FREE DOUBLE STOPS FOR PDF

Rick Mooney | 40 pages | 01 Jun 1995 | Alfred Publishing Co., Inc. | 9780874877618 | English | United Kingdom - Wikipedia

This article is concerned uniquely with the left hand. To avoid or postpone reading this detailed analytical discussion and go straight to some practice material click here:. We are treating Chords and Double Stops together here because both require the highly developed skill of simultaneously operating different fingers on different strings. Playing chords and double-stops represents possibly the ultimate level of achievement for this skill. We can consider double stops as a preparatory step for chords. Whereas doublestops involve only two strings at a time, chords involve three or four strings so, Double Stops for Cello looking at chords, we will start with a discussion of double-stops. This is best illustrated with some examples. In spite of this however, our left hand is in fact playing double-stops all the time, as it is working simultaneously stopping on two adjacent strings. The second line of examples illustrates the opposite situation. Below, we have written out what our left hand is actually doing in each of the above examples:. Surprisingly often, it may be convenient to shift to a double-stop with our left hand even though there are no double-stops Double Stops for Cello the music yes, this is the definition of a Double Stops for Cello double-stop. This technique is especially useful when that rapid string crossing also involves an extension. This is best illustrated with some examples:. However, in broken double-stops — fortunately — we can choose what we want to do with the fingers which are not sounding. We have three possibilities:. Certainly, relaxing the fingers when they are not in use is an absolutely fundamental technical principle that will help keep our hand flexible, alive and responsive even in the fastest repetitive passages. Double-stops often make one good player sound like two bad players. Sometimes, even the very best composers are unaware of the technical difficulties they are creating when they write a passage in double stops. If there was a mathematical formula to calculate the level of difficulty, shifting in doublestops would not be the sum of the difficulties of the two simultaneous shifts to the single notes, nor would it be simply twice as difficult as shifting between single Double Stops for Cello, but rather it would be the square of all the combined single note shift difficulties! Passages that sound beautiful in the Double Stops for Cello imagination — and that would sound beautiful if played by two cellists — can be very awkward and thus easily sound awful when played in double stops by only one cellist. Here are some examples:. Even in chamber music pieces, with other instruments free to fill in the harmonies or play the duo line, he gives the cello some rather awkward Double Stops for Cello stops, guaranteed to make a lovely melody 10 times more difficult. In particularly difficult pieces, the solo-french players in symphony orchestras have an assistant to help them with the part. If each of the two soloists in this Concerto could likewise have an assistant to help out with the double-stops, this piece would probably sound a lot better, and would certainly be a lot more pleasurable to play, especially for a small-handed cellist. There are several reasons why it is that double-stops are so much more difficult than just the sum of the two simple single notes:. Significant extra tension is normally needed in the left hand to hold down two notes at the same time, especially when the distance between the two fingers is large. This creates problems for the vibrato and for the fine positioning needed to make a beautiful sound. This occurs much less on the than on the cello. On the violin, the distances are smaller. That is why many most of the original double-stops have been Double Stops for Cello from the transcriptions of violin music in their version for cello found on this site. If you have a big hand, or are very flexible, then you can play the cello more like a violin …… and you can put the double-stops back in! For this reason, even in the neck and intermediate regions where we would not normally need to use it we may prefer to use the thumb instead of a Double Stops for Cello finger and thus allow the hand to do vibrato as in the following examples:. This use of the thumb is especially useful for playing double-stopped minor third intervals across 2 strings requiring the major third stretch. Here the use of the thumb eliminates the need for the extended-back higher finger which is a real vibrato-killer. The third exception concerns double stops that involve an open string. Note however if the open string that is sounding is the higher string of the pair, even though this is not a double Double Stops for Cello and does not require extra hand tension, it does require certain uncomfortable modifications of hand and finger posture in the sense that we need to play more on the tips of the fingers in order to not interfere with touch the higher open string. Keyboard players and guitarists are used to playing several notes at the same time. They thus learn, almost automatically, to hear, think, play and memorise music both