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What I'd like to do,
is just give you a bird's eye idea
of what the New approach is all about.
I have been teaching for so many years
and my major experience is
that I've never met anybody who came to me
who didn't have some aches and pains
and stage fright.
Maybe if they are all fine
they don't come to me.
That's... what my experience is
and also the New approach is based on...
to prevent
the reasons for this.
So I don't tell people what to do
and how to be better.
What I try to do
is to prevent people from the afflictions,
to show why they have it
and what to do about it.
I'd bet for anything that if I ask you,
most of you,
"Are you absolutely looking forward to come out and play?"
I don't think you would say,
I hardly think you would say "Yes!",
because we are all afraid
of not being good enough
and that's such a pity,
because music was made for enjoyment
to have enjoyment from it
and give enjoyment with it.
So why don't we do it?
and why do we have the problems?
The first thing is
of very human nature
and our culture,
because we are brought up
that we have to be good,
we mustn't make a mistake, and
have to be in tune and so on
and so we work very hard
and we work... what we see,
we work with the fingers and the bow
so we work backwards.
And as a result too
about the fear of playing, or the anxiety of playing,
one doesn't... one gets tense, one gets tight.
It's not only in violin playing,
but any situations.
If you are exposed to any kind of "test",
you don't go "Oh, how wonderful!"
you try to defend yourself,
you try to please, you try to be good.
And as a result, the body becomes tight.
Just imagine you are driving a car
and the policeman comes, because you did something awful.
You don't say "Hello" to the policeman,
you grip the wheel,
for safety
and because we do that,
we lose the most important thing in performance, in playing, if we...
we miss the flow, the flow which...
The music depends on it, it's like life
if it doesn't flow, it has no music.
So... and also we are vertical,
we have to hold the violin
we are afraid that the violin will fall down,
so we hold it tight here,
we put the head down,
the bow down,
we are vertical,
we go up and down with the counterpressures
Am I making sense to you? Are you with me?
yes
one, two, three...
YES!
As I go on you'll realise
it's not just... I'm being funny
It's very important that we use our voices,
terribly important issue...
and this is the first time you just used your voice it and you say "yes".
So, what do we do to prevent all this?
Well, first comes
the ESSENCE in music making
the very ESSENCE, in any kind of music making,
is the rhythmic pulse.
Because that's what we lose, we are like this.
And the rhythmic pulse releases the whole body
and sends energy through your body.
I'm talking about violin playing
but, of course, it's for all instruments, everywhere.
The important thing is, again,
is the voice, the inner ear, the inner imagination.
So, you play always from the very core of your inner self
instead of...
learning to play from outward backwards.
And so the first exercise is
the voice and the rhythmic pulse.
Now, again for newcomers,
I explain what the rhythmic pulse is,
and may I just say, for oldcomers too,
it's a very important thing, keep this,
because it tends to go away.
When you play well,
you feel you don't have to do it anymore, it's there.
It's a little bit like if you said
"Oh, I lived yesterday, I don't have to live today"
It has to be...
it has to be reiterated every single day.
So, if I clap like this and then say
one, two, three, four
or if I say...
one, two, three, four
or if I say...
one, two, three, four
Obviously, hopefully,
you think the third one
is... gives more energy,
it releases me,
and then comes the voice,
because we are going to play something
and you have to have... use the voice
the way you want to hear it.
So, you don't wait for yourself
to hear what you sound like.
That is very important,
that you hear with the inner ear,
inner ear.
What you HEAR,
that's what you sing with your voice.
If I have forte I say... ONE
If I have piano I say... one
and not just doing...
clapping my fingers.
So, at every workshop what I start with...
and that's why I wanted your instruments...
just ready, put them in your music case, please
and we are going to sing together
the Marriage of Figaro
because everybody knows it.
Would yu like to stand up?
Yes...
and also... When you are singing,
the rhythmic pulse
also goes through the whole body.
So, you don't just stand staight and say...
you say... ONE
the whole body is alive...
alive and generates the flow.
So, everybody knows the... iam papa...?
everybody knows it... and
Stop... pam... Let's start with that... pam
and, if I did it this way...
Help me! What should I do?
What?
What?
wrists... wrists... the knees...
The wrists!
Thank you.
You see? You knew... you all knew that,
but you didn't have the voice to say so.
I thought you were gonna sing the ouverture from it...
I didn't know what to expect, I thought we were gonna sing the ouverture...
Please, please, people, be bad,
don't try to be good... don't try to be good,
just, just, hear it and... act it.
So, here we go...
OK, that doesn't sound happy to me... at all,
it doesn't sound in the 18th century, you didn't...
you didn't imagine
what was the time, what it was,
there was no imagination behind it.
Can somebody else give an A?
Here we go...
Can you imagine we are in the 18th century?
We wouldn't look like this,
we wouldn't be...
we wouldn't have...
this room.
So, please, imagination, let's do it.
We're making music... we're making music and...
Thank you
Would you like to sit down?
I'm glad you sang it,
you look a lot happier than you looked before.
Simply because you created an energy, you made music,
instead of wondering whether your technique is good,
whether you don't have to do
and people will watch me...
and what will they think of you.
So that's the first, very simple exercise.