SOUNDPOST

LETTER of the MONTH

Should teachers consider the discipline of playing while seated?

AN EVEN FRESHER START

Alun Thomas has done upper string teachers and their pupils a great service with his article ‘A fresh start’ (December 2023), except for one glaring omission! Over the 60 years of my career with many fine string players in chamber music groups and chamber orchestras, it has often worried me that hosts of upper string players, especially those to whom good posture doesn’t come naturally, have never been taught how to play sitting well. Surely, unless one is a soloist, playing sitting down is the norm for both professionals and amateurs. Therefore, upper string teachers should sometimes give lessons with both of them sitting – unless of course they are able to recommend good Alexander Technique lessons for their pupils, if they are not such a teacher themselves.

Seated close to a high platform for an Amadeus Quartet concert in the 1970s, I’ll never forget Norbert Brainin leading a dramatic chord by transferring all his weight on to his feet while taking a large breath and my seeing a gap between the chair and his backside! The resultant chord, of course, conveyed all of its required intensity.

Cellists use their whole bodies to play unless they unfortunately block off from the waist down – a habit that in itself creates many tensions and often eventual pain in various parts of the upper body. Why don’t all upper string teachers include how their pupils should play ‘sitting up’ on their sitting bones, which enables their whole bodies to be well balanced and therefore free? Not one upper string player, be it ‘bowist’, or ‘left-handist’ (or even ‘ambidextrist’ for that matter!), with whom I’ve discussed this subject over the years, has ever said that their teachers had even mentioned how to play sitting!

Having been very influenced by Alexander Technique, Sally Swift, a teacher of Olympic riders in the US, wrote Centred Riding, an excellent book for the horse world. Inspired by this, I started to write Centred Cello Playing but was far too busy to continue with such a mammoth task. I do hope though that this could be done by someone, because Centred String Playing, based on Sally’s approach, could help so many students and more. (Even Centred Riding has helped many of my pupils to understand their bodies – both riding and cello playing need good rhythm, breathing and knees round/supporting the horse/cello!)

NICOLA ANDERSON Oundle, UK

AN INSTRUMENTAL DISCOVERY

Lorenzo Frignani’s article on Luigi Mozzani (‘Renaissance man’, December 2023) was a revelation, not only for its foray into the life of a luthier hitherto little-known outside Italy, but also for the nature of the instruments he made and played himself. Until now, I’d only ever come across the ‘lyre-guitar’ (right) as a passing mention in reference books, which always seemed to suggest it was a fad during the Napoleonic era that then died out. How amazing to discover it was a coveted instrument right into the 20th century, and indeed that there existed a thriving market for its music for so long. I’ve discovered a number of examples on YouTube, but I’d certainly love to attend a lyre-guitar performance in the future. Are there any such specialists performing in the US?

PAUL OLDRIDGE Reno, NV, US

VIOLINIST PHOTO GETTY. LYRE-GUITAR PHOTO COURTESY LORENZO FRIGNANI

IN DEFENCE OF SUZUKI

Over the last few years, The Strad has highlighted many fine violinists as the magazine’s cover stars: Rachel Barton Pine, Hilary Hahn, Sarah Chang, Chad Hoopes, Ray Chen, Nicola Benedetti, Julia Fischer, and most recently Randall Goosby. When they were little, all these wonderful violinists were Suzuki kids; listening, repeating and memorising before learning to read the music, and proud of it! Nonetheless, unfortunately we still see letters like the one in the October issue of The Strad.

The letter says: ‘For some children the Suzuki Method will be enough for them to play for fun and maybe join a community orchestra,’ and ‘the ABRSM has now stopped including Suzuki pieces in the exam books. This is because the violin students had not actually learnt to read musical notation but instead learnt the stupidly complicated pieces by listening to the pre-recorded CD.’

Tell that to our chosen new Suzuki recording artist, Hilary Hahn, who has written saying how grateful she is to Suzuki for her ability today to listen to the music first before reading it. Also, just for the record, in the 2024 syllabus the ABRSM does include two pieces from Suzuki Book 1, one from Book 2, two from Book 6 and two from Book 8.

While we appreciate the significant support The Strad has given to the Suzuki Method worldwide quite recently, it was such a pity to have to come across yet another letter like this from one of your readers.

HELEN BRUNNER Country director of Suzuki UK

Helen Brunner with Shinichi Suzuki

SUZUKI PHOTO HELEN BRUNNER

ONLINE COMMENT

In The Strad’s November 2023 issue’s Making Matters, Chris Sandvoss gave violists tips on how to find the best-fitting instrument. Our violist readers were eager to share their own experience with the often arduous task of finding a viola among so many differing sizes bitly.ws/32VRn KIMBERLY JOHNSON I just made the difficult decision to downsize from a 41.275cm viola to a 40cm. My shoulder just can’t handle the bigger size any more. I miss my bigger viola, but I don’t regret the decision to leave it.

ILANA TAPPER I had a 15¼-inch viola made for me last year, modelled on the viola I was borrowing, and I love it!

DAVID SWISS I think that the five-string will become the default instrument for most violin and viola players.