On the Positions—The Individual Requirements of Orchestral Player and Soloist—The Necessity of "Stretching" for the Intervals—The Locality of the Neck Positions—The Enharmonic Difference of Sharp and Flat Keys—Absolute Pitch—How to Leap any Awkward Interval—The Positions not Determined by Mathematical Rules, but by the "Ear"—Shifting—"Economy of Motion" versus "Effect"—Choice of Positions. Positions, Shifting, etc.Although learning the various positions used in violoncello playing is neither so interesting a study nor so quickly mastered as are a few of the seemingly more difficult styles of bowing, a thorough practical knowledge of them is absolutely necessary both for orchestral and solo work. It is interesting to note, however, that extraordinary ability in any one direction is generally obtained at the expense of the other branch of 'cello playing. A long experienced orchestral player, although having a complete mastery of the "fingerboard," in the matter of being able to play almost any composition at sight, seldom possesses that perfection in bowing requisite for a successful soloist. The chief matters for special attention in the orchestra are time and tune, together with the ordinary "light and shade" effects; and considering the numerous compositions which the orchestral violoncellist must "go" through in one short season only, it is not to be expected that any The special requirements in respect to positions, of each class of violoncellist, may be stated as follows; the soloist to be successful requires a complete mastery of the practical or mechanical part of playing perfectly in tune, and a perfect command of shifting from one position to another. The orchestral player requires the ability to quickly divine the most suitable positions in which to play any given passage, when seen expressed in musical notation. The successful quartet player must possess to a certain degree, the abilities of both classes. Whatever class of work the student intends to fit himself for, he must gain a knowledge of the positions in a practical manner, i.e., with the instrument in hand. Theory by itself is of no use, the player may know that a certain note will be produced if a given string be stopped in a certain place, but if he is unable to perform the mechanical part, and by exactly gauging the distance to be leaped, stop the note perfectly in tune, the knowledge stands for nothing. Each position should have separate attention, and the notes obtainable thoroughly mastered both theoretically and practically before another position is attempted. The position most easily learned is the first position (first finger on B a whole tone above the open A string), and as this is in a sense the normal position in 'cello playing, and for ordinary work the most useful owing to its relation to the four open strings, the hand of the student should be allowed to become thoroughly "set" to this position, and facility obtained in stretching the various intervals, before attempting to "shift." From the commencement, the student should compel himself to stretch for the intervals when necessary, and not contract the bad habit of using the thumb as a kind of pivot, on which the hand is moved backwards and forwards, the thumb remaining in the same position. If the student once gets into this habit, his hope of ever playing perfectly in tune, especially in rapidly descending passages, must be abandoned; it is a bad habit, however, which nearly every learner will contract unless strictly watched; and when pupils who have had previous instruction come to me for lessons, I generally have to commence with a series of finger exercises composed expressly for its correction. The player will find that after a few years of 'cello playing, if the correct system of fingering has been adopted, the bones of the hand (metacarpal) seem to get quite loose, and are under the control of the muscles, so that when the fingers are stretched for a wide interval, they are assisted by the hand-bones, which move direct from the wrist, almost like the action of the metacarpal bone connected with the thumb, only of course in a much smaller degree. This gives a greater width of the hand, measuring across the knuckles, and it is with this capacity that ease in stretching the intervals is arrived at, and not with long fingers, as some are apt to imagine. Fingers of more than ordinary length are of no special assistance in 'cello playing, if they are so firmly bound together at the knuckles as to hamper free movement As a ready way of describing the locality of the various "neck" positions, the names of the notes stopped by the first finger on the A string will be given only. In these neck positions, the thumb remains behind the neck of the instrument, retaining as far as possible the same relationship to the hand as in the first position, already explained. For the half-position, or what is generally known as the back-shift, the hand should move backwards from the first position the distance of half a tone, the first finger will then stop A? or B?. When playing in extreme keys, this half position is very useful, especially when the notes of all the four open strings have to be played sharp. The distance of the second position from the first is only a semitone, the first finger stopping C. This position also bears a "raised" position, sometimes named the "second-and-a-half position"; although it is easier to designate it the second raised, or if in flat keys the third lowered position. For this position, the whole hand moves forward from the second position, until the first finger stops C? or D?. The third position is distant a tone and a half from the first position, the first finger stopping D. The second and third positions are perhaps not so readily mastered as are the first and fourth, or perhaps even the higher positions; for this The fifth position therefore is a semitone higher than the fourth, the first finger stopping F. From the fifth position upwards to the seventh, the thumb is allowed to gradually leave its position behind the neck, until for the seventh position it only touches the side of the lower portion, almost where the neck joins the body of the instrument. However, the thumb should retain its touch, so that the hand may quickly assume the necessary attitude for the lower positions when required. For the fifth raised position the first finger stops F?. In the sixth