No. 11
Many teachers claim that this étude should be practiced at or near the point of the bow. A somewhat broader and freer forearm stroke is more useful. As in other examples previously analyzed, the staccato is not wholly desirable. The trill should be accented, and there should be no variation in the equality of notes because of the trill. Hardly more than two trills are possible. The student should read a whole measure at a glance, and place the fingers at once in position. Perfect freedom of the elbow joint is desirable. A free stroke of the wrist is necessary in short string-transfers.
After the whole étude has been played in this broad, free style, play it entirely through with short staccato bowing, about two inches from the point. In the fifth line, the arpeggios are not played in the half-position. As to position changes, remain in one position until it is necessary to move from that position. The sixth line contains the third position followed by the sixth. The fingers should fall at once into the sixth position, the entire hand moving back to the fifth when necessary, the thumb acting in unison with the fingers. Pupils must be perfectly familiar with position work. When the fifth and sixth positions are to be used, the thumb lies flat under the neck of the violin and the fingers are curved over the strings. Never move the hand or depress the fingers until the work in a certain position is finished. We now come to a passage in which we take high E in the fourth position.
Those students who have not been trained, like the followers of Halir, to play three octave scales and arpeggios, beginning on the highest note, are likely to make errors at this point. To the student of Fiorillo, however, one position should be as familiar as another.
Again, we take F♯ in the fifth position, but this is not so difficult, as we have just played G. The prevailing difficulty with players is that they continually get ready for a new position before it is time to do so, giving the hand a restless motion, and changing the position of the fingers so that they play falsely. The thumb is invariably too slow in slipping under the violin. The thumb at the middle joint must be depressed, and there must be as little pressure as possible there; the chin, resting firmly, makes freedom possible for the thumb. It is very noticeable that Kubelik has marvelous facility in taking the high positions, his fingers falling into place with surprising dexterity. He has a perfectly trained hand. As before, the player glides with the entire hand back to the fifth position, then to fourth, and lastly to the third; again, we take the fifth, then fourth, then third, second, and first positions. The thumb must be absolutely free, with no pressure at the middle joint, and always in advance of the first finger, the hand moving as freely as possible.
The transfers across four strings should be made with ease, the arm moving out to the side from the plane of the shoulder, the wrist being free. In changing positions, the finger last used moves into the new position. The secret of playing this work well lies in the absolute freedom of the thumb. Students may observe that in the last line the transition must be made from the sixth to the first position, the hand reaching far over on the G string, the thumb resting on its tip, yet never quite released from the neck of the violin.
This étude is most valuable as a study of positions, while it offers no varied bowings. It is purely a technical exercise, radically opposed in style to the beautiful examples of cantabile playing offered by numbers one, seven, and eight.