Idiomatic Studies: Violin.

Hey all,

I plan to start a few orchestration classes here, I think it's really important we understand how instruments work before we write for them as composers. It's not just about how instruments work though it's about how people work, after all we are writing for people and not machines. I'm going to start off with the Violin this week and move on to the Viola next week etc. I'll also set an exercise for each week to help you understand each instrument, this is not going to be about how to orchestrate your music, but how to understand the idioms of the instruments you write for. 

The Violin is in many ways like any other instrument in the string family, but its small size, physics and historical prominence make it arguably one of the most important sections in any orchestra. It's a small versatile instrument, the performer can easily get their fingers round the instrument without too much stress and the physics behind the instrument make it perfect to play a major part in the orchestra.  

The Basics:

The Violin has four strings tuned in fifths, which are E, A, D, G as shown below.

Each of these strings is tuned using tuning pegs, inserted into the scroll of the instrument. Often a performer will have fine tuners too, on the tail piece, see below.

The pitch of each string is changed by the performer using a finger on their left hand to shorten the string, which changes the pitch. The sound is normally produced by using the bow (in the right hand), by dragging it along the string in use which resonates said string, therefore creating sound.

Each hand works fairly independently so I will look at them first independently and then show how they can be used in conjunction with each other.  

First of all the left hand. 

The range of the violin is shown below.

As already mentioned the left hand is used to control pitch and often rhythm. The fingers are numbered 1 (index), 2 (middle), 3 (ring) and 4 (pinky), with 0 being an open string (without fingers). Whilst the thumb sits underneath the neck to support the instrument. Every violinist is taught specific fingering patterns so for instance a G Major scale from the lowest string would be played G0, G1, G2, G3, D0, D1 D2 D3. Notice however that the fourth finger is not used, this is because the fourth finger makes the same pitch as the next open string (in this case a D). What's important to note here is that although the fourth finger on the G and open D make the same pitch, they do not sound the same. The open string will sound much more lively and prominent whilst the fourth finger will sound much duller, it is often useful to mark in a score which would be preferable in each case, however most string players figure this out for themselves. This is only true in first position though.

To make things a little more complicated, but the instrument more versatile, the performer can move their hand up the finger board into a different position. 

(This chart isn't actually for the violin but it's the correct fingerings nonetheless, please ignore the fret thing, the violin DOES NOT have frets).

For instance the fingering for a Bb Major scale starting on the G string could be G2, G3, D0, D1, D2, D3, A0, A1 in first position. Or G1, G2, G3, G4, D1, D2, D3, D4, in second position etc. This is very important to the composer again because it means that your piece could be played in lots of different ways. To specify you want a certain part played on a certain string you can put a roman numeral above the part where I is the E string, II is the A string, III is the D string and IV is the G string. A composer might do this when he/she is looking for a particular sound, a rich resonant melody would always sound better in a higher position, whilst something that needs to be dominant is generally better in a lower position, because the higher up the finger board you are, the richer is sounds but also the quieter.   

Harmonics:

There are two types of harmonics available on string instruments, natural and artificial. 

Natural harmonics are available only on open strings and follow the harmonic series. As you see below:

There are also artificial harmonics available: the standard is called a stopped fourth harmonic, this is explained below.

Glissandi are very easy to achieve on string instruments by moving the finger up or down the fingerboard.

Trills are also very easy to achieve and notated in the standard way.

Another lesser known technique is left hand pizzicato, in fast pizzicato passage the left hand can pizz the string rather than the right hand: however this should be used with care and is an advanced technique.

The right hand is the bowing hand, it holds the bow and uses it create sound by dragging it on the string.

The bow can be moved in two directions, a down bow (from the heel, to the tip) or an up bow (from the tip to the heel). You can mark these in a score using the following but do not put them on every note, only use them when you have a very specific bowing in mind (for instance a group of down bows). 

A down bow on a crotchet E. 

An up bow on a crotchet E.

The first and most important thing to note is slurs, you can play more than one note in a bow, but bear in mind a bow is only so long. By putting a slur above a group of notes you are telling a performer to play those notes in one bow.

This is key to phrasing your violin music. When the bow is used on a down bow, there will be a natural decrescendo, when on an up bow there will be a natural crescendo. Use this to help phrase your music and exemplify dynamics. 

Other bowing techniques included sul ponticello (sul pont.) and sul tasto. The bow is placed between the bridge and tail piece normally this is the ordinaro position or ord.

Sul pont. Is where the bow is placed as close to bridge as possible, and is indicated by marking sul pont. above the passage you require. Sul pont emphasises the higher harmonics, taking the bass from the tone, creating a very particular sound. Youtube it and you can hear it for yourself. To return to the ord. position simply mark 'ord.' where required in the score.

