XX
EDMUND SEVERN
THE JOACHIM BOWING AND OTHERS:
THE LEFT HAND
Edmund Severn's activity in the field of
violin music is a three-fold one: he is a composer,
an interpreting artist and a teacher, and
his fortuitous control of the three vital phases
of his Art make his views as regards its study
of very real value. The lover of string music
in general would naturally attach more importance
to his string quartet in D major,
his trio for violin, 'cello and piano, his violin
concerto in D minor, the sonata, the "Oriental,"
"Italian," "New England" suites for violin,
and the fine suite in A major, for two violins
and piano, than to his symphonic poems
for orchestra, his choral works and his songs.
And those in search of hints to aid them to
master the violin would be most interested in
having the benefit of his opinions as a teacher,
founded on long experience and keen observation.
Since Mr. Severn is one of those teachers
who are born, not made, and is interested
heart and soul in this phase of his musical work,
it was not difficult to draw him out.
THE JOACHIM BOWING
"My first instructor in the violin was my
father, the pioneer violin teacher of Hartford,
Conn., where my boyhood was passed, and then
I studied with Franz Milcke and Bernard
Listemann, concertmaster of the Boston
Symphony Orchestra. But one day I happened
to read a few lines reprinted in the Metronome
from some European source, which
quoted Wilhelmj as saying that Emanuel
Wirth, Joachim's first assistant at the Berlin
Hochschule, 'was the best teacher of his generation.'
This was enough for me: feeling
that the best could be none too good, I made
up my mind to go to him. And I did. Wirth
was the viola of the Joachim Quartet, and
probably a better teacher than was Joachim
himself. Violin teaching was a cult with him,
a religion; and I think he believed God had
sent him to earth to teach fiddle. Like all the
teachers at the Hochschule he taught the regular
'Joachim' bowing—they were obliged to
teach it—as far as it could be taught, for it
could not be taught every one. And that is
the real trouble with the 'Joachim' bowing. It
is impossible to make a general application of
it.
"Joachim had a very long arm and when he
played at the point of the bow his arm position
was approximately the same as that of the
average player at the middle of the bow.
Willy Hess was a perfect exponent of the Joachim
method of bowing. Why? Because he
had a very long arm. But at the Hochschule
the Joachim bowing was compulsory: they
taught, or tried to teach, all who came there
to use it without exception; boys or girls whose
arms chanced to be long enough could acquire
it, but big men with short arms had no chance
whatever. Having a medium long arm, by
dint of hard work I managed to get my bowing
to suit Wirth; yet I always felt at a disadvantage
at the point of the bow, in spite of the
fact that after my return to the United States
I taught the Joachim bowing for fully eight
years.
"Then, when he first came here, I heard and
saw Ysaye play, and I noticed how greatly
his bowing differed from that of Joachim, the
point being that his first finger was always in
a position to press naturally without the least
stiffness. This led me to try to find a less
constrained bowing for myself, working along
perfectly natural lines. The Joachim bowing
demands a high wrist; but in the case of the
Belgian school an easy position at the point is
assumed naturally. And it is not hard to understand
that if the bow be drawn parallel
with the bridge, allowing for the least possible
movement of hands and wrist, the greatest
economy of motion, there is no contravention
of the laws of nature and playing is natural
and unconstrained.
"And this applies to every student of the instrument,
whether or no he has a long arm.
While I was studying in Berlin, Sarasate
played there in public, with the most natural
and unhampered grace and freedom in the use
of his bow. Yet the entire Hochschule contingent
unanimously condemned his bowing
as being 'stiff'—merely because it did not conform
to the Joachim tradition. Of course,
there is no question but that Joachim was the
greatest quartet player of his time; and with
regard to the interpretation of the classics he
was not to be excelled. His conception of
Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms was wonderful.
The insistence at the Hochschule on
forcing the bowing which was natural to him
on all others, irrespective of physical adaptability,
is a matter of regret. Wirth was somewhat
deficient in teaching left hand technic,
as compared with, let us say, Schradieck.
