DANIEL PHILLIPS

Dounis: Principles of Violin Playing for

the Left and Right Hands

VIOLIN
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Violinist Daniel Phillips (BM ’76, violin) enjoys a versatile career as a chamber musician, solo
artist, and teacher. He has performed as a soloist with many of the country’s leading
orchestras, including the Pittsburgh, Houston, New Jersey, Phoenix, San Antonio and Yakima
symphonies. He appears regularly at Spoleto USA, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival,
Chamber Music Northwest, Chesapeake Music Festival, and the International Musicians
Seminar in Cornwall, England. He has also served on the summer faculties of the Banff Centre,
the Heifetz Institute, and the Colorado College Music Festival.

As a member of the Bach Aria Group, Phillips has toured and recorded in a string quartet for
Sony, with Gidon Kremer, Kim Kashkashian, and Yo-Yo Ma. His major teachers are his father,
Eugene Phillips, former member of the Pittsburgh Symphony and a composer, Ivan Galamian,
Sally Thomas, Sandor Vegh, and George Neikrug. Phillips teaches violin at the Queens College
Aaron Copland School of Music and is on the faculties of the Mannes School of Music and the
Bard Conservatory. Phillips has been a Juilliard faculty member since 2014.

VIOLIN
ABOUT THE COURSE
Dr. Demetrius Constantine Dounis had a unique background in
medicine and music which gave him the tools to address the
efficiency of violin playing in novel ways. Hard work, while
necessary, should be geared toward getting the most for minimum
effort. This is the main aim of Dounis’s scientific method, one that
Daniel Phillips explains in great detail throughout this course.

WATCH COURSE

CONTENTS
Introduction: a musician’s journey to Dounis (4)
A different bow hold (6)
Power from pronation (8)
The brush stroke (10)
Arm levels and bow weight (11)
 CONTENTS, continued
Tension and support – lessons from Playing with close fingers & finding
Milstein and Dounis (16) your thumb position (34)

String crossing (17) The chromatic independence

exercise (36)
Bow changes (18)
A finger lifting and dropping
Structuring the left hand (20) exercise (39)

Vibrato and legato in the left Grouping and impulses for

hand (23) agility (40)

Absolute independence of Practicing with multiple bows

the fingers and shifting (27) per note (41)

Left-hand agility and alignment (29) Expression in sound (42)

Straight-line shifting (30) Articulation (44)

Shifting less (33) Some final thoughts (45)

Introduction: a musician’s
journey to Dounis
The road to mastery is economy. Hard work, while seemingly necessary, should be geared
toward efficiency: getting the most for minimum effort. This is the main aim of Dounis’s
scientific method of violin technique.

Dr. Demetrius Constantine Dounis had a unique background in medicine and music. His
research in neurology, coupled with his ongoing interest in the violin, gave him unique insight
into how the hands function as they play, and the means to improve efficiency. Having closely
observed some of the great players of his day – Ysaÿe, Heifetz – he constructed a scientific
method for the violin. Through this, players need not rely on talent but could learn everything
necessary. Many players chose to study privately with Dounis after completing their formal
studies with teachers who were invariably more famous. As Dounis only took private students
and never held a formal position at a conservatory, he remains a slightly obscure name in the
history of violin pedagogy.

The basic concept Dounis relies on is the

body’s intuitive sense of performing
actions with ease and relating those
motions to the violin. Try these exercises
along with the video, repeating them as
many times as necessary.

D.C. Dounis, unknown photographer

Perhaps the first lesson from Dounis is that all students should move the bow in an arc rather
than a straight line (path shown above). Practice an arpeggio on open strings, starting with a
down bow on the E string. Play through all four strings with one smooth motion, then repeat in
reverse order. Then try the same action, but remain on a single string while maintaining the arc
motion in the bow. Not only is this a more natural movement for the arms to make, but it also
resonates better on the instrument. Of course, the bow will make a larger arc for long notes and a
smaller arc for short notes. Even for very short repeated notes, a U shape brings out a better
sound than simply going back and forth in a straight line.

For music of the Baroque and Classical eras, this arc motion gives a particularly suitable
articulation and lilt. For Romantic music, we typically want to sustain towards the end of the bow
rather than letting the sound decay. Again, with the arc motion, we can maintain pressure as the
bow draws across the string without needing further strength. Towards the frog, this shape gives
more counterbalance to the weight of the bow giving more control.

