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The Integrated String Player: Embodied Vibration
Pedro de Alcantara's The Integrated String Embodied Vibration is a practical guide for all string violinists and violists, cellists and bassists, but also gamba players and anyone who makes music drawing a bow across a string. Dozens of exercises, supported by a dedicated website with 80 video clips, cover all the basics of string playing, including left-hand articulation, vibrato, changes of position, double-stopping, sound production, string crossings, and many other techniques. Each exercise, however simple or complex, can become a meditation with the goal of integrating the musical, technical, and metaphysical aspects of a player's practice.
Part I is devoted to the fundamentals of coordination, rhythm, and listening in depth. Part II focuses on the left hand, with an emphasis on healthy gestures that are charged with musicality and meaning. Part III covers the bowing arm, exploring innovative concepts such as expressive gesticulation, mechanical intelligence, and the use of the bow as the player's voice, both literally and symbolically. Part IV covers the integration of analytical thought and sensorial practice, providing an extensive study of the harmonic series, the circle of fifths, Tartini tones, and many other sonic aspects that are essential to a string player's musical freedom. In addition, the conversational, linguistic, compositional, and improvisatory dimensions of string playing are discussed and supported by multiple practical exercises.
The Integrated String Player is addressed to players of all abilities and from all aesthetic students and professionals, teachers and performers, classically trained musicians and jazz players, chamber-music players and orchestral players.
Part I is devoted to the fundamentals of coordination, rhythm, and listening in depth. Part II focuses on the left hand, with an emphasis on healthy gestures that are charged with musicality and meaning. Part III covers the bowing arm, exploring innovative concepts such as expressive gesticulation, mechanical intelligence, and the use of the bow as the player's voice, both literally and symbolically. Part IV covers the integration of analytical thought and sensorial practice, providing an extensive study of the harmonic series, the circle of fifths, Tartini tones, and many other sonic aspects that are essential to a string player's musical freedom. In addition, the conversational, linguistic, compositional, and improvisatory dimensions of string playing are discussed and supported by multiple practical exercises.
The Integrated String Player is addressed to players of all abilities and from all aesthetic students and professionals, teachers and performers, classically trained musicians and jazz players, chamber-music players and orchestral players.
- GenresMusic
268 pages, Hardcover
Published January 2, 2018
11 people are currently reading
8 people want to read
About the author
Pedro De Alcantara
26 books9 followersMy books include the children's novels "Befiddled" and "Backtracked" and works of non-fiction for adults, including "Indirect Procedures: A Musician's Guide to the Alexander Technique" and "The Alexander Technique: A Skill for Life" (published by Crowood). I travel the world giving seminars and master classes for all creative people. I'm currently finishing two new books -- a new novel for young readers titled "The Divine Computer" and a book for musicians titled "Integrated Practice." I'm also putting together a selection of my original improvisations and compositions for performance and recording.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 20, 2024
Great Book.
Excellent book.
If I have one criticism of this book, not getting into the cognitive science makes articulating the ideas a bit imprisoned and prone to be interpreted a fraction too literally. I've been playing for 42 years, though.
That said, I understand why he avoids the subject.
In my opinion, teaching and developmental psychology maintain a somewhat politically delicate relationship.
Excellent book.
If I have one criticism of this book, not getting into the cognitive science makes articulating the ideas a bit imprisoned and prone to be interpreted a fraction too literally. I've been playing for 42 years, though.
That said, I understand why he avoids the subject.
In my opinion, teaching and developmental psychology maintain a somewhat politically delicate relationship.
Displaying 1 of 1 review