EXERCISE OUTLINE I. BALANCE / CLARITY OF LEFT HAND FINGERS - 6 Sequences **Use my "Interval Variations" PDF to create a more robust exercise. These 6 sequences can be practiced using any of the interval patterns (You'll see 17 total in 6 groups). Not only that, but you can mix and match interval patterns. For example, you can run through all 6 sequences alternating H-W-M3 and W-H-H. The possibilities are endless, and it allows you to focus on what is most challenging for YOU in a very robust way. **Add vibrato to the long notes, **Try playing all 16ths as 32nds for an extra challenge. II. INDEPENDENCE OF FINGERS THROUGH LATERAL MOTION - 7 Sequences III. SMOOTHNESS AND EVENNESS OF TONE IN STRING-CROSSINGS - 4 Sequences - 4 Bowing variations =============== TIMESTAMPS: 01:00 Selling my bow 02:06 DOUNIS Background / Approach 05:51 Op.23 Overview 06:34 == PART 1 DEMONSTRATION == 09:56 Part 1 Practice Tips: 10:00 Finger Articulation 11:05 Relaxing thumb, wrist, fingers 11:24 Adding Vibrato 12:39 Articulation + Rhythm 13:33 Continuous sound 14:00 Double the Rhythm 14:29 Less is More 15:30 Repeating / Building a Routine 16:14 My Interval Variations (check pdf!) 21:01 == PART 2 DEMONSTRATION == 23:09 Part 2 Practice Tips: 23:22 Grouping / Reflexes 23:59 == PART 3 DEMONSTRATION == 26:36 Part 3 Practice Tips: 26:50 Role of Wrist / Forearm and Minimal Motion 27:20 Separate Stroke and String Crossing 27:31 String Crossings - Frog vs Tip 28:15 Using Double Stops 29:22 String Crossing vs Sound Production 29:44 IN ACTION - BACH D MINOR PARTITA 31:41 Wrap-up
Super excited to try this today when I practice . 1) throw the fingers like the hammer of a piano . 2) check at each scale , thumb and wrist are relax 3) incorporate Vibrato on each first note , not squeezing violin and use top of finger
I feel like my improvement with the violin in the past six months has been exponential. I went from playing in an orchestra (ending due to covid) to playing in chamber groups. Playing with chamber groups has forced me to practice more since my playing is more exposed. At the same time I discovered your channel so the combination of intense practice, and your great videos, I’ve seen more growth in my musical ability than ever before. I’m going to start incorporating some of these exercises into my practice. I wish I’d had a teacher like you when I was studying in college.
I had a few problems the past few months,but After I found your channel, it helped me so much more. I've never seen anyone explain the book of fundamental technical studies so clearly nefore huge tnx
Daniel,.as an older retired beginner who has been practicing in my spare room for over a year due to the pandemic , you've been an inspiration . Lots to tell you but mainly just wish to say how invaluable your beautiful videos are and want to say a big thank you ..I take a small potion out of what i feel i need to learn next and try my best . Some day i hope to surprise everyone in my intergenerational orchestra when we can get together in Boca Raton ,Florida ..
I'm glad to see somebody finally mention "Fundamental Technical Studies". One thing to remember is that Dounis wants all his exercises to be played with vibrato and as expressively as possible. I know you get that, but showing it without that so much might lead people to not recognize that crucial part. I play the lateral exercises like that, and at half your tempo. These exercises are all great for developing a fourth finger vibrato and a continuous vibrato. They also make it natural to add a touch of vibrato to the last note of the groups in the Allemand :)
Yes definitely one should play with vibrato on as many notes as possible. I was playing it mostly senza vib in order to illustrate the basic underlying finger motions in the Dounis/Bach. If one tries to vibrate everything before achieving fluent finger articulation, it can lead to serious problems. But you’re right I should have just vibrated more :)
You are great and very generous in offering your teaching for free on RU-vid! I’m a beginner but I’m learning a lot from you. I’ve visited your website and read your CV. You will become one of the great legends of the line of violinists. Your videos will become a treasure of the future generations. Kudos! How I wish I have you as my personal teacher.
I find all of your content so very helpful. I took up this instrument last year. I played for a year in high school, but didn't keep it up. Now as an adult, it is infinitely more challenging however I will never give up on this. You have helped me stay focused and determined to work hard to achieve whatever stages of accomplishment lie ahead. I know that we never stop learning.
Эти упражнения бесподобны! До вас я об них никогда не слышала! Я уже долго ими занимаюсь с тех пор как первый раз посмотрела. Они подействовали сразу! Столько силы в пальцах прибавилось!
