Taught by renowned violinist
Grigory Kalinovsky
In this course, acclaimed violinist and educator Grigory Kalinovsky takes on the basic concepts of playing the violin regarding the left-hand technique. Kalinovsky discusses different fundamental concepts to create an adaptable and independent left hand.
Left-Hand Fundamentals
One of Kalinovsky’s most important ideas is isolating wrist muscles from fingers. Kalinovsky demonstrates how to play with a free wrist, creating articulation that comes from two concepts: impulse speed and release speed. In this lesson, he shares several exercises to help establish essential flexibility and freedom of the left hand.
Shifting and Sliding
Moving the hand with minimal friction while feeling every shift as a relaxed arm rotation is a core idea in the art of shifting. Kalinovsky shares shifting and sliding exercises such as rotating the arm and fingers, sliding to new fingers, and shifting while changing bows and provides advice on hiding the slide sound and utilizing the metronome as a shifting exercise tool.
Vibrato
Kalinovsky thinks of vibrato as a rhythmic bending of pitch downwards. In this lesson, he discusses the free motion of fingers, the free movement of the wrist, and how to create a continuous vibrato. In addition, Kalinovsky highlights the importance of choosing a type and amount of vibrato to serve a musical purpose.
Double Stops
Kalinovsky prefers thinking about double stops as shapes instead of as individual notes. He provides exercises to increase the confidence in the hand, find a correct thumb position, and know where the shapes are before playing. He demonstrates methods to practice chords and octaves while applying them to standard repertoire.
Bonus: Thumb Position
In this lesson, Kalinovsky explains the different thumb positions and how to establish and choose them, considering the music and desired sound.
Bonus: Trills
Kalinovsky shares how to create a relaxed, fast trill by keeping a flexible wrist, avoiding pressing down with the lower finger, and thinking about the trill as being away from the string rather than into it.
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Unlock Course →Grigory Kalinovsky is a violinist and an educator, currently on the faculty at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Professor Kalinovsky is notable for his ergonomic approach to violin technique and has written articles for Strings Magazine, Strad Magazine, and gave a lecture at 2017 American String Teachers Association Annual Conference, titled “Taming Tension.”
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