To aid with understanding and phrasing, Dounis also recommends singing the melody and
gesturing. This gives an intuitive sense of direction to phrases.

06
2: A different bow hold

Ideally, we want to gesture the music freely, expressed through our technique. The bow

hold should be so natural that there is no hindrance to any musical gesture. If we pick up

another object, such as a cell phone, with finger and thumb, the most relaxed method would

likely be to use the middle finger.

Notice the point of contact at the final finger joint. If we try this with a piece of paper, holding

between the thumb and middle finger, then remove the sheet and observe where they meet.

This is the most natural way to hold an object, including the violin bow. Try to imitate the

motion of the bow with this hand position to get a feel for the hold and hand position. Even a

slight adjustment to the grip makes the feeling less comfortable.

07
With this hand position, take the bow initially by the stick and play a few notes on the violin.
Then, without losing the grip position, hold the bow closer to the frog and again play a few
notes or a short phrase. If this has been followed properly, it should feel like there is nothing in
your hand and there are no impediments to your arm movements.

One further step is to make sure the hand is fully pronated (turned all the way to the left, palm
facing down) and try the process again, starting with the stick and adjusting towards the frog.
This gives the bowing hand its characteristic slant and allows a lot of power through the bow
with minimal effort. Typical advice often recommends holding the bow deeper into the hand
for more power, but this is not necessary. Be sure not to extend the first finger, as this
interferes with the flow of the arm.

Understanding the relationship between the thumb and the middle finger is key to this relaxed
yet powerful bow hold. Spend some time practicing with the bow held just by these two digits
to really get a feel for this element of the grip. To check for depth, hold the bow upright from
the stick, and try to sign your name. Typically, this gives a hold using mainly the last finger
joints and allows for full dexterity and control of the bow. Contrary to popular belief, holding
the bow deeper in the hand does not give a bigger tone.

08
3: Power from pronation

Perhaps the most crucial element of full tone is having the bow arm pronated, turned with the

palm down, as if closing a doorknob. (The opposite, palm turned upwards, is supination.) Do

not confuse pronation with raising the arm or shoulder to position the hand. The elbow may

raise very slightly, but the main motion comes from the forearm. To build strength in this

position, swing the bow from right to left a few times: the whooshing exercise. From this

position, it is possible to produce a loud, strong sound with very little effort.

09
The next problem is pulling the bow from the frog to the tip, as there is no natural path for the

arm to take. To figure out the motion of the arm, hold the tip of the bow in place with the left

hand and loosely drag the right hand along the stick. Next, try to keep the points of contact

consistent along the length of the stick. This is the path your hand and arm should take as they

pull the bow across the string. Some have been taught to raise the hand from the wrist as the

bow draws towards the tip to maintain power. However, this actually loses strength in the

fingers and causes tension in the wrist. Always consider what motion is most normal and

instinctive for the body to make. The position of the first finger against the bow is likely to

change with the stroke.

Although much of this work involves positioning the hands and fingers without actually playing

(or even holding) the violin, it is important to be expressive in all elements of technique. As you

practice these holds and strokes, be sensitive and gentle in the motion, as you might when

petting dogs. Imagine yourself literally pulling the expression out of the bow. This will transfer

into your playing with less concerted effort.

10
4: The brush stroke

It is easy to assume that a fuller tone requires power from the fingers, but the opposite is
actually more accurate. If you drag your fingers along a flat surface, they have greater contact
when relaxed than when tensed. Greater contact means the surface is applying more resistance
to your hand. When the fingers are tense, they have to exert more pressure (and therefore use
more effort) for the same level of resistance.

On the bow, Dounis referred to this idea of passive fingers as a “brush stroke”. He likened the
hand to the handle and the fingers to the bristles of a paintbrush. The hand gives direction, and
the fingers drag behind. The looser they are, the deeper the bow will fall into the string.

One of the main principles of Dounis’s teaching is that all movements on the violin are either
active or passive. Upbow is active, and downbow is passive. You should feel that the downbow
takes very little effort, though the upbow requires a push. However, we should avoid exerting more
effort than necessary. Think of the soft pressure in your hand when testing the ripeness of a fruit.