harmonically vertically and melodically horizontally. We string players, on the other hand, are principally horizontal, melodic thinkers because we spend such a large majority of our playing time just playing one voice one note at a time. Because of this, we can be quite weak at thinking and hearing harmonically. When we finally have one of our rare passages in doublestops, our ears can get a little lost amongst the two voices. Trying to distinguish between them and work out what to listen to can appear difficult but in fact is largely a question of practice and training. Surprisingly, even for cellists, used to playing the lower voices, our ears are normally attracted to the higher voice, especially in passages where the two voices move in parallel. We can confirm or disprove this by playing different scales in thirds and sixths in which Double Stops for Cello sing Double Stops for Cello of the voices and play the other. Usually it is easier to sing the top voice Double Stops for Cello the bottom voice. The following link opens up two pages of material exercises for working on this aural skill of voice separation:. But for a string player the situation is very different: playing and correcting two notes at the same time is much more than twice Double Stops for Cello difficult as playing one note. Hearing and tuning two notes at the same time — even in the same position without any shifting — is comparable to doing two different mathematical calculations, not one after the other, but at exactly the same time! And if we incorporate shifting into a double-stopped passage, the aural difficulties increase exponentially. When playing on only one string, we need to remove all the higher fingers in order to play a lower finger, but when playing on two strings at the same time, this is no longer the case. Suddenly, the possibilities of operating lifting Double Stops for Cello and off the string different fingers at the same time are multiplied exponentially and thus a whole new world of problems of finger coordination, independence and simultaneous finger placement opens up. Sometimes we might choose to shift more in a doublestop passage in order to avoid the need for the fingers to jump between strings. The Cossmann Double-Trill Finger Double Stops for Cello exercises found here are undoubtedly the best practice material for acquiring the skills of finger coordination and independence on two strings simultaneously. They are also excellent for developing strength and aural skills hearing and tuning two notes at the same time. Here you can find the same exercises in Thumb Position. The complexities of hearing and playing our doublestops means that they — as well as any large intervals which need to be heard harmonically rather than Double Stops for Cello — are also often particularly difficult to memorise. The cadenza from the Rococo Variations is another good example of the added difficulty of memorising chordal passages. Even in chamber music it may be possible to redistribute the notes among the different players to improve or Double Stops for Cello awkward double-stops — certainly pianists usually have a spare finger available to lighten Double Stops for Cello load and this can make the difference between pleasure and suffering …. In a totally transparent texture, where every tiny bit of out-of-tune playing can be heard immediately, Beethoven writes a series of low sustained doublestopped fifths F and C for the . Fifths are the hardest doublestop to play in-tune and the lower register is the hardest one in which to hear and tune our doublestops. This is absolutely nothing to be gained for a cello section by trying to play these as doublestops. In fact this passage is almost an IQ test for a section principal or Double Stops for Cello. They may be difficult to play and very ungrateful in performance, but double-stops are a wonderful tool for practicing. They develop, in an accelerated, concentrated and highly efficient way, many extremely useful skills, such as:. If we can play and shift on two notes quite well at Double Stops for Cello same time, then when we only have one note to play or shift onit will feel fantastically easy. Imagine a dancer who practices with weights attached to their arms and legs and a blindfold over one eye: when the weights and the blindfold are removed, everything feels easy. For example, compare the following two shifting exercises, one in double-stops and the other with single notes. The exercise in double stops is incomparably more efficient and useful. Consider the following example:. Doublestopped exercises in any one position with no shifts are magnificent for building strength, finger independance, finger coordination and for establishing perfect finger spacings. One of these many possibilities is shown here below. On the cellofun. Here below is an example of how these exercises are perfectly transposable into the Thumb Position. Nevertheless, we still use doublestopped exercises involving all the different possible two-string finger configurations as the basis for our left-hand technique in this region. The above exercises help enormously with our intonation in any one position but do not involve shifting. Doublestopped shifting exercises also greatly improve our intonation and our