountered those who really wrote following the points you described and advised.
You're so thoughtful, Julia! What a great topic. I'm always so impressed by the way you describe the intricacies of violin playing in such a logical way. Your students are very lucky! 😊
Words of wisdom.
This is superb ! Huge help. Eric Whitacre said exactly the same thing when he composes for choir.
Double flat........I just fainted 😆
wonderful video, Mme Bushkova.
I have been very lucky to have had access to some great string players to help me along with my string pieces. And I can assure anyone reading this that EVERYTHING Mme Bushkova says about performers and their preferences is quite true.
Working with these wonderful musicians has actually convinced me to learn the viola myself.
Congratulation to Woman with her captivating beauty and unparalleled skill on the violin!
Thank you SO MUCH for making this video! (from an orchestral musician working in the trenches)
thank you for this video
Very valuable information for aspiring composers.
Thank you so much! These kind of considerations were exactely what i was looking for!
Thank You for this special video content! Yes, we love to play nice music, where we can put in our soul!
Всегда с большим удовольствием смотрю Ваши видео!
Just found your channel I usually do rock music yet always wanted to play the violin in my music
Very helpful, thank you
Wonderful!
Excellent. Now let’s get this out to the composing community!
I've learnt more about the violin. Thank you. This is a must for beginner and intermediate players.
This is extremely helpful! Thank you for making this!
So helpful and well made. Thank you.
thank you for this.
Fantastic. Thankyou!
Thank you for the video! All very sensible. Personally, though, I enjoy the challenge of getting music that is unidiomatic. it makes me search deeper in order to find ways of making the awkward or impossible sound musical. Every year I teach a short course of arranging for strings at my academy in Norway. I always show the students the third movement of Beethoven's op 130 (one of my favoritest Beethoven movements!): five flats and awkard as hell to play for all involved - but glorious music. I also show them the pizzicato movement of Bartók's 4th quartet: also extremely awkward and uncomfortable. Not to speak of certain passages in solo Bach, where he obviously couldn|t care less whether it was "convenient" or not to play. So, there is a balance to be addressed, I think. If composers only wrote "playable" music, the repertoire might get a bit dull, and we violinists might revert to our usual lassitude :D (just joking - a little...). Kind regards, Ricardo
Ohhh so nice, thank you 😊
Amazing video
So great, so much practical honest advices, which are really helpful to bring good lovely pieces to the music world !
And hopefully composers will also write easy playing concertos which will encourage "beginners" wanting to put efforts in practising, because they suddenly rise to concerto level !!
Besides that,
Maybe a piece like "Zigeunerweisen" could be written much simpler, which will spread like a fire !
You look and sound really nice, but if you were my violin teacher, I'd have to practice really hard during the week to make sure I don't piss you off. :) Thanks for the video!
Bushkova's studio is the top notch in Texas, and yes, her students are afraid to piss her off.
😆😆😆😆
She is thoroughly russian in the most beautiful classical sense.most importantly- the genuine and boundless heart.
@@peterspagnolo2505 💜
Thank you! I just today started teaching a very small (5 violins and 2 cellos) high school ensemble for whom I'll need to compose. One cellist and one violinist are much more advanced than the other 5 musicians. Pieces suitable for one group will be too hard for the others, or pieces suitable for the beginners will neglect development of abilities in the more advanced. I'll need to write something with a comfortable challenge for the more advanced players and a simple rhythmic accompaniment to be played by the others. I have a 25 piece string orchestra in another school in which we are working on Haendel's Entry of the Queen of Sheba, and I'm wondering how to handle the editor's direction to play all quarter notes as staccato. Tomorrow we're going to implement the staccato quarters. On Saturday morning I'll ask for guidance on degree of staccato from a more advanced musician who directs an orchestra in which I coach the violins. I'll also stop trying to learn to play double stopped fifths and pitches above d6. Thank you for suggesting very reasonable limits!
What an excellent , vitally important master talk for all levels. However being myself a master of stupid questions, here goes. I understand that one cannot vibrate an open string. Given that i am well into my twelfth week of playing and my vibrato is still a bit unsure, i have tried varying bow pressure on the string in varying degrees, using index bow finger, to produce a small wavy vibrato. Takes a while to get the wave evenly but it is a bit better than open string. I call it Bowbrato. Is this used at all? As a sidenote Proffessore, because of your video and my diligent and focused practice, my teacher says im more like a third year student presently. Thankyou. I will be Spagannini by next summer! Provided u are still doing teaching!
:)
Bow vibrato is a standard and important technique in baroque violin, called "tremolo" in Italian
In the orchestra we have to play SO MANY contemporary works, many are commissioned. Most of the time this is our reaction: 😩😩😩. And the general remark from instrumentalists is “Composers must be able to play their own compositions before asking other people to play them!” then they will know why they are actually forcing us to suffer. 😡 Not to mention
that most of those unplayable pieces are NOT good sounding!
Hello Mme Bushkova. I have a question about my bowing. The thing is that when i down-bow my bow tends to start jumping and no mather how slow i go and what i try i am never able to create a consistent sound without the bow jumping. What can i do to improve it? Is it because i create a shock movement with my fingers or with my wrist when i change from up-bowing to down-bowing?
I believe I am answering this question in one of the Right-Hand videos. Usually, this happens because your middle fingers (on the bow) are too tight and pressing into the wood of the bow. You may not feel it but that is what they do.
Прекрасна сте !
It's a small thing, but A7 isn't quite the highest note on the violin. Actually quite a few works go up a whole tone from A7 to B7 (which is a harmonic) such as Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor (final note of the first movement). That note is also commonly played as an artificial harmonic, such as in Wieniawski's Polonaise in D major and in his Capriccio-Valse. To my knowledge, the highest note ever written for the violin is C#8, in Paganini Caprice No. 7.
Oh no , I won't go that far, it's too much.
Actually, the highest is D8 in a cadenza to the Paganini No. 1 by Émile Sauret.
Madam sometimes when I am playing broken chords on all four strings say the first few bars of Bach's Ciacconna ocassionally, the E string fails to 'speak'.
How to avoid this annoying thing?
1) Check that your string is not old and is not a Gold string (=not the gold in color)
2) The angle of the bow when you cross to the "whistly" E string has to be very precise - the bow has to sit in the the same contact point and slightly slow down during the string crossing
@@ViolinClassUSA Thanks a lot,madam.
❤🙂
Conclusion: Violin players are really lazy, and don't want to practice🤣
JK. Thanks a lot for this video, I'm writing a quintet for strings and saxophone, and me not knowing how to write for strings, this gave me a lot of insight, and disclosed somethings I might have to change, like those darn tritone double stops😅