Five rules

Here are "FIVE RULES" that Dounis says in "The Violin Players' Daily Dozen Op.20".

FIVE GENERAL RULES

TO BE STRICTLY ADHERED TO

1. Cultivate at all times a feeling of absolute comfort while practicing.
2.  In practicing finger-exercises, watch your bow; in practicing bow-exercises observe a good position of the left hand.
3. Accent the weaker notes; make every note sound with a clear, full and round tone.
4. Remember always that in technic evenness is that which counts most.
5. Form the habit of listening to your playing with the utmost attention sharpen your hearing so as to detect the slightest disturbance in the flow of tone. 

FIVE LEFT HAND RULES

TO BE STRICTLY ADHERED TO

1. Keep the elbow well under the violin and the fingertips parallel to the strings.
2. Try to forget the existence of the thumb; never press it against the neck of the violin.
3. Do not strike the fingers upon the strings with too much force. It is wasting one's physical energy. Cultivate a very sudden and elastic spring-like finger action and keep every preceding finger on the string.
4. In shifting, pay due attention to the guiding finger which is the finger stopping the last note before shifting.
5. In a downward shift, remember that the thumb acts as a forerunner to the other fingers.

FIVE BOW RULES

TO BE STRICTLY ADHERED TO

1.  At all times cultivate freedom of movement.
2.  Bear in mind that the elasticity and flexibility of all joints of the arm and the fingers are as important as those of the wrist.
3.  Have and retain always a balanced hold of the bow; try to feel every stroke with your fingertips.
4.  Accent the up bow to equalize it with the down bow.
5.  Never forget to round off the crossing of strings and the change of bow.

 

Great practice tips from D. C. Dounis

There was a great violinist and a teacher whose name was Demetrius Constantine Dounis (1886-1954).  He studied violin privately in Vienna with Frantisek Ondricek and also was a medical student at the University of Vienna. He was a touring violinist after the graduation in Europe and Russia, then after World War I, he became a professor of violin at the Salonika Conservatory in Greece. It was then he devoted all his energy to violin pedagogy and the publication of his famous violin studies.

His books are pretty challenging for beginners and it can be overwhelming even for the advanced students. But if you're a serious learner (and not an absolute beginner), I would recommend to pick a few exercise from this book everyday and spend about 15~30 minutes the most.

On his book, "The Artist's Technique of Violin Playing" op. 12, he states his philosophy about practicing as Foreword and I would like to share it here:

 ***

"TO KNOW HOW TO PRACTICE IS AN ART."

This is a well-known fact.

Most violinists believe that the 

solution of the problem of "HOW TO PRACTICE"

lies in repeating, everyday, various finger exercises,

scales, arpeggios, bow exercises, etc.

But this supposition is a fallacy.

No one will ever learn how to practice by

repeating day in, day out, finger exercises, scales, or,

in fact, 

the whole compendium of daily exercises for the violin.

The result of such monotonous and arid study

is usually worthless.

This procedure explains why after years of intensive study, 

there are few violinists, very few indeed,

who acquire an infallible technique.

The oblect of this work is to indicate a method of

solving all the problems of higher technique of both hands,

with the least possible expenditure of time and energy,

and to provide definite suggestions for

mastering all technical difficulties.

In other words,

this book aim to teach

THE TRUE METHOD OF

PRACTICING.

-D. C. Dounis

*If you would like to download his book, "The Artist's Technique of Violin Playing" op. 12, you can download from the link. You can purchase the whole book (like the photo above) online, too.

It is very inspiring to just read his words in between these exercises. I highly recommend it!

Have fun,