positional Double Stops for Cello on the . We can work up progressively to larger and Double Stops for Cello shifts. Doublestopped scales move stepwise and have no coordination problems because they are normally played Double Stops for Cello the samefinger shifts. The most pleasant intervals to use are thirds, sixths, octaves and perhaps even fourths. Chromatic scales move by the smallest interval semitones and have no changes of handframe. This is therefore a good place to start with our doublestopped shifting. Doublestopped Chromatic Scales. This reinforces both our hand strength and our sense of fingerboard geography. The following examples can be played on different pairs of strings and in different keys:. The above examples use stepwise shifts. These really make the cello ring Double Stops for Cello are excellent warmup exercises. Double stops can and should be practiced in the same way that pianists practice their two hands: separately. But while pianists practice each hand individually, we will practice each string individually. We can use three different graded preparatory levels of separation to work up progressively to the finished double stop passage. The next level of Double Stops for Cello is to play bow each string separately while also simultaneously but silently fingering the notes on the other string. Next, we can play them as broken double-stops, starting on both the top and bottom string successively, as in the Double Stops for Cello illustrations using a simple Double Stops for Cello in thirds. Broken double stops are undoubtedly the best, most painless, way to learn and work on double stopped passages. With broken double stops, there are also almost unlimited possibilities to create exercises for Bow Level Control string crossings on two strings. Sometimes in double-stops we will place both the fingers simultaneously. This is especially common when we have plenty of time to do so comfortably:. At other times however it may be helpful to place Double Stops for Cello two fingers at different times. This means that even though we are playing a double-stop with the bow, for the left hand we are converting the beginning of Double Stops for Cello double-stop into a broken double-stop. This can make double-stops much easier, as in the following examples. This is a good way to practice this little trick as it makes the anticipatory placement of Double Stops for Cello finger audible and thus much more deliberate. The Beginners Guide to Cello Double-stopping -

This site, like many others, uses small files called cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on this website Cookie Policy. However, if you would like to, you can change your cookie settings at any time. It is impossible to fake good double-stops. If there were a shortcut to playing difficult concertos without practising them, it would have been discovered a long time ago. Unfortunately there is not, and to play them well requires constant diligence. The way each of us fingers double-stops is very personal. Start by playing broken double-stops beginning on an up bow. This way the double-stop falls on a down bow, giving you slightly flatter Double Stops for Cello and making it easier to get a good sound. Play the key note for 3rds, the lower note; for 6ths, the upper note first, followed by the second note of the chord, then both together. When you are more confident, move to half-broken scales: play the first Double Stops for Cello alone, then add the second as a double-stop. Double Stops for Cello, practise the double-stops together, unbroken. In the lower register of the cello, most players use 4 —1 for every 3rd; they only finger the 3rds using the thumb higher up the fingerboard. The thumb is stronger than the fingers Double Stops for Cello can Double Stops for Cello be used to great effect in the lower positions. Traditionally cellists have an aversion to using the thumb below the halfway harmonic, but it is far stronger than the fingers. Exercise 1 uses the usual fingerings for 3rds. Playing the broken 3rds in exercise 2 will be difficult at first, but this fingering sounds cleaner than shifting both fingers for each 3rd. This should be practised very slowly at first, for absolute accuracy of intonation. Gradually increase the speed. Exercise 4 is excellent for developing left-hand accuracy, fluidity and shape. In example 1this F—A flat is often fingered using 4—1, but play Double Stops for Cello with 3—thumb instead. It is easier, particularly if you have small hands, and the sound will be stronger. In example 2the music can sound smudged if you Double Stops for Cello a 1— 4 fingering. Try semi-fingering it for a more legato effect and relaxed hand position. When playing 6ths in pieces, we need a different approach from when we are practising exercises. If we have to play a scale in 6ths high up the fingerboard, we usually hop across the strings using a succession of 2—3, 1—2 fingerings. This works fine on the violin, where the spaces are smaller and the strings closer together, but on the cello it can create a gap, which disturbs a good legato. In example 3I get around this problem by using a 1 on the lower note and alternating between 2 and 3 on the upper note. This means that I never have to jump Double Stops for Cello the