Hello

Can anyone help? I am taking my grade 8 in the spring and am currently desperately trying to get the grips with the Allegro Brilliant by Ten Have on list B, but i'm having real problems with the fast double stopping section. I keep speeding up and playing 5ths and 3rds out of tune. It's really worrying me actually and I am getting very worried I will fail the exam because of it. Does anyone have any ideas what I can do to practice effectively? I will ask my teacher this week, but would like to go the lesson kind of being able to do it so that I don't make a complete fool of myself!

help!

I don't know this piece, but in general when practising doublestops it can help to concentrate on getting the lower pitch correct (this is to do with the natural shape of the hand and the balance (pressure) of each finger).

So you could try playing the passage but only play the lower pitches (using the fingering that you will use when doing the real thing). Then play the passage again, still playing only the lower pitches, but finger the upper pitches as well (still without playing them). Then play the passage, placing both fingers but playing only the upper pitch, and finally repeat it playing both pitches together.

Also, check the position of your left hand. If too much finger is below the fingerboard there will not be enough flexibility in your hand.

I don't know this piece either and agree with purple violas approach. Here is another exercise I have found useful after the stage of playing just one note of each chord. Use a metronome at 60 and play through without the rhythm, one chord every other tick, as in Chord, rest, chord, rest at 60 focussing on the pitch accuracy of the two notes and both sounding properly under the bow. Then remove the rests and play at 60 without rhythm one chord per tick. Then try adding the rhythm, bowing, articulation etc at a similar slow pace. Take it in very short chunks at first and go through each step for each section before moving to the next section. I find it more encouraging somehow to get a very short section quite good and it seems to make it easier to tackle the next section.

Hope that helps, good luck in your exam preparation.

After working through all the above suggestions if you are still having trouble getting the passage up to speed, then you could try playing it using Galamian rhythms. I find they are a very effective way of speeding up a passage. I'm not totally sure why they work so well but I think it has to do with getting the fingers to move quickly. Once you have worked your way through all the rhythms you should find it much easier to play the passage faster.

I know someone who is playing it and the way they have done the double stopping, is by playing the first note and slurring it to the upper note, then playing the two together (like the double stop scales in Grade 6). After doing this slowly you can speed up and ensure all the shifting is right and that the notes are all in tune.

I know 3 friends who have done this piece, and all of them started out real slow, getting the intonation right first. They slowly sped up after the intonation was quite in tune, and finally got to the proper speed 2 - 3 months before the exam. Good luck! I'm playing Svendsen's Romanze for my List B.