CHATS TO 'CELLO STUDENTS.
PRINTED BY E. SHORE AND CO.,
3 GREEN TERRACE, ROSEBERY AVENUE, LONDON, E.C.
[Illustration: ARTHUR BROADLEY.]
_"THE STRAD" LIBRARY. No. VII._
CHATS TO 'CELLO STUDENTS
BY
ARTHUR BROADLEY
COPYRIGHT.
London:
"THE STRAD" OFFICE, 3, GREEN TERRACE, ROSEBERY AVENUE, E.C.
E. DONAJOWSKI, 26, CASTLE STREET, BERNERS STREET, W.
D. R. DUNCAN, 186, FLEET STREET, E.C.
1899
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.--Preliminary Remarks--'Cello Difficult to
Master--Choice of a Teacher--Choice of an Instrument and Bow 1
CHAPTER II.--How to Hold the Instrument--Attitude of the
Player--Use of a Sliding Pin Recommended--Correct Way of
Holding the Bow--Some Incorrect Sketches of Same 6
CHAPTER III.--General Knowledge--Eccentricity not Necessarily a
Mark of Genius--Musical Notation--Common Errors with Respect
to the Actual Position of the Various Clefs--Tenor Clef
Indispensable to the 'Cellist 12
CHAPTER IV.--Early Attempts at 'Cello Playing--Firmness in
Fingering--The Left Hand--Correct Method of Placing the Left
Hand Fingers 17
CHAPTER V.--General Remarks on Bowing--Useful Method of
Combining Scale Practice with Study of Various
Bowings--Smooth Bowings--Crescendo--Diminuendo--The Slur 20
CHAPTER VI.--Bowing Continued--Martelé--Detached Stroke--Mixed
Bowings--The Various Divisions of the Bow 28
CHAPTER VII.--On "Staccato" Bowing--Spiccato--Slurred
Springing-Bow--Varieties of Phrasing Occasioned by the
Portion of Bow Used--Sautillé--Dotted Notes 33
CHAPTER VIII.--On the Positions--The Individual Requirements of
the Orchestral Player and Soloist--The Necessity of
"Stretching" for the Intervals--The Locality of the Neck
Positions--The Enharmonic Difference of Sharp and Flat
Keys--Absolute Pitch--How to Leap any Awkward Interval--The
Positions not Determined by Mathematical Rules, but by the
"Ear"--Shifting--"Economy of Motion" _v._ "Effect"--Choice
of Positions 42
CHAPTER IX.--Portamento--The Various Uses of Gilding--Some
Exaggerations Exposed--How to Leap Great Intervals without
"Howling"--Combination of Glissando and Sforzando 54
CHAPTER X.--Double-Stopping--Useful in Developing the Hand--How
to Determine the Fingering of Various Intervals--Gliding in
Double Stops--Chords--A Correct Manner of Playing Chords 61
CHAPTER XI.--Arpeggios--Their Evolution from Various
Chords--The Bowing of Arpeggios 67
CHAPTER XII.--Graces and Embellishments--The Use of the
Thumb--Extensions--Octaves 73
CHAPTER XIII.--Scientific Basis of Harmonics--Some Peculiar
Laws which Govern a Vibrating String--"Natural" and
"Artificial" Harmonics--Manner of Bowing Harmonics82
CHAPTER XIV.--Special Effects--"Trick Staccato"--Various
Methods of Producing Chromatic Scale Passages--"Sul
Ponticello" Bowing and "Bowed"
Harmonics--Flautando--Pizzicato Glide and Grace Notes! 89
CHAPTER XV.--Delivery--Style--"Form" _v._
"Feeling"--Conception--Essentials of a "Fine"
Delivery--Orchestral Playing 94
PREFACE.
In introducing this little work on Violoncello Playing, a few words
of thanks and explanation are perhaps necessary. My thanks are due to
the professional friends, and students--and also to others with whom
I am not personally acquainted, who have spoken or written concerning
the benefit they have derived from the study of the "Chats" during the
serial "run" in THE STRAD. It is a great pleasure to find that
through the perusal of these crude literary efforts, some few have
derived pleasure or assistance--that some difficulty has been made
easier of mastery.