Try to use a similar level of pressure in the fingers for the upbow, and release for the downbow.
The first finger will engage with the stick for the upbow, then detach for the downbow. Pay
attention to the different feel of the motion and grip for the different bowing directions, and your
hand will eventually adjust without thinking.

11
5: Arm levels and bow weight

A common misunderstanding is that the weight of the arm should drop into the bow. Instead,
the arm should actually be suspended above the bow. When beating on a drum, the arm
needs to rebound and remain above the surface for resonance, rather than dropping after
striking.

Transferring this concept to the violin, the arm level should be above the surface of the string.

12
To find the ideal height on any particular string, prepare to pluck with the first finger, then
exchange the bow in this position. Alternatively, while closing your eyes, find the string with the
bow and this will typically fall at the right level. Often the body knows the most ideal position
and path to take, but we tend to overthink and make unnecessary adjustments. If we can
switch the mind off for a moment and allow the body to find solutions without interfering, we
often arrive at the most ideal and relaxed position. For double stops, imagine a string in
between the two that you need to play, and that will guide your ideal position. This gives a total
of seven string levels: each of the four individual strings (G, D, A, E); and three combinations of
pairs (G and D, D and A, A and E).

During your practice, spend time really getting to know the bowing levels for each
moment in the piece. Fortunately, it should be relatively quick for your body to memorize
these positions and automatically find the right position during play.

Also, note that the arms should be supported by the strongest muscles. If your arms reach out
to grab something, the larger upper arm muscles do the main lifting, and the other muscles
and joints are quite free and relaxed. The same applies to the bowing arm; the upper arm
should do most of the work, while everything else remains fairly flexible. This should offer
enough support for the bow's weight and allow for all bowing techniques with ease. To make
sure the bow is getting enough support, practice some gentle spiccato notes with a dark tone.
Try all the different parts of the bow, from frog to tip. If this works in all places, the balance of
the arm and bow is good.

13
According to Dounis, the main principles are

approach from above the string

lower the bow to the string with just the hand, without the weight of the whole ar
draw the bow across the string and return to the above position

Also note that the bow stroke should be more of an arc, as if carving, rather than a straight line
over the string.

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A different approach to bowing is needed if the music calls for a parlando (spoken) tone.
This occurs frequently in chamber music, such as Bartók’s sixth string quartet (opening
pictured above). It can be likened to an accented legato. Try to play a scale and accent each
note without stopping the bow or changing direction. To play these accents, add pressure to
the bow and then relax. Make sure this does not go to a full release of the note, but merely
relieves some of the pressure. This gives a speaking articulation while remaining legato.

If we imagine our melodies as songs, we can use this parlando approach every time we might
expect a consonant, which happens throughout the repertoire. For example, it can add more
definition to a typical resolving cadence, particularly when presenting in larger concert venues.

15
6: Tension and support – lessons from

Milstein and Dounis

To play comfortably without a shoulder rest, the arms must be supported by the larger

back muscles. Again, if we reach out to pick up an object, we tend to engage these larger

muscles without thinking about it. To prepare without picking up the violin, fully pronate the

right hand (turn inwards, palm down) and partly supinate the left hand (turn outwards, palm

up, pictured above left). If the left arm gets closer to the body and turns right too much, we

lose a lot of strength in the arm. With the right muscles engaged, any pressure from the

bowing arm is countered in the other direction. This takes away the need for support from the

shoulder. You may also find it useful to bring the violin into position with the right hand and

place it into the support system that your left hand and arm provide (pictured right). The back

and collarbone should provide enough support without the shoulder.

Of course, playing music needs tension, but we need to ensure it comes from the right place.

It is generally better to have the left system work with the right than to pull the right arm in or

down. Not only is this healthier, but it also brings out a better sound from the instrument. Be

sure to maintain some space between the violin and the shoulder to ensure the support

comes from the right muscles. You may find the violin pulling up and to the left as you play.
7: String crossing
Although this is often covered early in our violin studies, perhaps even in the first lesson, it

remains a persistent challenge throughout our careers. Dounis’s suggestion is to cross

strings gradually rather than suddenly. Adjusting the bow position at the exact point the

change occurs tends to result in abrupt accents. Instead, the bow should gradually adjust for

the next string ahead of time, avoiding any jolty movements. Your bow stroke should generally

follow the curve of the bridge. Practicing bowing right on the bridge can guide the general

shape to follow, although it results in some strange sounds.

