Transcript
Let’s talk a little bit about finger strike. And what that is, is on the left hand when you’re playing the violin with your fingers, there’s different ways to put your fingers down.
It’s important at some point to learn about articulation. And what that means is the clearness that the note strikes the instrument. So, in order to get a really nice strike of the fingers on the left hand, it’s important to practice different kinds of exercises.
There’s a great book, etude book, called Schradieck, and in that book, there’s a very popular etude like this. Now, the trick is to make the fingers go down quickly and to raise up quickly. So, I’m going to give you an example of, you know, a very mushy, non-articulate stroke. That sounds mushy, it doesn’t sound clear and it’s because the finger is going down too slowly. It’s not so much about how hard it goes down, it’s more about how quickly it goes down. It can go down very light, but it has to be quick. So, listen to this one.
If you do this exercise enough, you will build a lot of finger strength and over time your fingers will get stronger and more accurate and articulate and it’s great to practice in your pieces. Fast passages that need to be clear would need this and so, you practice the fast passages slowly with the fast strike and then build the tempo a little bit and see some good results. So, that’s a little bit about finger strike.