An explanation will assist any who fail to realize the limitations and
intentions of a work of this description. In the first place it is
impossible to thoroughly exhaust the whole science and art of 'cello
technique and 'cello playing; recognising this, it has been my aim to
draw on my own experience as a teacher of the instrument, rather than
follow in the trail of any existing work. With respect to the intentions
of the work, nothing can equal _viva-voce_ instruction and the personal
supervision of a good master, but it is to be feared that many who are
really talented cannot afford lessons from anyone who is thoroughly
capable of directing their studies--it is this class of player who will
derive the most benefit from a conscientious study of the ensuing pages;
may the instructions contained therein, direct and stimulate him to that
which is good and artistic.
ARTHUR BROADLEY.
BRADFORD, YORKS.,
_January, 1899_.
CHATS TO 'CELLO STUDENTS
CHAPTER I.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS--THE 'CELLO DIFFICULT TO MASTER--THE CHOICE OF A
TEACHER--CHOICE OF AN INSTRUMENT AND BOW.
Several works of more or less excellence have already been written on
the violoncello and its study. It is all the more difficult then to
write a work treating on the whole subject of 'cello playing, without
in some measure going over the ground that has already been covered by
previous writers. As I have found, however, that certain branches of
this interesting study have received but scant treatment, and in some
cases have even been completely ignored, I have directed my special
attention to these subjects; thus, much that has been passed over in
existing works will be found to have here received due treatment.
Throughout the whole of the present work, I have endeavoured to clothe
the matter in as original a manner as possible, and putting aside all
stereotyped phrases, have tried to write in the same language that I
would express myself in to a pupil having a course of actual lessons.
If by so doing, anything that the student may have passed over as being
unimportant, now forces itself upon him, my aim will be accomplished.
In various parts of the work I have endeavoured to introduce the reader
to some of the higher branches of 'cello playing, as far as it is
possible through the medium of literature, but it must be understood
that any treatise on the higher branches of music can only be of a
general character, the laws which govern musical expression, or those in
connection with the delivery of a musical composition are so fugitive,
and players vary so much in the observation, or disregard of them,
according to their individual temperament, etc., that to give any hard
and fast rules would only be to put fetters on all individuality.
If the student is really musical he will obtain the best results in
this direction, by hearing our first class artists interpret the works
of the great masters: by thus bringing his faculties of observation and
imitation into use, he will gradually absorb some of their style, which
in due time will assert itself in his own performance.
THE 'CELLO A DIFFICULT INSTRUMENT TO MASTER.
If the reader has already commenced the study of the 'cello, it will be
advisable for either his parents or himself to make direct enquiries
of his professor, whether the latter thinks the pupil is sufficiently
gifted to continue the study of this most difficult instrument. Of
course every 'cello player cannot be a Becker or a Klengel, but unless
the student has a very correct ear, and if he is old enough a fair
amount of ambition, it would be better for him to study some less
exacting instrument; that is if he feels compelled to learn something.
The piano is generally supposed to be the fallback classical instrument,
but I would not recommend this, we have quite enough piano playing of
the second and third and the atrocious order, without violin and 'cello
cast-offs trying their hand at it. I do not know of a more pathetic
sight, than to see a youth with no musical gifts whatever, wasting the
best years of his life, and his--or his parents'--money, in the study of
an instrument for which he has no natural capabilities.
Perseverance, although a very estimable gift, never yet by itself made
an artist, the real artist is an artist because it is impossible for
him to be anything else. Nevertheless if the pupil can feel assured
that he has a fairly fine ear, capable of easily distinguishing the
difference in musical pitch, and a natural feeling for rhythm, he will
be justified, providing he likes music almost better than anything else,
in taking up the study of an instrument, which for solo work ranks with
the violin for difficulties.
THE CHOICE OF A TEACHER.
The pupil is caused to suffer much inconvenience and perhaps even
spoiled altogether for any real artistic work, if his early studies
are not directed in an efficient manner. One smiles when one sees an
advertisement in a local morning paper after the following fashion. Mr.
----, Professor of Music. Lessons on Piano! Singing! Violin! 'Cello!