It is the height of the right arm that controls the string crossing. When crossing to a lower

string, raise the bow from the forearm. When crossing to a higher string, simply drop the palm

of the hand. Avoid leading with the elbow.

17
8: Bow Changes
Dounis’s main objective with technique is to reduce impediments to expression.

Uncompromised musicianship is the goal, though our phrases are usually longer than the bow

length! Good bow changes are necessary to avoid calling attention to this inherent deficit.

Your concept of the music must override your idea of technique. Phillips believes he’s only

done three or four good bow changes in his life – clearly, there is a never-ending standard of

perfection to aim for!

How do we draw the bow one way and immediately change directions without a dead zone?

In physics, we learn that any object reversing directions by 180º must momentarily come to

zero velocity. One solution to this is not to reverse our direction perfectly but to draw a very

thin figure eight with our bow. The challenge becomes timing the exact shape of the loop,

which might not always be the same.

upbow downbow

18
Another way of changing directions, which Isaac Stern was a proponent of, involves the
up-down dimension. At the bottom of a downbow, curl the fingers down so the tip of the bow
sticks higher into the air (pictured above. Then, reverse this motion when the bow approaches
the frog. Finally, combining the thin figure-eight and the up-down curve is possible. The bow
should start to point away from you as you approach the frog and comes toward you as you
approach the tip.

How does this fit in with the upbow being active and the downbow being passive? As we
approach the end of an upbow, the wrist starts to switch direction before the bow changes
direction (see images below). Practice all of these elements separately and you will naturally
combine them when playing repertoire. Ensure that your idea of the music from the outset is
not influenced by changes of the bow.

19
9: Structuring the left hand

Now we’ll look at Dounis’s ideas on the left hand. As the left fingers move up and down, the

base knuckle joint is the only joint they move from. The inner joints of the fingers shouldn’t be

moving in any exercised way. The fingers should remain curved when we open and close from

the correct joints. When viewing from the inside of the hand, the joint is further down than

most people think (pictured right). Poke your palm, and you’ll quickly identify where the joint

lives. Imagine that the fingers are moving from this joint, not from the crease at the top of the

hand. Your range of motion improves quite drastically.

20
When playing, it’s easy to make the mistake of lifting our fingers up as if uncurling a fist. By

moving from the correct joint, the fingers spring backward quite easily. Dropping the fingers

down is the passive movement, while lifting them is the active movement, requiring energy.

In almost any other real-life situation, we don’t lift our fingers this way. For most people, this is

a weak movement we must build muscle for as we practice. An exercise to try is holding the

violin in the air and knocking the bottom of the wood with an extension motion of the left hand

(image below). The fingers should spring back to where they started quite easily.

Now, as we play a scale, the fingers spring backward. This springy quality gives a defined,

popping sound. This sound isn’t caused by the fingers banging down as we often think;

however, putting our fingers down gradually is also a mistake, and we can hear a slurred

intonation as a result. Even when playing slowly, there isn’t a gradual element in the fingers –

it’s a binary “down” or “not down.”

21
Cellists have a much easier time aligning the fingers for playing than violinists do – this is
because we have to turn our left hand to be in the playing position. The lower fingers are often
strained when they try to be as long as the first two. One way to get around this is to orient
the pinky first and then place the fingers behind it. This aligns the fingers with the strings
correctly, although it may slightly handicap fingers 1 and 2.

Another trick is to put the fingers on the A string and repeatedly pluck the D string (one string
below) with the pinky. This also aligns the fingers correctly without strain.

If we try to do this by gradually bringing in the wrist and knuckle joints, we can get the fingers
in position one at a time. This method does require a lot of flexibility to learn but is very
efficient. Imagine that you have four pinkies rather than two long fingers and two short fingers.

One Dounis exercise Phillips plays toward the end of this lesson requires flexing the knuckles
to reach the fourth finger stretch. Flexing this joint (pictured below) enables us to widen our
stretching range to a seventh.

22
10: Vibrato and legato in the

left hand

There’s a good exercise in the Daily Dozen for hand set-up and intonation. He goes through

all notes on the fingerboard in each position, only descending. Practice by first establishing the

frame of the octave and retaining a curved shape in the pinky. The fingers should come down

all at once. You’ll probably guess the notes’ positions correctly. By putting all fingers down at

once (notably, the stretched pinky), we find the angles necessary for each finger to make the

entire position work.

