WHAT VIOLIN PLAYING REALLY IS

“Violin playing is really no abstract mystery.  It’s as clear as geography in a way:  one might say the whole art is bounded on the South by the G string, on the North by the E string, on the West by the string hand—­and that’s about as far as the comparison may be carried out.  The point is, there are definite boundaries, whose technical and esthetic limits may be extended, and territorial annexations made through brain power, mental control.  To me ‘Violin Mastery’ means taking this little fiddle-box in hand [and Mr. Hartmann suited action to word by raising the lid of his violin-case and drawing forth his beautiful 1711 Strad], and doing just what I want with it.  And that means having the right finger on the right place at the right time—­but don’t forget that to be able to do this you must have forgotten to think of your fingers as fingers.  They should be simply unconscious slaves of the artist’s psychic expression, absolutely subservient to his ideal.  Too many people reverse the process and become slaves to their fingers.

THE PROBLEM OF TECHNIC

“Technic, for instance, in its mechanical sense, is a much exaggerated microbe of Materia musica.  All technic must conform to its instrument.[A] The violin was made to suit the hand, not the hand to suit the violin, hence its technic must be based on a natural logic of hand movement.  The whole problem of technical control is encountered in the first change of position on the violin.  If we violinists could play in but one position there would be no technical problem.  The solution of this problem means, speaking broadly, the ability to play the violin—­for there is only one way of playing it—­with a real, full, singing ‘violin’ tone.  It’s not a question of a method, but just a process based on pure reason, the working out of rational principles.

[Footnote A:  This is the idea which underlies my system for ear-training and absolute pitch, “Arthur Hartmann’s System,” as I call it, which I have published.  A.H.]

“What is the secret of this singing tone?  Well, you may call it a secret, for many of my pupils have no inkling of it when they first come here, though it seems very much of an ‘open secret’ to me.  The finished beauty of the violin ‘voice’ is a round, sustained, absolutely smooth cantabile tone.  Now [Mr. Hartmann took up his Strad], I’ll play you the scale of G as the average violin student plays it.  You see—­each slide from one tone to the next, a break—­a rosary of lurches!  How can there be a round, harmonious tone when the fingers progress by jerks?  Shifting position must not be a continuous movement of effort, but a continuous movement in which effort and relaxation—­that of dead weight—­alternate.  As an illustration, when we walk we do not consciously set down one foot, and then swing forward the other foot and leg with a jerk.  The forward movement is smooth, unconscious, coordinated:  in putting the foot forward it carries the weight of the entire body, the movement becomes a matter of instinct.  And the same applies to the progression of the fingers in shifting the position of the hand.  Now, playing the scale as I now do—­only two fingers should be used—­