Wirth's real strength lay in his sincerity and
his ability to make clear the musical contents
of the works of the great masters. In a Beethoven
or Spohr concerto he made a pupil give
its due emphasis to every single note.
A PRE-TEACHING REQUISITE
"Before the violin student can even begin
to study, there are certain pre-teaching requisites
which are necessary if the teacher is
to be of any service to him. The violin is a
singing instrument, and therefore the first
thing called for is a good singing tone. That
brings up an important point—the proper adjustment
of the instrument used by the student.
If his lessons are to be of real benefit
to him, the component parts of the instrument,
post, bridge, bass-bar, strings, etc., must be
accurately adjusted, in order that the sound
values are what they should be.
"From the teaching standpoint it is far more
important that whatever violin the student has
is one properly built and adjusted, than that
it be a fine instrument. And the bow must
have the right amount of spring, of elasticity
in its stick. A poor bow will work more harm
than a poor fiddle, for if the bow is poor, if it
lacks the right resilience, the student cannot
acquire the correct bow pressure. He cannot
play spiccato or any of the 'bouncing' bowings,
including various forms of arpeggios, with a
poor stick.
DRAWING A LONG BOW
"When I say that the student should 'draw
a long bow,'" continued Mr. Severn with a
smile, "I do not say so at a venture. If his
instrument and bow are in proper shape, this
is the next thing for the student to do. Ever
since Tartini's time it has been acknowledged
that nothing can take the place of the study
of the long bow, playing in all shades of dynamics,
from pp to ff, and with all the inflections
of crescendo and diminuendo. Part of
this study should consist of 'mute' exercises—not
playing, but drawing the bow above the
strings, to its full length, resting at either end.
This ensures bow control. One great difficulty
is that as a rule the teacher cannot induce
pupils to practice these 'mute' exercises,
in spite of their unquestionable value. All the
great masters of the violin have used them.
Viotti thought so highly of them that he taught
them only to his favorite pupils. And even
to-day some distinguished violinists play
dumb exercises before stepping on the recital
stage. They are one of the best means that
we have for control of the violinistic nervous
system.
WRIST-BOWING
"Wrist-bowing is one of the bowings in
which the student should learn to feel absolutely
and naturally at home. To my thinking
the German way of teaching wrist-bowing
is altogether wrong. Their idea is to keep
the fingers neutral, and let the stick move the
fingers! Yet this is wrong—for the player
holds his bow at the finger-tips, that terminal
point of the fingers where the tactile nerves
are most highly developed, and where their
direct contact with the bow makes possible the
greatest variety of dynamic effect, and also
allows the development of far greater speed
in short bowings.
"Though the Germans say 'Think of the
wrist!' I think with the Belgians: Put your
mind where you touch and hold the bow, concentrate
on your fingers. In other words,
when you make your bow change, do not make
it according to the Joachim method, with the
wrist, but in the natural way, with the fingers
always in command. In this manner only will
you get the true wrist motion.
STACCATO AND OTHER BOWINGS
"After all, there are only two general principles
in violin playing, the long and short bow,
legato and staccato. Many a teacher finds it
very difficult to teach staccato correctly, which
may account for the fact that many pupils find
it hard to learn. The main reason is that, in
a sense, staccato is opposed to the nature of
the violin as a singing instrument. To produce
a true staccato and not a 'scratchato' it
is absolutely necessary, while exerting the
proper pressure and movement, to keep the
muscles loose. I have evolved a simple
method for quickly achieving the desired result
in staccato. First I teach the attack in
the middle of the bow, without drawing the
bow and as though pressing a button: I have
pupils press up with the thumb and down with
the first finger, with all muscles relaxed. This,
when done correctly, produces a sudden sharp
attack.
"Then, I have the pupil place his bow in the
middle, in position to draw a down-stroke from
the wrist, the bow-hair being pressed and held
against the string. A quick down-bow follows
with an immediate release of the string.
Repeating the process, use the up-stroke. The
finished product is merely the combination of
these two exercises—drawing and attacking
simultaneously. I have never failed to give a
pupil a good staccato by this exercise, which
comprises the principle of all genuine staccato
playing.