Phillips played for years without placing the fourth finger first, and he had lots of

inconsistencies in his technique, though he could usually get by.

23
Another good trick for intonation is to quickly tap the notes you’re about to play with all

fingers simultaneously. This confirms that all fingers are equally far apart from the string and

keeps your touch “lively.”

We already talked about articulating by dropping and lifting, but another essential concept is

the sizzle. Phillips was taught to practice “cutting yourself off” from the wrist and letting one

finger (second finger) fall lightly on the string with harmonic tension. Imagine the string is

electrified, and there’s another wire somewhere inside your finger – imagine that when they

connect, your finger gets a little shock, and your finger jumps back quickly. This teaches

starting a note with a sizzle rather than squeezing the finger. We cut ourselves off at the wrist

(meaning no motion of the wrist) because we only want to feel the impulse with our fingertip.

Violinist Nathan Milstein would say, “have a touch like you’re testing a hot stove!”

In summary, let your finger first lay limp on the string. When you “sizzle it,” you press firmly and

immediately release most of the tension. This gives the impression that every note vibrates

(not in terms of pitch, but in terms of fullness of sound).

Nathan Milstein playing a Stradivari

24
Dounis’s idea of vibrato was that it should come from the initial impulse. The common way of

playing vibrato is first to put down the in-tune note and then yank backward and forward. Now,

if Phillips starts his finger below the in-tune note and yanks forward to be in tune, a rebound

effect pulls the finger right back to being out of tune. Therefore, the impulse to vibrate starts

behind the note, hitting a wall at the proper pitch and rebounding. If you start with the right

force, the finger will rebound a few times. The string is raised before playing and only fully

pressed upon bringing the finger forward. The finger essentially re-rings the note over and over

from behind. Dramatize the vibrato by imagining the sizzle at the top end of the vibrato – then

practice the release in slow-motion. Phillips actually has no callouses because he doesn’t

press his fingers down hard anymore.

start limp 2. pull forward

3. rebound and repeat

below pitch,
in-tune, full

lighter pressure
pressure

The moment you prepare to vibrate is also when you attach the emotional feeling. If we want a

wide vibrato, we prepare far back from the in-tune position, and we do the opposite if we want

a narrow vibrato. Every note should have a customized vibrato – but attach your emotional

feeling to this moment of preparation instinctively. It shouldn’t feel like a lot to think about. The

vibrato shouldn’t be too noticeable; however, when we don’t use enough, its absence

becomes noticeable! Playing with a “hot” left hand and a quiet bow sounds funny – just as the

opposite does. The two hands depend on each other to remain in balance so that all we hear

is the expressive quality of the vibrato.

25
The vibrato should also be continuous, not sounding jump-started on every note. An extreme

version of this would be to play a phrase very fast with one vibrato impulse. All you have to do

to fix it , then, is to slow this down. You can play large groups of notes on one impulse.

Legato in the left hand is a hot topic for pianists, and for our bow, but how does our left hand

impact our legato? Start with the image of playing two notes at once and overlapping slightly.

Make sure the other fingers are always wiggling just above the strings, ready to come down.

When the fingers come from too far away, legato and continuous vibrato are both killed.

If we perform an octave shift on the E string, for example, the hand must be balanced upon

landing on the high note to vibrate. Find the balance in the high position by putting only that

finger down and vibrating like crazy. Then, find a position for the thumb. Now your hand should

be balanced. Work backward from that position to get the shift to work. As we age, it becomes

difficult to tense up the hand compared to when we're young.

2 6
11: Absolute independence of the

fingers and shifting

Phillips would say that the most brilliant exercise by Dounis is the one titled “Absolute

Independence of the Fingers,” from the recently published Dounis Collection.

In this exercise (copied below from an earlier publication), one finger remains stationary,

another moves up and down, another moves sideways, and another plucks. The objective is to

slowly combine them until we’re playing all three types of motion at once. Don’t forget about

musical expression and great sound! You’ll never run out of combinations in the book based on

what Dounis wrote. Try these exercises for five to ten minutes, and then return to the

repertoire – you’ll play better immediately.

The stages of a left-hand shift can be broken down as follows

First, the finger lightens to a harmonic pressure.

