TONE PRODUCTION:  RHYTHM

“In one sense true violin mastery is a question of tone production and rhythm.  And I believe that tone production depends principally upon the imaginative ear of the player.  This statement may seem somewhat ambiguous, and one might ask, ‘What is an imaginative ear?’ My ear, for instance, demands of my violin a certain quality of tone, which varies according to the music I am playing.  But before I think of playing the music, I already know from reading it what I want it to sound like:  that is to say, the quality of the tone I wish to secure in each principal phrase.  Rhythm is perhaps the greatest factor in interpretation.  Every good musician has a ‘good sense of rhythm’ (that much abused phrase).  But it is only the great musician who makes so striking and individual an application of rhythm that his playing may be easily distinguished by his use of it.

“There is not much to tell you as regards my method of work.  I usually work directly upon a program which has been previously mapped out.  If I have been away from my violin for more than a week or two I begin by practicing scales, but ordinarily I find my technical work in the programs I am preparing.”

Asked about his band experiences at Camp Upton, Sergeant Hochstein was enthusiastic.  “No violinist could help but gain much from work with a military band at one of the camps,” he said.  “For instance, I had a more or less theoretical knowledge of wind instruments before I went to Camp Upton.  Now I have a practical working knowledge of them.  I have already scored a little violin composition of mine, a ‘Minuet in Olden Style’ for full band, and have found it possible by the right manipulation to preserve its original dainty and graceful character, in spite of the fact that it is played by more than forty military bandsmen.

“Then, too,” he said in conclusion, “I have organized a real orchestra of twenty-one players, strings, brass, wood-wind, etc., which I hope is going to be of real use on the other side during our training period in France.  You see, ‘over there’ the soldier boys’ chances for leave are limited and we will have to depend a good deal on our own selves for amusement and recreation.  I hope and believe my orchestra is not only going to take its place as one of the most enjoyable features of our army life; but also that it will make propaganda of the right sort for the best music in a broad, catholic sense of the word!”

It is interesting to know that this patriotic young officer found opportunities in camp and in the towns of France of carrying out his wish to “make propaganda of the right sort for the best music” before he gave his life to further the greater purpose which had called him overseas.

IX

FRITZ KREISLER

PERSONALITY IN ART