"I remember when the genius of this exercise first hit me. I was practicing the D minor partita of Bach ..." I find this very important. Without a strong connection to real repertoire, pure technical exercises repeated over a long period of time become a misleading torture and may also cause damage, at least for my young but advanced student (9). Balance and connection between exercises and repertoire is real artwork and challenging. Do we start our day with playing a random 3 octave scale? For long time we did. Now we start with repertoire, lets say with the D minor Partita from Bach and let the D minor scale come afterwards. "Can you hear the Allemanda within the scale?". "Play the scale as if it was part of Allemanda!". Enlightening: David Oistrakh started his day with a random Mozart Concerto, playing it slowly, articulated and without vibrato.
You are totally awesome ! You sharing with the world lot of Great stuff and explaining everything in details - with great logical structures - everything is veery profesional - your playing is high quality and your knowledge is top and you giving everything what you learned in your life to us for free - thats just showing your big personality - Big Respect Maestro !!!❤
Thank you, Daniel, for another great video!! Please, excuse my ignorance, but what's this piece you're playing at this home concert in the beginning of the video? Didn't recognize it. Also, thank you for putting Dounis back center stage. He absolutely deserves it. His trill exercises are part of my daily warm ups (that practice will change now ;-). And like in your exercises here, they go way beyond just drilling for trills. They are about hand framing, double stopping, rhythm (metronome required!), piano hammer mechanics etc. etc. And, like you recommend in these exercises here, you can vary them through all keys. Dounis must have been an impressive master of our instrument and personality. Thanks for reminding our community of him.
Thank you! Yes, I think Dounis still doesn’t have the recognition he deserves. Maybe it’s because many of his exercises are very difficult! The piece in the beginning is Chausson’s Poeme!
Thank you so much for this series - it is hugely helpful, and your explanations are absolutely clear. Its so helpful too to ahve the additional resources - e.g. the Dounis exercises in their written form. Now I will head over to Patreon!
Thank you so much for this, my teacher highly recommended this video to me. I'm currently working on my finger articulation, your tips really help a lot. I look forward to your future masterclasses.
thanks Daniel, good stuff. i'm trying it out also in other positions (since it's just a 4-note sequence it seems it can be done all over the neck) also this along w most violin technique is really nice to practice using your 'scroll on the shelf' tip you shared in vibrato video cheers!
Thank you for another excellent video, Daniel! I used the Dounis this morning as my warm up instead of Schradieck. It's so accessible. That third part is quite a tongue twister, though :)
Great! Make sure you play the 32nd VERY FAST, and the 16ths held back. Over-articulate on the 16ths and then see if the fast burst can be as articulate and controlled. Cheers :)
@@DanielKurganov I'm so grateful for the tips and the exercise. I'm finding that I'm getting a bit crampy in my hand, particularly exercise #1. Could this be a lack of release after articulating?
Nice to see someone 'drawing' the bow across the string rather than pressing. So few players realise that you need to practise crossing the string and then relaxing to prime the arm for moving sideways before actually playing. Most try both actions at the same time and the poor arm does not know which direction it is supposed to be travelling in! Only one criticism, so far, Daniel: When you are playing on 3/4 you reach the middle of the bow at the count of 2! In music, there being no zero the mid-point of the bow in three beats is about 2.5. In 4/4 it is 3 in 6/8 it is 4 etc. Beat 1 starts at the beginning of the bow stroke not, as in a ruler, at the end of the measure. The instruction to 'save the bow' is redundant if the bow stroke is measured out clearly, naturally and, of course, beautifully without any reference to a non-existent zero! This then entails no unnecessary speeding up and slowing down of the bow thus achieving a smooth and even tone throughout - sans accents!
Please make a video about tone development on the E string. There are a lot of resources that discuss sound point, weight, and bow speed, but I have not found one that applies that specifically to the E string, especially the b and above. My tone is thin and harsh, and I do not hear much progress after lots of experimentation the elements of the holy trinity of good tone. After viewing your exceptionally original and insightful vibrato series I think you could tackle tone on the E string very well.
Interesting .. about physical pains induced by violin i can tell i Am 77 , started 2 years ago learning violin i do yoga since 40 years and have absoluteli NO pain Yehudi Menuhin was absolutely right
Daniel Kurganov, Violinist hahaha. Falling apart? If you have inner ear problems that give you vertigo trere are easy exercises we were doing at school that help .. easy simples exercises 20 mts in the morning help same kind called. Exercises do heat ip muscles
I'm very grateful for let me know these marvelous exercises (as well as many others in your previous videos: Korguov, Ysaye, etc) which have entered in my own routine … and providing the pdfs. Thank you very much! I'd like to have something on Markov teaching…
Definitely -- it's a great little detour. It definitely puts the attention on some things that Schradieck doesn't address. It's a more nuanced exercise -- like a little laboratory.
this is awesome, Ive had Dounis on my list of studies but the notes said - fundamentals. I'm going to have to look more into it. my current study is laoureux and Whistler's preparing for kreutzer. I'm a 30 year old self taught violinist. I'm preparing the Bach adagio and Rode #1.