Second, the wrist bends in the direction of the shift.

Third, the hand slides up to the new note with harmonic pressure.

Then, “snap and sizzle” when you press down on the new note.
Think of bending your knees when you go to jump; if you move a short distance, you only bend
your knees a little, but when you’re shifting a lot, you bend your knees a lot (pictured above).
The same applies to how we bend our wrists.

A less conventional technique to practice shifts is to play the goal note and then force your
left hand down to the original position. You snap right back to the in-tune goal note when you
let go of the resulting tension.

There’s a shift in the Sibelius concerto that Phillips finds is usually too slow (pictured below).
We need a light left hand and proper bending of the wrist.

The rhythm of a shift is almost essential – if you vocalize the sound of a shift, you’ll find that
your voice dips for a moment just before sliding up. This dip corresponds to the lightening of
finger pressure. The shift itself tends to start slow and speed up.

Finally, we want to calculate the force we need to make the shift. An exercise to try is leap frog:
leap your fingers off the string and back to the proper destination.

28
12: Left-hand agility and alignment
Gaining facility in the left hand means that the fingers will move quickly but cover less

distance. The less we move them, the faster they can go.

Our first concern is the alignment between the arm and hand. Place your fingers on any string,

and you should find a straight line from your elbow to your pinky (pictured below). If not, you’ll

want to adjust it. This ensures you’re using your biceps most efficiently.

When we change strings, we can move our entire elbow and arm from the shoulder socket.

Practice the following exercises across the four strings and try to preserve alignment between

the arm and hand:

29
By changing strings from our elbow, arm, and shoulder, we maintain an aligned left arm and are

able to exclusively lift our fingers up and down rather than contort them to reach other strings.

13: Straight-line shifting

Another way of dealing with a fast passage is by thinking of it as a shift. Let’s examine the

ascending scale in m. 68 of the third movement of the Mendelssohn concerto:

30
Start by figuring out the overall shape the hand and arm are making through the run (Phillips

begins from the A♯ on the third beat) while remaining aligned. When we practice each note

very slowly, we are forced to adjust our arm every couple of notes, so the overall shape is less

smooth. If we instead think of the destination point of the shift, our hand will move gradually.

Allow the shift to be bad the first few times – don’t fix it by contorting your hand, but by

improving your aim. Once the outline of the shape is in place, practice the whole passage.

When we’re learning how to run, we don’t get there by walking faster and faster. Running is a

completely different activity. Along the same lines, when we practice the passage slowly, we

can allow the shifts to be discrete movements of the hand and forearm. We can hold the

mechanism still when we aren’t shifting. But as soon as we speed up the passage significantly,

the hand must move continuously. It’s a fundamentally different movement once it gets fast

enough.

Importantly, we don’t learn how to run by stamping our feet slowly; we should be equally wary

of practicing this passage by firmly pressing each finger. We won’t be able to maintain this

range of motion in the fingers at a high velocity.

A way to slightly cheat this is to practice slowly but with fast shifting. This works by adding a

very fast mordent on the shifting note:

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The thumb joint must remain flexible for these fast shifts. Note that the thumb joint actually
begins farther back than most realize! Without a loose thumb, the entire arm is forced to move
when shifting – as we’ve established in the previous lesson, speed requires minimal motion.

A loose wrist joint is also crucial for these shifts. Phillips compares the wrist movement to
when a dog pulls on a leash that you’re holding – the fingers go ahead of the hand.

Phillips first discovered this concept when working on Beethoven’s Op. 132 (Violin I, mm. 9-10).

For any fast passage, create a mordent out of the fast shifting notes while playing at a slow
tempo. This creates the right feeling.

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14: Shifting less
Outstretch your left arm in a playing position. Now touch your nose. What does your elbow

do? If anything, it moves away from your body! This is contrary to much of what we think

about when shifting; we may have learned that our entire arm has to move as we shift. In

reality, the elbow shouldn’t have to move at all.

Moving our elbow closer to our body spoils our support for the violin. Why not leave it alone?

Phillips can reach the majority of the notes on the violin without moving his elbow.

33
15: Playing with close fingers &
finding your thumb position
One trick for figuring out left-hand efficiency is to try to play without fingers. What if you
couldn’t move them at all? Try to dump them into place with the wrist and forearm. Now add
just the slightest bit of additional finger movement. For Phillips, this is enough to give him as
much dexterity as he needs – the fingers should only move up and down or sideways, but
don’t make them change strings.