position, the first finger stops G. The fingers are now in advance of the thumb, also the student will observe that in these higher positions, the distance between the notes gradually grow smaller. It is now possible to stop three notes separated by intervals of whole tones (major 2nds), with the first, second, and third fingers, and not as in the first position, compulsory to use four fingers to stop three notes. The sixth raised position is taken with the first finger on G?. The seventh position is the highest neck position practicable, the first finger stopping A. To sum up, we find that there are seven ordinary neck positions, the fundamental notes of which on the A string, are directly related to the diatonic scale of C. Also there are six half-positions, each position bearing a I am aware that some theorists may object to the method of assigning the same position to say B? and A?, on the principle that B? is lower in pitch than A?. However, if the matter is thoroughly looked into, we shall find that the system of portioning out the fingerboard with mathematical exactness, and giving to the various groups the names of positions, is really under the control of another system. This system, which is found to be the chief factor both in singing in tune, and in giving the stringed instrumentalist the power of playing in tune, for want of a more comprehensive title might be named "relative pitch." The student if sufficiently advanced may easily prove this to himself in the following manner. Reverse the usual position of the instrument, that is, instead of having the fingerboard turned away, place the 'cello in such a position that the whole length of the fingerboard may be viewed from before. Now endeavour to point out the position of any given note, it will be found that an entirely wrong conception has been formed of the distance between the intervals, and it will be almost impossible to place the exact position, where any isolated note could be sounded exactly in tune. Perhaps more success will be experienced in The brain must have some basis whereon to build up an expectation relative to any isolated sound. Thus, if a solitary note is represented on the music page, say E?, It is here that the faculty of gauging the distance of a known interval, taking the required note by a leap from some equally well known position, is brought into force. If the 'cellist has just previously tuned his instrument, the sounds of the open strings will be still fresh in his mind, dispensing with A, D and G, the C being the Ex. 31 (The bow not to touch the strings until the E? is firmly stopped with the third finger, the grace notes merely show from which position the leap is made.) The student should carry out this principle for all difficult leaps, and not seek for the position by gliding up, or down to it. However "to return to our sheep," this system of relative pitch affects the performance of flat and sharp keys in the following way, as an illustration the different manner in which B? and A? is treated, although both being in the back-shift, or half position, will be demonstrated. Ex. 32 In the first bar of Goltermann's Cantilena (Example 32), the first finger is on A? in the back position, the character of the accidental following the B? is such, that the musician seems almost compelled to sound this note as near the B as possible. It would irritate a musician with a well trained ear, to have anything but the smallest interval between the two notes, he will therefore quite unconsciously make the A? as "sharp" as possible, which conclusively proves that there is not Here we have a different idea of the B?—the equivalent to A?. The progression from C to B? (Example 33), instead of giving one the idea that the B? should be drawn to the C, has the opposite effect; a sense of satisfaction is only felt, when the largest possible interval between two tones is made between the super-tonic and tonic. With the second B?, the feeling is to glide quietly off the leading note on to the tonic, making the least possible interval. Thus the B? is pushed down by the C, and again drawn down by the A, making it impossible with any sense of satisfaction to play it in anything but its "flattest" form. All this will be evident to the cultured musician, to whom these remarks may appear somewhat superfluous; but to the learner, who has not arrived at that stage of ear perfection, when the half-flat, half-natural style of playing flattened notes is a positive annoyance, the hints may be of service in teaching him that anything short of absolute correctness with respect to playing in tune is not to be tolerated. With respect to the choice of positions, so many things are to be taken into consideration that only general hints may be given. The golden rule is—"Never move into a more remote position than is absolutely necessary." In slow expressive passages, everything must give way to allow of correct phrasing; thus to preserve a uniform quality of tone throughout a particular phrase, it will sometimes be necessary to work along one of the lower strings up to the sixth or seventh positions, in preference to using the next higher string. In orchestral work, and generally in quick movements, the chief matter to consider, as previously stated, is "economy of motion," but even in quick movements "effect," which Ex. 34 It would be possible to play this passage across the strings without having to move out of position, however the effect is much heightened when played as fingered above (Ex. 34) the whole effect being augmented by the octave passage which follows, gradually working upwards until the climax is reached on the high E harmonic. There is yet another matter which I am well aware in really high art should not find a place: that is the manner in which a complete mastery over seen difficulties affects an audience. We are told that musicians should reach their audiences through the ear and not the eye, but when one considers the numerous class of compositions which have been written solely to display the brilliant technique of the soloist, or to show the possibilities of the violoncello as a solo instrument, and that many of these works are written by really great composers, the fact is forced to be acknowledged that this phase of our subject must be considered. It will be found that many passages in such compositions are, when analyzed, found to be quite worthless |