Three Movements: Maximum Efficiency in Left Hand Technique on the Violin and Viola

Thirty-three years of playing the violin — experimenting, studying, observing, and performing — brought me to a simple conclusion: There are only three types of left hand technique.

1. Vertical movements (lifting/pressing fingers on the string without shifting — e.g. trills)

2. Horizontal movements (shifting)

3. Hand frames (chords)

That's it.

And the fastest way to improve your left hand technique is to practice each movement meticulously, without combining it with another.

Even at our best, our attention is limited. And so practicing two movements or more dilutes our focus and places a limit on how "masterful" each movement can become. (That's why I don't like scales, which combine vertical and horizontal movements unevenly. I'll get more into the subject of scales in another post.)

And each movement needs to be practiced according to three guiding principles:

• Lightness

• Comfort

• Efficiency

  
  

Vertical movements (1)

Once the string is pressed down enough not to produce a harmonic, there's no need to press harder.

One needs to train both the fingers and the mind to sense the vertical distance between barely touching the string (playing harmonics) and pressing it down (to play a regular note).

If you completely relax your left hand while holding the violin, you'll notice that the palm is gently closed and the tips of the fingers are touching the strings.

This means we don't need to spend energy bringing the fingers down to the strings.

We only need to do two things:

A. Lift the fingers only high enough not to touch the strings. Either electrically (snappy fingers during a fast passage) or slowly and musically (during lyrical passages)

B. Gently press them down just enough not to produce a harmonic.

For snappy finger lifts (A) (essential in fast slurred passages, where the left hand needs to be articulated), the great violin pedagogue Mauricio Fuks' words come to mind: "It's like touching a hot potato." To quickly and lightly lift a finger (or several) the moment it touches the string — the hot potato.

This is easier to do with all four fingers at once. You can try it with your thumb: slowly approach one fingertip toward the tip of the left thumb, and the moment they come into contact, snap the finger back very, very lightly.

To train your left fingers to press the string down efficiently (B), you need to spend time playing anything — exercise or piece — either in harmonics (placing the fingers on the strings while barely touching them) or half-pressing the strings down.

This is when we need to truly ignore how it sounds and focus instead on comfort, lightness, and the fascinating fluctuations in pitch — intonation.

The focus in this kind of work is selective: Pitch/touch, yes; Tone, no.

Noticing, experiencing, feeling the subtle fluctuations of pitch that come from varying finger pressure is one of the best things you can do for your left hand technique.

Horizontal movements (2)

Before shifting, one first needs to slightly release the left finger so that it can produce a harmonic, then slide lightly and smoothly to the destination, then gently press down. (You can see that there is a vertical movement component hidden inside shifting.)

"Legato is in the fingering." (Mauricio Fuks)

Each shift is comprised of three stages:

Release ⇒ Slide ⇒ Settle

Practicing shifts as a one-stage movement instead of three is not a shortcut. It's a longcut.

As is often the case, the seemingly quickest way is the longest way.

The sliding part of the shift needs to happen in a way similar to a NYC subway train: slow departure, gaining speed in the middle, and slowing down before arrival.

Working on one single shift and making it smooth, efficient, accurate, "perfect" will benefit your technique more than practicing ten shifts in a way that's merely "good enough".

"Don't think of positions, think of distances. Play like an octopus, not like a frog." (Mauricio Fuks)

Hand frames, chords, double stops (3)

This is the most complex movement, mainly because of the sheer number of possibilities.

One quickly notices that there is here a new type of horizontal movement: instead of sliding on one string, fingers move from one string to another.

This specific movement is best practiced with the tips of the left fingers remaining in gentle contact with the strings, almost as if playing harmonics.

Here, the physiology of the left hand and arm is especially important. The pinky, for example, is not a strong finger, and so should not bear as much weight as the index or middle fingers.

In general, when playing an awkward chord or double-stop, it's best to first place the stronger finger, then the weaker. This is because the first finger you place tends to carry more weight than the others.

Also, since the position of the left thumb and elbow does not change the pitch (but fingers do), the thumb and elbow are subservient to the fingertips.

First place the fingers, then move your thumb around freely and let it settle where it wants to go. The same applies to the elbow.

There is a fourth component of left hand technique, although it's not a type of movement. It's something essential to all three techniques. It's a quality of movement. And it's the most important aspect of left hand technique that I know of.

Sensory affection.

Notice how you hold a puppy differently from a wrench.

Notice how you shake hands differently with different people.

The nervous system is not mechanical. We are not machines. Feelings matter.

And so this is the secret ingredient to all left hand violin and viola technique: each contact with the instrument needs to be affectionate, caring, thoughtful, loving. Not mechanical. It has to be felt.

It's a gift to be playing an instrument that has remained essentially unchanged since the middle of the sixteenth century. Innovations were tried, but perfection was reached almost half a millennium ago (with Andrea Amati).

One needs to see the violin as a good friend who's always there for you.

Sure, it has its moods, depending on the weather, humidity, and temperature.

But that is something truly worth celebrating.

Because it reminds us that it is alive.

"How do you fall in love with something? You spend time with it. Take your time." (Mauricio Fuks)