Practicing this way helps us start from a place of fast, efficient fingers rather than forcing them
to do all the work.

Being able to play something too fast is also an interesting practice method; this way, playing
at the proper tempo becomes almost boringly easy.

Similarly, to find the right movement for our thumb, we can practice without moving our
thumb. You can hold the violin up by putting the scroll against the wall or by holding the violin
with the right hand. Finger a passage in the left hand with a lot of vibrato, without the thumb
touching the wood, and feel where the thumb wants to go. Now, place the thumb down where
it wants to go without interrupting the vibrato. If you put the thumb somewhere else, it will
probably shut down your vibrato. Your body is smarter than you!

34
Test your thumb position by vibrating with each finger and analyzing the various angles your
thumb naturally assumes. For Phillips, his thumb angle approaches parallel to the neck as he
moves from first to fourth fingers. We can also try this at various positions and note the
differences.

If this is a very different position for your thumb then you are used to, don’t fret. Given the
efficiency of this position, it will likely be ten times easier for you to learn than whatever you
were doing before. Apply this technique phrase by phrase in your pieces, and cooperate with
what your body wants to do.

35
16: The chromatic independence

exercise
The sideways motion of the fingers is scarcely addressed, especially when done

independently. Consider an ascending D Mixolydian scale. The second finger starts on F♯ and

then must shift down a semitone to play C-natural on the A string. The most common issue

with this movement is that the third finger usually shifts sideways along with the second,

causing both the C and the following D to sound out of tune.

We may find ourselves stretching fingers oddly to accommodate these intonation

adjustments. Ideally, we learn to bring the second finger back without bringing the third finger

with it.

Dounis devised a rather strenuous exercise to address this concept. Play the following shifts

extremely slowly. The tricky part is bringing back the first finger in the descending portion

without affecting the second finger. Try to anchor the second finger on the adjacent string or

move the rest of the hand in opposition to the first finger. In the early stages, keep your eyes

fixated on the second finger and ensure it doesn’t move.

Then switch to a faster shift, still within the slow tempo.

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Finally, play the exercise softly and as fast as you can. It should sound as if each note is using a
different fingering, despite the shifts.

Play this exercise in ascending half-steps. As you go through it, keep your previous fingers
laying on the string the entire time:

If you have trouble, put the non-playing finger on the adjacent lower string or stare it down to
prevent movement. Make sure there is no accidental pressure or impulse in the thumb.
Another practice strategy is anchoring your scroll on a wall (with cloth), so you don’t hold the
violin with your jaw and shoulder. It’s perfectly fine to change the finger shape of the shifting
finger (standing up and more square on the lower note, with a flatter shape on the upper note).
Finally, take each note with a very quick sizzle and vibrato, and glide the shifting finger as light
as a harmonic when it moves on the string.
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The final part of this exercise involves shifts of all four fingers.

Use these same fingerings the repeat the exercise for all four strings.

When Phillips first practiced this, he immediately applied it to the following passage (starting
m. 105) from the Brahms Concerto and played it the best he ever ever had in his life.

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17: A finger lifting and dropping exercise

Here we have another basic exercise for lifting. Together with the chromatic independence

from the previous lesson, this is a great warmup exercise for the left hand.

Where “12” is marked, put down both fingers. Concentrate on creating an accent by lifting the

fingers on the open D. Play this one as fast as you can, too.

For the following variations, put down as many fingers as you can on every note. As soon as

you tense up or your brain “fries” (gets tired), you can stop or take a break. “Your hand won’t

learn through pain and discomfort!”

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18: Grouping and impulses for agility

Let’s get back to strategies for fast passages. When we slow things down, we tend to give

every note its own impulse and bang our fingers down. This isn’t sustainable at a faster

tempo – the fingers are simply moving too much for it to sound clean. Additionally, when we

practice this slowly, our stroke is typically much broader, when it should be very short detaché

strokes at a fast tempo. l

As you begin to move faster, think about notes in terms of larger groupings. When you go a

little bit faster, begin to think in two-note groups and then four-note groups. Depending on the

speed of the passage, you might even need to think in eight-note groups. Then, practice

groups independently. The goal is to trick your brain into thinking that the groups are one

event rather than labeling each note as one event. Add an impulse to the first note (the

“leader”) and make the other notes (“the followers”) almost pianissimo.

