VIOLIN PLAYING REALLY IS

"Violin playing is really no abstract mystery. It's as clear as
geography in a way: one might say the whole art is bounded on the South
by the G string, on the North by the E string, on the West by the
string hand--and that's about as far as the comparison may be carried
out. The point is, there are definite boundaries, whose technical and
esthetic limits may be extended, and territorial annexations made
through brain power, mental control. To me 'Violin Mastery' means taking
this little fiddle-box in hand [and Mr. Hartmann suited action to word
by raising the lid of his violin-case and drawing forth his beautiful
1711 Strad], and doing just what I want with it. And that means having
the right finger on the right place at the right time--but don't forget
that to be able to do this you must have forgotten to think of your
fingers as fingers. They should be simply unconscious slaves of the
artist's psychic expression, absolutely subservient to his ideal. Too
many people reverse the process and become slaves to their fingers.

THE PROBLEM OF TECHNIC

"Technic, for instance, in its mechanical sense, is a much exaggerated
microbe of _Materia musica_. All technic must conform to its
instrument.[A] The violin was made to suit the hand, not the hand to
suit the violin, hence its technic must be based on a natural logic of
hand movement. The whole problem of technical control is encountered in
the first change of position on the violin. If we violinists could play
in but one position there would be no technical problem. The solution of
this problem means, speaking broadly, the ability to play the
violin--for there is only one way of playing it--with a real, full,
singing 'violin' tone. It's not a question of a method, but just a
process based on pure reason, the working out of rational principles.

[Footnote A: This is the idea which underlies my system for ear-training
and absolute pitch, "Arthur Hartmann's System," as I call it, which I
have published. A.H.]

"What is the secret of this singing tone? Well, you may call it a
secret, for many of my pupils have no inkling of it when they first come
here, though it seems very much of an 'open secret' to me. The finished
beauty of the violin 'voice' is a round, sustained, absolutely smooth
_cantabile_ tone. Now [Mr. Hartmann took up his Strad], I'll play you
the scale of G as the average violin student plays it. You see--each