The Secrets of Tone Production Part 4: Final Fundamental Tone Exercises
with Simon Fischer
- Sample Lesson Free
- Exercise four - the speed exercise
- Explanation and demonstration of exercise four
- Difference between the speed and pressure exercises
- Evenness: Sustaining between stages
- Variation: Using less bow on exercise four
- Exercise five - Changing soundpoint
- Warm to exercise five: Drifting the bow
- Explanation and demonstration of exercise five
- Playing exercise five with a straight bow
- Get to the bridge before you change the angle
- Not increasing energy in the bow speed
- Combinations
- Introduction to Combinations
- Alternative approach to Exercise one
- Exercise six: Speed exercise + Pressure exercise
- Exercise seven: Speed exercise + Changing soundpoint
- Exercise eight: Pressure exercise + Sounding soundpoint
- Exercise nine: Same weight, increasing speed
- Exercise ten: Same speed, increasing weight
- Conclusion
Lesson plan (1h 15m)
Renowned violinist and string pedagogue Simon Fischer reveals the five fundamental tone exercises for string players, in a course based on his acclaimed DVD 'The Secrets of Tone Production'.
The exercises and principles Simon breaks-down in this course have been taught by the greatest teachers over the last 250 years, and practised by the greatest players. Names like Lucien Capet, Ivan Galamian, Dorothy DeLay and Pablo Casals. Leopold Mozart taught at least one of these exercises, and it's therefore likely that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart used it too.
If applied correctly these exercises can radically improve tone production on any bowed string instrument, including baroque instruments. But they are so simple that any string musician can benefit from them.
The smallest amount of work on these simple exercises brings immediate results. Practice them yourself or teach them to your students to see how quickly tone is transformed.
This course completes the Five Fundamental Tone Exercises, detailing exercises four and five over an hour of explanation and insight.
If you want more of Simon's insights, there are ten minutes of bonus exercises available on DVD only. The DVD can be purchased here.
Music featured in intro: Brahms Vioin Sonatas, performed by Simon and Raymond Fischer. CD available here.
Part 4 of a 4-part course, click here for Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.