As you practice, start to reduce the gaps between the notes until they’re completely gone –

but still only think of the leader notes. This allows the brain to think more slowly while

practicing correctly. In the example below, (Saint-Saëns’s Rondo Capriccioso) think six notes

per group and work up the speed gradually.

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19: Practicing with multiple bows per note

Let’s look at another method for practicing fast passages that preserves the correct bow

stroke and allows us to play carefully. This passage comes from the first movement of the

Beethoven concerto.

We’ll use multiple bows per note, starting with four. This gets the bow moving fast but allows

us to think slowly in the left hand. Then, at the same tempo, play only three bows per note, and

then down to two. At two, we can practice beginning on both the downbow and upbow. Get

very good at these alternate bowing patterns before trying the written music at full tempo.

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20: Expression in Sound
The real purpose, then, of technique is to get rid of any impediments to our musical
expression. We’ll look now at a few ways of bringing expression to our interpretation.

Don’t practice with a boring sound

We’ll just have to improve our sound later, anyway – so why not start by playing every note like
it’s the most meaningful note we’ve ever played? This works well at a slow tempo, and you
build habits that carry with you to the faster tempo. Give every note a rich, emotional story.

Connect vibrato to your voice

We’ve looked at the mechanics involved in getting a vibrato started, but we want to ensure
that it starts with an emotional feeling. Think of how some people intuitively move their hands
when talking; for them, it’s a natural form of expression that they don’t have to think about. The
exercise we’ll try now is singing the piece and vibrating it with the left hand but without the
right hand. Don’t worry about singing perfectly in tune! (Beethoven op. 74, opening of second
movement pictured below):

Activate this same musical self now when adding the bow back in. This achieves the desired
result more easily than approaching vibrato straight from the mechanics.

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An even easier approach is to practice vibrating on your own arm (pictured below). You can

tell whether you’re poking your arm and wiggling or if you’re saying something emotional with

your touch. You’ll probably find that you want each note’s touch to be a little different. Take

that straight to your violin before you forget about it!

Connect your bow to your emotional feeling

Hold the bow with your left hand and gracefully slide your right hand up and down the stick.

Your hand should glide smoothly – if it gets stuck, it means you’re gripping too hard. Imagine

the right hand as the contact point of the bow on the string, and play the same Beethoven

melody with feeling.

Gesturing

A final way is to gesture the music in both arms, a bit like you were conducting. Allow yourself

to be a little bit eccentric. It’s very hard to recreate this type of playing by approaching violin

technique straight and correctly.

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21: Articulation
Let’s revisit left-hand articulation. A common mistake is putting the fingers down gradually
when practicing slowly, which sounds slightly tired. Whether we play slow or fast, the fingers
should move like springs. Contrary to how it may appear, springy playing is actually good for
legato.

Phillips made the mistake as a young man of assuming this popping sound was a result of
throwing the fingers into the strings with strength. The pop actually comes from the
suddenness of the finger’s release, a sort of “sonic boom,” not from pounding the fingers.

One exercise for developing a passive drop with the fingers is to lift a left-hand finger with the
right hand and then rapidly release it – it should snap back to the string.

Phillips finds Joseph Joachim’s Romanze to be a great application of this concept:

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22: Some Final Thoughts
The main idea of Dounis is to teach expressive technique. He never separated technique

from expression – each topic we’ve addressed is not solely for its own sake but to create an

integrated package.

Check out a friend of Phillips named Byron Duckwall, a prodigious cellist who studied for years

with George Neikrug, a long-time disciple of Dounis himself. His website masterthecello.com

provides a wealth of resources for string players that break all these concepts down into

pieces.

Phillips came to much of this information late in his life. The narrative in much of violin

academia is that we develop our technique the best we can by our early 20s, spend the next

forty years developing our musicianship, and then our technique withers away. Phillips learned

through studying Dounis that this isn’t the case – we can perpetually improve as long as we

have the dexterity and are willing to change our brains. Best of luck, and remember that you’re

never too old!

If you have any corrections, comments, or critiques relating to this

VIOLIN workbook, please send them to [email protected]. We strive to

deliver the highest quality enrichment experience. Thank you!

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