"One of the most difficult of all bowings is
the simple up-and-down stroke used in the second
Kreutzer étude, that is to say, the bowing
between the middle and point of the bow, tête
d'archet, as the French call it. This bowing
is played badly on the violin more often than
any other. It demands constant rapid changing
and, as most pupils play it, the legato quality
is noticeably absent. Too much emphasis
cannot be laid on the truth that the 'singing
stroke' should be employed for all bowings,
long or short. Often pupils who play quite
well show a want of true legato quality in their
tone, because there is no connection between
their bowing in rapid work.
"Individual bowings should always be practiced
separately. I always oblige my pupils
to practice all bowings on the open strings, and
in all combinations of the open strings, because
this allows them to concentrate on the bowing
itself, to the exclusion of all else; and they advance
far more quickly. Students should
never be compelled to learn new bowings while
they have to think of their fingers at the same
time: we cannot serve two masters simultaneously!
All in all, bowing is most important in
violin technic, for control of the bow means
much toward mastery of the violin.
THE LEFT HAND
"It is evident, however, that the correct use
of the left hand is of equal importance. It
seems not to be generally known that finger-pressure
has much to do with tone-quality.
The correct poise of the left hand, as conspicuously
shown by Heifetz for instance, throws
the extreme tips of the fingers hammerlike on
the strings, and renders full pressure of the
string easy. Correctly done, a brilliance results,
especially in scale and passage work,
which can be acquired in no other manner, each
note partaking somewhat of the quality of the
open string. As for intonation—that is
largely a question of listening. To really listen
to oneself is as necessary as it is rare. It
would take a volume to cover that subject
alone. We hear much about the use of the
vibrato these days. It was not so when I was
a student. I can remember when it was
laughed at by the purists as an Italian evidence
of bad taste. My teachers decried it, yet if we
could hear the great players of the past, we
would be astonished at their frugal use of it.
"One should remember in this connection
that there was a conflict among singers for
many years as to whether the straight tone as
cultivated by the English oratorio singers, or
the vibrated tone of the Italians were correct.
As usual, Nature won out. The correctly vibrated
voice outlasted the other form of production,
thus proving its lawful basis. But
to-day the vibrato is frequently made to cover
a multitude of violin sins.
"It is accepted by many as a substitute for
genuine warmth and it is used as a camouflage
to 'put over' some very bad art in the shape of
poor tone-quality, intonation and general sloppiness
of technic. Why, then, has it come into
general use during the last twenty-five years?
Simply because it is based on the correctly
produced human voice. The old players, especially
those of the German school, said, and
some still say, the vibrato should only be used
at the climax of a melody. If we listen to a
Sembrich or a Bonci, however, we hear a vibration
on every tone. Let us not forget that
the violin is a singing instrument and that even
Joachim said: 'We must imitate the human
voice,' This, I think, disposes of the case
finally and we must admit that every little boy
or girl with a natural vibrato is more correct
in that part of his tone-production than many
of the great masters of the past. As the Negro
pastor said: 'The world do move!'
VIOLIN MASTERY
"Are 'mastery of the violin' and 'Violin
Mastery' synonymous in my mind? Yes and
no: 'Violin Mastery' may be taken to mean
that technical mastery wherewith one is enabled
to perform any work in the entire literature
of the instrument with precision, but not
necessarily with feeling for its beauty or its
emotional content. In this sense, in these days
of improved violin pedagogy, such mastery is
not uncommon. But 'Violin Mastery' may
also be understood to mean, not merely a cold
though flawless technic, but its living, glowing
product when used to express the emotions
suggested by the music of the masters. This
latter kind of violin mastery is rare indeed.
"One who makes technic an end travels light,
and should reach his destination more quickly.
But he whose goal is music with its thousand-hued
beauties, with its call for the exertion of
human and spiritual emotion, sets forth on a
journey without end. It is plain, however,
that this is the only journey worth taking with
the violin as a traveling companion. 'Violin
Mastery', then, means to me technical proficiency
used to the highest extent possible, for
artistic ends!"
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