DOUBLE STOPS FOR CELLO PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Rick Mooney | 40 pages | 01 Jun 1995 | Alfred Publishing Co., Inc. | 9780874877618 | English | United Kingdom Double Stops for Cello PDF Book You're not signed in. The following examples can be played on different pairs of strings and in different keys: The above examples use stepwise shifts. Doublestopped shifting exercises also greatly improve our intonation and our positional sense on the fingerboard. They help produce variety in color, texture, harmony, and counterpoint. Example 2. Suite, Op. The final step is to play both strings together. The next level of difficulty is to play bow each string separately while also simultaneously but silently fingering the notes on the other string. At other times however it may be helpful to place the two fingers at different times. This can be overcome somewhat by using a Baroque string technique where long durations in double-stop lines are not sustained full value. With broken double stops, there are also almost unlimited possibilities to create exercises for Bow Level Control string crossings on two strings. The most pleasant intervals to use are thirds, sixths, octaves and perhaps even fourths. 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. 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 notes, but rather it would be the square of all the combined single note shift difficulties! These slides usually do not exceed a distance of a major second and tend to produce finger-twisting contortions. It is easier, particularly if you have small hands, and the sound will be stronger. 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. Very often we can make use of double stop fingerings in which the the higher open string is used as the lower note of the double stop as in the following examples:. This is best illustrated with some examples. No comments yet. 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. This technique is mainly used in music with great force, such as the cadenza -like solo at the beginning of the last movement of Tchaikovsky's violin concerto. This technique is especially useful when that rapid string crossing also involves an extension. We can use three different graded preparatory levels of separation to work up progressively to the finished double stop passage. Double stops on the violin, viola, cello, and double bass occur when two strings are played at the same time. When playing 6ths in pieces, we need a different approach from when we are practising exercises. Another example comes from the Walton Concerto, in the fourth bar of figure 4 in the first movement example 5. Vertical viola Viola pomposa Tenor violin. In other words, we will often cut short one of the notes of a double stop i. To avoid or postpone reading this detailed analytical discussion and go straight to some practice material click here:. 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. This is especially common when we have plenty of time to do so comfortably:. Namespaces Article Talk. During these unsustained durations, rhythms in the other line can then be articulated. Bow after his own name. They thus learn, almost automatically, to hear, think, play and memorise music both harmonically vertically and melodically horizontally. However, because these are normally stopped with the same finger across both strings, the left hand must assume a unique position out of its typical posture. Double Stops for Cello Writer These are the intervals in which the instruments are tuned and may seem rather innocuous to someone who does not play them. This means that I never have to jump across the strings, and it frees up the hand. Early extensive examples of the double-stop and string chords appear in Carlo Farina 's Capriccio Stravagante from , and in certain of the sonatas of Biagio Marini 's Op. 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. One of these many possibilities is shown here below. 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. Try semi-fingering it for a more legato effect and relaxed hand position. 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 lower 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. It is easier, particularly if you have small hands, and the sound will be stronger. But even in a performance situation, we very often break double stops that are written out as non-broken. Categories : String performance techniques Extended techniques. Hidden categories: Pages using deprecated score attributes Articles with hAudio microformats. Ideally, the composer should arrange the articulations and rhythmic durations in double-stop counterpoint so that the performer does not invent something which injures the architecture of the lines. At other times however it may be helpful to place the two fingers at different times. These are the easiest combinations to execute, but they tend to be rather limiting structurally. These kinds of glissandos should be written with great caution if the difficult intervals of the perfect fifth on the violin, viola, or cello or the perfect fourth on the contrabass are involved. The next level of difficulty is to play bow each string separately while also simultaneously but silently fingering the notes on the other string. Skip to main content Skip to navigation. This article was first published in the June issue of The Strad. Doublestopped scales move stepwise and have no coordination problems because they are normally played with the samefinger shifts. Cellists reach a major seventh or an octave using thumb position. Stanley Sadie. 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. When you are more confident, move to half-broken scales: play the first note alone, then add the second as a double-stop. Whereas doublestops involve only two strings at a time, chords involve three or four strings so, before looking at chords, we will start with a discussion of double-stops. The final step is to play both strings together. Note however if the open string that is sounding is the higher string of the pair, even though this is not a double stop 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. Popper is particularly useful see box. With this technique more pressure than usual is needed on the bow , so this cannot be practiced in softer passages. 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. Note the incongruous articulations in the second measure of the example from Harold Beerman's Suite. 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. Double Stops for Cello Reviews The following link opens up two pages of material exercises for working on this aural skill of voice separation:. The contrapuntal nature of writing bowed double stops on string instruments does not possess the same independence of articulation possible on keyboard instruments. 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. 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. This passage would be more smoothly idiomatic if the long tone was a step lower on F so that the index finger would not have to be reset onto or off of one of the strings. Focus 6 ways to improve your staccato TZ. Bach does this always, and we can usefully apply the lessons of this example to most of the double stopped passages of the Baroque and Classical eras. 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! Broken chords are exactly like broken double-stops, just with the fingers on more strings at the same time:.