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This beautiful variation uses a siciliano rhythm and requires musical thought and planning. Make sure that the dotted rhythm is ‘dotted enough’ to give the melody a graceful lilt. Pay attention to Sevcik’s markings for bow division which take us through all parts of the… Read More »Variation 9
Ševčík’s directions indicate that for most bars we move through the bow from the upper half to the lower half during the three-note dotted rhythm. The 1st note uses approximately half a bow, the 2nd note uses about a quarter of a bow, and the… Read More »Variation 9 – Zigzag bowing
We use recovery strokes all the time to ensure that we are using the most effective part of the bow with the right bow speed and bow division. The example here is ‘Allemande’ from Bach’s Partita No.2 in D minor, bars 4-5. We need to… Read More »Variation 9 – Recovery stroke, Bach Allemande
Special Offer for New Ševčík Variations Members Take your bowing to the next level &… — Login to View —
Otakar Ševčík (1852-1934) was a Czech violinist and pedagogue who had a great influence on the development of the technique of violin playing. His development of the semitone system marked a new approach to the development of left-hand technique and had a significant and lasting… Read More »Introduction to the Variations
Dindin Jingyi Wang studied in Melbourne for 6 years with Fintan Murphy before moving in 2019 to the USA to study with Margaret Batjer at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, where she was a Kohl scholar. Dindin was a member of the Melbourne String Ensemble… Read More »The Players
Twofold Media was founded by Simon Veitch and Frances Gall in 1996 to produce and publish violin teaching materials in multimedia format. They first published ‘Violin Magic’ by Robert Wakely of Melbourne on CDROM to present violin pedagogy in video with text, a new development… Read More »Twofold Media
Born in Melbourne, Fintan completed further study in Cologne with Helfried Fister, Christoph Poppen and the Amadeus quartet. He completed his Masters degree with Robert Gerle in Washington, D.C. A member of the Melbourne Symphony for many years, Fintan now performs as a recitalist and… Read More »Fintan Murphy
Practice this theme making clear the direction of your musical line and dynamic range. Work… — Login to View —
Using a gradual string-crossing action allows for a more sustained sound. Slow down the action… — Login to View —
In this variation you need to work towards making a resonant sound in the lower… — Login to View —
Here we see how the hand and finger movement (supported by arm movement) allows the… — Login to View —
It is often useful to examine the basic movements of violin playing away from the… — Login to View —
Spiccato is an important bow stroke and can be learnt as soon as the détaché… — Login to View —
Spiccato is a good stroke to introduce relatively early to the young student as it… — Login to View —
The outer triangle or ‘frame’ of the bow hand, consisting of 1st finger, 4th finger… — Login to View —
This variation requires you to play some notes on the string and some off the… — Login to View —
The ability to play repeated up or down bows at the heel of the bow… — Login to View —
Observe Ševčík’s careful bow division and articulation markings, especially the use of the whole bow… — Login to View —
The ability to switch between playing on the string to playing off the string is… — Login to View —
Notice how when playing spiccato: the bow stays close to the string. the down bow… — Login to View —
This variation uses a similar bow division pattern to No 5. To ensure good coordination… — Login to View —
Ševčík marks this variation’s tempo as 1/4 note = 132, to be played at the… — Login to View —
When playing around the balance point or frog of the bow it is important that… — Login to View —