Sul tasto is the opposite, you play over the fingerboard. This emphasises the lower harmonics, but also makes the sound much quieter. Again look this up on youtube. It is indicated by again putting sul tasto in the score.

Tremolo is a technique where the performer moves the bow as fast as possible, and is shown in the scores by using dashes through the stem as shown below.

Other techniques:

Double, triple and quadruple stops are difficult to understand. The notes required must all be available in one position. For all stops the strings must be next to each other ie a double stop on the E and G string would be impossible because the middle two strings are above the outer two strings, due to a curved bridge.

Use a fingering chart to figure out what is and isn't possible.

Generally, thirds, sixths and seconds are all fairly easy, but do it not move between them too quickly.

Pizzicato where the string is plucked rather than bowed is easy enough. Make sure there is time to swap from arco to pizz though.

Bartok pizz is where the string is pulled so far that is hits the fingerboard upon it's return. Notate it as below.

Both Bartok and normal pizzicato reduce the pitch content within a note and can be used as a percussive device.

Col legno, is where the wood of the bow is used to create a percussive sound on the string, rather than the hair. It is marked my putting col legno at the start of the indicated passage and normale at the end.

This is a very basic introduction to Violin and strings, as I get through the string family I will reinforce and introduce some more techniques.

I hope that all makes sense!

If anyone wishes to try these techniques out, do the following:

Write a one minute piece for solo violin, which includes, 4 double stops.

2 bowing techniques.

And 2 other techniques of your choice.

The piece must also make musical sense and be in any style.

Post the link in the comments at any time and I'll let you know how well you've done!

Let me know if there's any questions!

Adam.

This is a really good basic overview of the instrument's capabilities. I would suggest people listen to the Bach violin partitas/sonatas, and Paganini's caprices as an audio (and maybe visual) reference.

Yeah, you're pretty awesome. 

I would suggest people listen to the Bach violin partitas/sonatas

Which are, in fairness, among the most challenging, least idiomatic compositions in the violin repertoire.

Not for nothing did Bach add to the title page the words "Sei Solo" (lit. translation: "You're on your own from here.")*

_{* it may have also been a typo for "Sei Soli" (six solos) but whatevs}

This is great! I'm working on something right now!

My real problems with solo string instruments are double stops, triple stops and quadruple stops. Not only the execution of a single one of them, but the chaining of some of them. For example: I may know that a certain double stop is perfectly executable, but what other double stops can I add after this one? Is there a study for this other than "try with the instrument"? (because, of course, as I don't play the violin, anything will be very difficult for me, and then seem to be impractical...)

This is great! I think I'll try composing such a one minute solo violin piece. I should practice it anyway because I'll probably have someone play one of my pieces end next summer in which the violin will play a big part and it wouldn't make much sense if the piece would be unplayable. I don't suppose you will do the same for acoustic guitar, will you? Because I enjoy writing fast guitar solos but I'm not sure if they are actually playable.

Which are, in fairness, among the most challenging, least idiomatic compositions in the violin repertoire.

Challenging? Hell yeah!!!

Least idiomatic? Meh...the Bach pieces are a little odd (in terms of playing), but I think Paganini's caprices are very well suited for the violin

This is great! I'm working on something right now!

 

My real problems with solo string instruments are double stops, triple stops and quadruple stops. Not only the execution of a single one of them, but the chaining of some of them. For example: I may know that a certain double stop is perfectly executable, but what other double stops can I add after this one? Is there a study for this other than "try with the instrument"? (because, of course, as I don't play the violin, anything will be very difficult for me, and then seem to be impractical...)

Unfortunately one cannot simply make a chart of possible stops because there are just so many, and each performer will have very different capabilities. The best thing to do would be to study the Kruetzer Violin Studies, look at number 23 for octaves and 30 to 37 for all other double stops. Every stop here is in theory possible, what's more difficult is to know why it's possible to move from one to another (even as a Viola player I don't really know this) I have to try it! 

My best advice would be: If you write a double stop, figure out what position it should be in, what fingers should be used, for the following double stop don't use the fingers that are already being used. It's SO hard to fully understand and being a string player myself I don't think even I always know which ones work and which ones don't. Often it is a case of trial and error! 

This is great! I think I'll try composing such a one minute solo violin piece. I should practice it anyway because I'll probably have someone play one of my pieces end next summer in which the violin will play a big part and it wouldn't make much sense if the piece would be unplayable. I don't suppose you will do the same for acoustic guitar, will you? Because I enjoy writing fast guitar solos but I'm not sure if they are actually playable.

I could possibly I'd have to double check a few facts here and there, I take it you're after classical guitar? 

I could possibly I'd have to double check a few facts here and there, I take it you're after classical guitar? 

Yep, the classical guitar. It would be great if you would do that!

Yep, the classical guitar. It would be great if you would do that!

I'll try and get something together this weekend :)