Guitar! and Zither! also French! and German! All one man, remember, not
half-a-dozen, and yet learned as he evidently is, I would not trust
him to show a pupil how to hold his bow correctly. If the student
resides in or near London, he will obtain better results, and in the
long run will find that it costs him less, to connect himself with one
of the recognised institutions, such as the Royal Academy of Music
or the Guildhall School of Music. To be recommended by one of these
institutions is to obtain the passport into the highest musical circles.
In the provinces the choice of a good 'cello teacher is not so great,
the reader will do well to remember that being a member of some fairly
well known orchestra, is not always a guarantee of excellence, sometimes
influence, or money, or perhaps both have been the means of obtaining
the coveted position. The student will do better then to have lessons
from someone who is known to be a master of his instrument, and if it
should happen that the teacher is a better player than an exponent of
the art of 'cello playing, if the student carefully watches his style,
and hears him play often, he will at least learn how a composition ought
to be performed, even if he is compelled to find out for himself how
the mechanical part of its production is accomplished. I know one of
our first class teachers (violin) who seldom takes the instrument into
his hands during a lesson, contenting himself with verbal explanations;
this, unless the student is above the average standard of intelligence
can never be productive of really good results; practical demonstrations
generally being far more effective than mere talk. The pupil then must
see that his teacher can play the exercises which he teaches, and should
the teacher make any objection to exhibiting his skill in this fashion,
depend upon it that the lack of it has a great deal to do with it.
THE CHOICE OF AN INSTRUMENT AND BOW.
Do not let my reader imagine that in the present work I am going to
weary him with a long discourse on a matter which is so much controlled
by the length of the purse; I flatter myself, however, that the advice
will at least be sound. To those who can afford to buy a real genuine
Cremona of good name, I have nothing whatever to say; if they can afford
this, they can, or ought for their own satisfaction and safety, to pay
for professional advice as to the real merit of their purchase. It is
to the readers with a limited amount of spare capital that I wish to
address myself, and I would tell them that there are a lot of fairly
old instruments either German or French copies of one or other of the
early Italian School, that will be found quite good enough for solos.
These instruments may have individual faults and weaknesses, but the
player will gradually find these out and learn to humour them. Of the
old English instruments I would advise the reader to beware, a lot of
them although of good wood and passable varnish, yet manage to have
some more or less irreparable fault not readily discernible at first
sight. An instrument of this class I have in mind, a beautiful 'cello
spoiled with the _f_ holes being cut about half their length too low,
making it impossible to play a forte passage on the A string owing to
the bow coming in contact with the lower corners; so that this would not
be readily noticed a fingerboard had been fitted, which was about three
inches longer than is usual. Others are thin in the wood, causing wolf
notes in various positions. These latter remarks refer more particularly
to nameless old English instruments of the home-made type, and of
course do not apply to the best work of such makers as Forster, Banks,
Thompson, Joseph Hill, etc., many specimens of which have a particularly
fine tone.
To the young player buying an instrument for life, if upwards of £15 can
be given it is far better to purchase an entirely new one of good make,
of a model suited to the individual taste of the student; by the time
he has worked some ten or a dozen years on it he will have brought out
most of the beauties of tone which the instrument is capable of giving.
A really good new instrument improves more rapidly than is generally
admitted--with good hard exercise work in all the positions.
In choosing a bow Dodd and Tourte are names to conjure with, but happily
there are no lost "secrets" in the art of bow making, and fortunately a
new bow after a few weeks use is better than an old one, therefore the
craze for old bows except with collectors and rich amateurs, will never
be so pronounced as is the case with old instruments. If the student can
pay say a couple of sovereigns, he must consider himself tricked if he
does not secure a bow good enough for any sort of work, and one which
will with care last for years.
I have lately come across some French bows without any name, retailed, I
believe, at about thirty shillings, which are very fine indeed, nice and
light with plenty of spring. Some recommend a second-hand bow, saying
that in buying one that has been used the faults, if any, will have made
their appearance, but as it is hardly possible to tell whether a bow
has been much used unless the stick is very badly worn, this is hardly
sound. Buy from a conscientious dealer, pay a fair price and trust to
it, that is all that can be done.