Click here to go to the Online Store

The Secrets of Tone Production on all Bowed String Instruments

Two discs in double box set with accompanying booklet
Total playing time: 4 hours 10 minutes

The fundamental tone exercises on this film are without doubt the best thing you can do to build tone production or to maintain or improve it: they are simple, they don't take long to play, and nothing else produces faster results.

Many of the exercises are age-old and timeless, as taught by the great masters through the ages and as practised by the greatest players. Yet they are so simple anyone can play them or teach them.

• Solve problems of purity or sweetness of tone, or size of tone or projection, that players often struggle with for years.
• After playing these exercises for a couple of minutes, even professional players with million-dollar instruments typically say: Wow, I've never heard my violin sound like that before!
• Encourage your students to do these exercises and notice how their quality of tone quickly jumps up to a genuinely high level  - whatever their starting point.
• Student and youth orchestra conductors: spend five minutes at the start of a string rehearsal with one or two of these exercises, either with the tutti strings or, if there is time, section by section. Afterwards, the bloom and radiance that comes into each section-sound is immediately noticeable.

FAQ
Since the film is for all bowed string instruments, is there a lot of repetition with the same information being applied to violin, viola, cello and bass?
ANSWER
A new point is illustrated in each sequence, and it never matters what the particular instrument is. The same principles apply whether you are bowing a modern double bass or a baroque violin with gut strings. There is great variety as the film progresses because of using different instruments to illustrate the different aspects of tone.

Read an interview with Simon Fischer about the DVD on violinist.com

Read other comment on violinist.com