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5th Air Varié

Overview - 5th Air Varie written by Charles Dancla in 1858, lies within the Romantic Period of music (1830-1900). Specific expressive skills that were commonly used in this era of music included:

The use of vibrato (articulation) - which describes slight fluctuations in pitch that are used to create warmth or richness of tone. These articulations made music in the Romantic Period more individualistic, emotional, and dramatic. To begin with, legato phrasing is a type of articulation that when played, creates a smooth and connected sound.

The use of dynamics – This can be utilised in a single whole bow stroke to increase and even decrease the sound of the legato, therefore adding to the expressive skills of articulation within a score. My first exercise is created by Franz Wohlfahrt, this melodic exercise intends to utilises the use of full bow strokes which are played in a “singing-like tone” with good "continuity of vibrato.”

Sonata

Overview - George Frideric Handel (23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759)  was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas. George Handel received his training in Halle and worked as a composer in Hamburg. He settled in London where he spent the bulk of his career and became a naturalised British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition and by composers of the Italian Baroque. The Sonata in G minor was composed by George Frideric Handel in 1712, this, therefore, makes this piece fall under the category of the baroque era. The definition of a sonata is a composition for an instrumental soloist, often with a piano accompaniment, typically in several movements with one or more in sonata form.

Definition of a 'Sonata' -  A sonata is a composition for an instrumental soloist, often with a piano accompaniment, typically in several movements with one or more in sonata form(Sonata form is a musical structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation).

The use of characteristics within the Baroque period –  The Baroque era refers to a cultural and artistic movement that characterised Europe from the early seventeenth to mid-eighteenth century. Baroque music emphasises dramatic, exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted, detail.

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Summary of Exercise 4 (Expressive): Dynamics and whole bow exercise (Sourced from Études)

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Summary of Exercise 4 (Expressive): Dynamics and whole bow exercise (Sourced from Études)

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Dynamics in violin playing are crucially important because they add expression and emotion to the musical notes. By playing louder on softer, you can create contrast and highlight different parts of the music. Adding expression and emotion to the music grasps audiences’ attention, therefore helping to convey a specific mood to the music listeners. In addition, using a whole bow in the violin is extremely important for the violinist as it allows the specific violinist to create a full and rich sound, moreover, it gives the violinist the ability to have more control over the dynamics, articulation, and intonation of the music. This can be seen in the Coda section of 5th Air Varie in bars 112-118, this specific passage is about scales being played in full legatos, which needed to be played dynamically by the uses of techniques such as crescendos and decrescendos.

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Summary Exercise 1 (Expressive): Legato and trills exercise (Sourced from AMEB by Franz Wohlfahrt) 

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Summary Exercise 1 (Expressive): Legato and trills exercise (Sourced from AMEB by Franz Wohlfahrt) 

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When changing bow strokes from the upper half of the bow to the frog of the bow at the bottom, the sound should be constantly smooth and flexible, challenges include the use of trills within this exercise as the trills should portray a sense of evenness and constant speed in order to maintain good consistency of the sound of the legato. The intended expressive outcome that is needed to be portrayed within this first exercise is gracefulness, elegance, and calmness. This exercise helps me improve in my piece ‘5th Air Varie’ within bars 1-14 and 24-31 as legatos are needed to be played with speed, accuracy and consistency.

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Exercise 1 (Expressive): Legato and vibrato exercise (Sourced from AMEB by Franz Wohlfahrt) - Challenges within this exercise includes the speed of the rhythms when playing the trills within one legato full bow stroke, this is difficult as the Violinist should carefully count the rhythms to ensure that the turns are rhythmically accurate. In addition, another challenge within this exercise is to undertake trills with a violist's 4th finger (pinky finger), this is evident as muscle memory is needed to ensure the rapidness of the finger to continuously touch the string back and forth for 5 beats.

Exercise 2 (Expressive): Dynamics and whole bow exercise (Sourced from Études spéciales) - Challenges within this exercise include the use of a full bow stroke which is to intake 7 beats, whilst providing dynamics within one bow stroke. Playing vast amounts of notes under one box length is a challenge as, if a violinist does not ration the length of the bow for oncoming notes, the bow length will deplete resulting in an incomplete bar.

