#tonalization

A nice sharing on violin bowing by Zlata (violinlounge.com) but I believe this will benefit all strings players ^^

You want to make a nice full sound... so you use more bow... but it doesn't work. If you are cooking a tasty dinner... than don't just use salt to make it tasty! To make a tasty dinner you should use several herbs and experiment with using them. (I know nothing about cooking, so it's a wild guess) In this video I will discuss what you can change in your bowing to create rich and warm tone. Season your tone with the following ingredients:

bow straight, not sloppy

use of bow hair (don't be afraid to use it all!)

weight of your arm (no pressure!)

speed and width of bowing

place of your bow on the string

Teaching tone on the violin is the SINGLE most important aspect in playing to a beginning child. Here are my writings on Suzuki's philosophy and teaching points on tone with "tonalization."

Suzuki and Tonalization

History:

  Dr. Suzuki coined the word “tonalization” from the word “vocalization.” Vocalists use these exercises to warm up their voices to produce a good sound. The same idea goes for developing good tone on a violin. Suzuki believed that tone is the single most important thing to first teach and develop above all other things. Suzuki used to wake up at 5 am and listen to the recordings of Kreisler as he admired his great sound. He considered Kreisler as his teacher in good tone and always referred to him in his teaching about tone. He talks about playing on the Kreisler highway to get the best sound (in the middle between the bridge and fingerboard). Suzuki supplemented his books by using a lot of Kreisler pieces. He also wrote “Prelude and Berceuse” as it was a good piece for himself to play for the children to showcase good tone. It can take years for a child to good tone.

Suzuki in the earlier books uses open strings instead of the 4th finger. He saves this until later books because he wants students to get used to listening and having a good open string sound. Perfect intervals must be tuned to the open strings and compared for intonation purposes. Review is very important for developing good tone. When you are in a higher-level book, a child should always review a piece from a previous book. For example, a child in book 4 should now play with a better tone than when they were in book 2. EX: Reviewing Chorus from Judas Maccabeus; that child should play it at a book 4 tone level. They will be able to play these reviewed pieces from earlier books with a better tone. On the next page is a list of exercises on ways of teaching how to produce a good tone.

  Exercises:

  ·      Use Suzuki’s book on “Tonalization”

·      Pluck an open string as that is the purist ringing sound you can get. Then play the same open string you plucked with a whole bow to match the ringing sound.

·      Tonalization exercises in his Tonaliziation book and written all throughout the earlier books. Starts in G major and then do it in G minor to listen to the ringing notes.

·      Suzuki says each note’s tone should sound like an open string.

·      Always listen to the ringing tones (13 points of resonance on a violin in 1st position).

·      A Suzuki exercise on muscle memory. EX: Playing 3rd finger D on the A string, then putting the hand down, and placing it back up to see if you can remember where that note is. Do this to get the ringing tone with the whole bow as well.

·      Simple exercise before beginning a lesson is long tones on open D and G strings to focus on nice bow changes, ringing tones, and feeling arm weight transfer.

Teaching tone on the violin is the SINGLE most important aspect in playing to a beginning child. Here are my writings on Suzuki's philosophy and teaching points on tone with "tonalization."

Suzuki and Tonalization

History:

  Dr. Suzuki coined the word “tonalization” from the word “vocalization.” Vocalists use these exercises to warm up their voices to produce a good sound. The same idea goes for developing good tone on a violin. Suzuki believed that tone is the single most important thing to first teach and develop above all other things. Suzuki used to wake up at 5 am and listen to the recordings of Kreisler as he admired his great sound. He considered Kreisler as his teacher in good tone and always referred to him in his teaching about tone. He talks about playing on the Kreisler highway to get the best sound (in the middle between the bridge and fingerboard). He supplemented his books by using a lot of Kreisler pieces. Suzuki also wrote “Prelude and Berceuse” as it was a good piece for himself to play for the children to showcase good tone. It can take years for a child to good tone.

Suzuki in the earlier books uses open strings instead of the 4th finger. He saves this until later books because he wants students to get used to listening and having a good open string sound. Perfect intervals must be tuned to the open strings and compared for intonation purposes. Review is very important for developing good tone. When you are in a higher-level book, a child should always review a piece from a previous book. For example, a child in book 4 should now play with a better tone than when they were in book 2. EX: Reviewing Chorus from Judas Maccabeus; that child should play it at a book 4 tone level. They will be able to play these reviewed pieces from earlier books with a better tone. On the next page is a list of exercises on ways of teaching how to produce a good tone.

  Exercises:

  ·      Use Suzuki’s book on “Tonalization”

·      Pluck an open string as that is the purist ringing sound you can get. Then play the same open string you plucked with a whole bow to match the ringing sound.

·      Tonalization exercises in his Tonaliziation book and written all throughout the earlier books. Starts in G major and then do it in G minor to listen to the ringing notes.

·      Suzuki says each note’s tone should sound like an open string.

·      Always listen to the ringing tones (13 points of resonance on a violin in 1st position).

·      A Suzuki exercise on muscle memory. EX: Playing 3rd finger D on the A string, then putting the hand down, and placing it back up to see if you can remember where that note is. Do this to get the ringing tone with the whole bow as well.

·      Simple exercise before beginning a lesson is long tones on open D and G strings to focus on nice bow changes, ringing tones, and feeling arm weight transfer.