ist, and do special work at the extreme ends, nut and tip.

"The _vibrato_ is a great tone beautifier. Too rapid or too slow a
_vibrato_ defeats the object desired. There is a happy medium of
_tempo_, rather faster than slower, which gives the best results. Carl
Flesch has some interesting theories about vibration which are worth
investigating. A slow and a moderately rapid _vibrato, from the wrist_,
is best for practice, and the underlying idea while working must be
tone, and not fingerwork.

_Staccato_ is one of the less important branches of bow technic. There
is a knack in doing it, and it is purely pyrotechnical. _Staccato_
passages in quantity are only to be found in solos of the virtuoso type.
One never meets with extended _staccato_ passages in Beethoven, Brahms,
Bruch or Lalo. And the Saint-Saens's violin concerto, if I remember
rightly, contains but a single _staccato_ passage.

"_Spiccato_ is a very different matter from _staccato_: violinists as a
rule use the middle of the bow for _spiccato_: I use the upper third of
the bow, and thus get most satisfactory results, in no matter what
_tempo_. This question as to what portion of the bow to use for
_spiccato_ each violinist must decide for himself, however, through
experiment. I have tried both ways and find that by the last mentioned
use of the bow I secure quicker, cleaner results. Students while
practicing this bowing should take care that the wrist, and never the
arm, be used. Hubay has written some very excellent studies for this
form of 'springing bow.'

"The trill, when it rolls quickly and evenly, is a trill indeed! I never
had any difficulty in acquiring it, and can keep on trilling
indefinitely without the slightest unevenness or slackening of speed.
Auer himself has assured me that I have a trill that runs on and on
without a sign of fatigue or uncertainty. The trill has to be practiced
very slowly at first, later with increasing rapidity, and always with a
firm pressure of the fingers. It is a very beautiful embellishment, and
one much used; one finds it in Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, etc.

"Double notes never seemed hard to me, but harmonics are not as easily
acquired as some of the other violin effects. I advise pressing down the
first finger on the strings _inordinately_, especially in the higher
positions, when playing artificial harmonics. The higher the fingers
ascend on the strings, the more firmly they should press them, otherwise