Exercise 3 (Technical): String crossings in multiple positions exercise (Sourced from Study No. 4 by Joseph Joachim) - Challenges within this exercise includes using a whole bow legato, whilst playing those legatos with dynamics, whilst shifting up to third position back down to first position, which the ascends one positions second position, then ultimately finishing back down to first position. The reason why this is such a challenge is due to the string crossings when shifting position, this is evident as this is where the lack of intonation occurs, moreover string crossings in violin from G string to E string are difficult physically as the violinist elbow and shoulders are constantly moving up and down, therefore, creating muscle strains. "Often times the shoulder blade, or scapula, can be slumped and pulled up and forward from overuse of the upper trapezius and pectoral muscles, and weakness of the lower scapular muscles."

Exercise 4 (Technical): String crossings in first position with variations (Sourced from School of Violin Technics by Henry Schradieck) - Challenges within this exercise includes  playing different variations of bowing fast, this can be evident by the changes from up bow, to down bow, then to slurred bowings etc. Therefore the rhythm and pace needs to be constant when changing these bow variations.

Exercise 5 (Technical): Left-handed pizzicato exercise (Sourced from School of Violin Technics by Henry Schradieck XX, No. 21) - Challenges within this exercise includes building the muscle memory to maintain the spread of fingers whilst playing double stops, and furthermore ensuring that all non-playing fingers remain of the fingerboard, this is the hardest challenge for me as my fingers like to remain down on the fingerboard. In addition, playing double stops on the violin across different strings is difficult as the slightest interference from any other part of the hand except the fingers will certainly impact the sound of the double stops negatively.

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Left hand pizzicato - simonfischeronline.com

Learn about violin bowing techniques: 9 techniques and tips for better violin bowing

Cheung, G. (2023) Top six violin postures that cause pain and violin injuries, Go! Physiotherapy

AMEB Violin Technical work, Australian Music Examination Board, Melbourne, Australia, 2011

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5th Air Varie Performances:
Jane Singhal
Lawfame Violin

Justification:
The reason, why these interpretations are helpful, is due to the slight decrease in acceleration in different sections which is helpful in playing notes precisely, therefore, improving intonation. Techniques I would adapt in my own piece is the rhythm of the double stops that Jane Singhal produces, which is evidently played extremely well, therefore I need to speed up my own double stops whilst playing 5th Air Varie.

Sonata Performance:
Henryk Szeryng
Huang Huanwei & Xu Shuhao No. 2 Chamber Concert

Justification:
Reasons, why these interpretations are helpful, include how the expressive outcome of the andante section changes from sorrowful which is contracted in the allegro section to an aggressive and powerful expressive outcome. Techniques I would adapt in my own piece is that I would adapt by having a reserved tempo in the first section and then picking up speed in the allegro section.

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Exercise 5 (Technical): Left-handed pizzicato exercise (Sourced from School of Violin Technics by Henry Schradieck XX, No. 21) 

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Exercise 5 (Technical): Left-handed pizzicato exercise (Sourced from School of Violin Technics by Henry Schradieck XX, No. 21) 

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Left-hand pizzicato is when a lower finger stops the string whilst a higher finger plucks it. Two of the qualities of successful left-hand pizzicato include clarity meaning that every note is absolutely clear and equal in strength with the others and secondly, there should be a "machine-like evenness of rhythm." From the middle of the eighteenth century, the use of left-hand pizzicato and harmonics began to become more common in violin playing. This technique was therefore introduced in the Romantic period (1830-1900).

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Exercise 2 (Technical): String crossings in first position with variations (Sourced from School of Violin Technics by Henry Schradieck)

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Exercise 2 (Technical): String crossings in first position with variations (Sourced from School of Violin Technics by Henry Schradieck)

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In violin, changes in the variation of bowing strokes are evident to provide a musical piece with expressiveness and provide different perspectives compared to a different bowing, hence creating imagery when being heard. Examples of bow variations include starting a section in an up bow, down bow, or even starting with slurred bowings, etc.

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Exercise 3 (Technical): String crossings in multiple positions exercise (Sourced from Study No. 4 by Joseph Joachim) 

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Exercise 3 (Technical): String crossings in multiple positions exercise (Sourced from Study No. 4 by Joseph Joachim) 

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String crossings in a violin are characterised as moving the violin bow from one string to another while playing a stringed instrument. String crossings are achieved by using circular hand movement from the wrist which goes "down the bow on the lower strings and up on the higher strings." The definition of multiple positions in violin includes how the hand positions are specific locations based on the intended pitch (higher up the fingerboard) where a violinist's hand should hover in order to create accuracy in pitch. Most violin music can be played using three positions: first position, second position, and third position.