strings, and it frees up the hand. Another example comes from the Walton Concerto, in the fourth bar of figure 4 in the first movement example 5. If you were playing a simple G minor scale in 6ths, you would use the fingering 3—2, 2—1, 3—2, but here you can keep your first finger on the D string so that a true legato with no jumps can be achieved. Do these both with standard fingerings and with the more experimental ones explored in this article. Double-stops are hard work, but they are vital for improving hand shape and intonation. Build them into your routine, alongside ordinary Double Stops for Cello scales and , diminished and dominant 7ths, and a study. Popper is particularly useful see box. React to each student individually. For example, if you see a G above middle C with a double-stopped lower note, try using different fingers rather than an automatic Double Stops for Cello finger. Bear in mind that the second and third fingers are the strongest, with the best balance; if playing 5ths, consider an alternative to barring across the strings with one finger, which produces too much tension. Encourage students to experiment and do what suits their body shape; help them to find out what makes the strongest sound. This article was first published in the June issue of The Strad. Emma Allingham, a music psychology researcher at the University of Hamburg, shares her insight into the psychology of music practice. Site powered by Webvision Cloud. Skip to main content Skip to navigation. Improve your playing. Double stopping on the cello: How to play passages of 3rds and 6ths with more fluidity. No comments. Related articles. Load more articles. No comments yet. You're not signed in. Only registered users can comment on this article. Sign in Register. More Improve your playing. Focus 6 ways to improve your Double Stops for Cello TZ. Extended Techniques for Cello by Craig Hultgren

In music, a double stop is the technique of playing two notes simultaneously on a stringed instrument such as a violina violaa celloor a . On instruments such as the Hardanger fiddle it is common and often employed. In performing Double Stops for Cello double stop, two separate strings are bowed or plucked simultaneously. Although the term itself suggests these strings are to be fingered stoppedin practice one or both strings Double Stops for Cello be open. A triple stop is the same technique applied to three Double Stops for Cello a quadruple stop applies to four strings. Double, triple, and quadruple stopping are collectively known as multiple stopping. Early extensive examples of the double-stop and string chords appear in Carlo Farina 's Capriccio Stravagante fromand in certain of the sonatas Double Stops for Cello Biagio Marini 's Op. On instruments with a curved bridgeit is difficult to bow more than two strings simultaneously. Early treatises make it clear that composers did not expect three notes to be played at once, even though the notes may be written in a way as to suggest this. Playing four notes at once is almost impossible. The normal way of playing three or four note chords is to sound the lower notes briefly and allow them to ring while the bow plays the Double Stops for Cello notes a broken chord. This gives the illusion of a true triple or quadruple stop. In fortehowever, it is possible to play three notes at once, especially when bowed toward the fingerboard. With this technique more pressure than usual is needed on the bowso this cannot be practiced in softer passages. This technique is mainly used in music with great force, such as the cadenza -like solo Double Stops for Cello the beginning of the last movement of Tchaikovsky's . The "Bach bow" with its Double Stops for Cello back uses a system of levers to slacken or tighten bow hair immediately while playing so as to according to its advocates facilitate the performance of polyphonic music. InGerman cellist Michael Bach invented a curved bow for cello, violin, and bass. Bogen" Double Stops for Cello. Bow after his own name. In longer three-note or four-note chords, either the top note or the top two notes are sustained after the lower notes have been played as grace notes. This notation occurs, for example, at the beginning of the fourth movement of Beethoven's fifth symphony. Simultaneous notes in a single part for an orchestral may be played as multiple stops or the individual notes may be distributed among the players within the section. Where the latter is intended, divisi or div. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Eine kleine Nachtmusik: 1. Performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra. Notice the triple stop in the at the first chord. Music portal. Stanley Sadie. Elliot ForbesSymphony No. . Pochette Double Stops for Cello violin . Vertical viola . Cello da spalla . . Categories : String performance techniques Extended techniques. Hidden categories: Pages using deprecated score attributes Articles with hAudio microformats. Namespaces Article Talk. Views Read Edit View history. Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file. Download as PDF Printable version. Allegro Performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra. Problems playing this file? See media help. Violin Pochette Five-string violin Violino piccolo.