If I may say, you share a lot of good and useful insights, I can see you have an analytical mind, and to me is such a pity that you have to use such titles "secret/unknown" to catch more audience passing by. Your content is valid, you don't need anything else. Anyway I find odd that you didn't discuss in this video the point 3. of the "Directions for Practicing" of this book, which in my opinion, is the most important one: Keeping the "non-playing" finger, on the string, stable and relaxed. Quoting: "The playing finger should be placed on the string firmly, with a decided, non-quivering, independent and vigorous finger action. […] the fingers preceding the playing one should touch lightly, relaxed, the string on their respective tones. But do not forget to use the playing finger as vigorously as possible. This is an unbelievable practice for finger independence, balance and pressure awareness and it is, to me, the main point of these exercises, which I practice since several years now with great benefits.
Thanks for the advice. It’s hard to cover everything, and the video was already getting very long. I also have some slight disagreements with Dounis on finger placement/retention practices.
Thank you for a wealth of valuable insight on your channel! I would love to see a practice tutorial on the d minor partita. Would you consider making one?
The beauty of these is that you only to know 1 bar of each section, and the rest is just applying the algorithm to different string/positions. NEVER use music when practicing technique! Always memorize the section you're working on (could just be a few bars) so that all of your senses can be focused on harvesting useful information and feedback!
Hi! Excellent video, as always. I assume you are using the G, D and A strings from Aquila Corde. May I ask you which E string are you playing? Greetings!!! P.S .: Is the new shoulder rest comfortable? I've heard some people find it somewhat uncomfortable over the shoulder.
Thanks! Aquilla are so good! This was just when I put the set on (which you can tell by my intonation, haha). I quickly popped an E string due to a suboptimal knot, so I put my typical Pirastro Gold back on to film the video. I do recommend the entire Aquilla set though. Those strings taught me quite a bit!
Здравствуйте Даниель!С большим интересом смотрю Ваши видео.Много очень полезных советов,лайфхаков,рекомендаций,огромное спасибо Вам! У меня вопрос :как можно приобрести эти етюды?
First of all, thank you for the very helpful videos. I notice you're using gut string! They sound beautiful. Is there a particular reason why you're playing on them?
Hello, it would be good if you subtitles in Spanish with letters below what you speak, since there are people from different countries that we see it! Thank you!
I personally go for 440, but for a student (let's say beginner / young student) if he or she tunes to what they use in orchestra, that's the most convenient. It minimizes the amount of adjusting back and forth.
@@DanielKurganov what was the reason behind this choice? I don't understand the mix with E steel. I have 3 wounded gut, I never thought of playing on A unwounded.
@@TheCreate78 this was during the time when I was getting used to playing with gut strings. it was quite common to play with on wound gut + steel E, for example, the heifetz string set up and many other players of that era. In my case, I was easing into a full 19th century set up, which resulted in a new album that’s coming out in a month or two :-)
@@DanielKurganov Thank you. I've always been curious as to how great artists as yourself go about choosing an instrument. I'd love to know more about that process. Do you own other instruments?
@@patrickgodfrey6632 It's sometimes very random process! The most complicated part is actually the years of training one's ear and taste leading up to an actual search. Without that foundation and confidence, the search becomes very challenging and it's hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. About 8 years ago, I was searching for a new violin because the one I was borrowing had to be returned. A friend of mine had an instrument of Andrew Ryan's which I really loved. I knew after trying it that it was superior to all of the modern violins I had been trying. I got in touch with Andrew and the rest was history. So, the search was actually lengthy, going from shop to shop and trying many things. However, the final answer came randomly and was not complicated. So, your mileage will vary. The important thing is to try many violins, and if you can, spend a bit of time playing the greatest violins ever made, so that you can have a reference. I don't own other instruments, as it would be prohibitively expensive. High-level modern instruments can be $40-50,000 or more these days.
This is frustrating. I have the weakest 4th finger known to mankind. Been trying to practice this, as well as Schradieck, but it's so hard. My left arm hurts like hell, everytime.
When you practice Schradieck or Sevcik or any of those dexterity exercises, make sure that you have a checklist of "points of relaxation". Shoulder, forearm, wrist, palm, etc. Always keep those loose. They are not needed for an articulate pinky. These exercises are more about awareness than they are about strength per se. I think the Dounis is better than Schradieck for building the foundation of articulation and looseness of the arm. Schradieck is more straightforward and best used once the foundation is more self-sustaining.
@@DanielKurganov 😯 Ah, I see. I'll have to brainstorm my practice routine a little more , then. Thanks for the reply btw. I was not expecting it, at all 😄 there is only 1 advanced violin teacher in my town, and he gives me nothing in the way of technique lol just the good old " go practice! 👍" so I have to figure things out as I go. Your videos have been incredibly helpful!!!
Steven Gates gold-mounted bows by Grünke sell for ~$7000 (check Quinn violins online shop for example). I don’t need that much, so I’m accepting serious offers. Thank you!
