No. 9.
This étude is marked allegro. It is not so rapid a movement as to interfere with a free forearm stroke. The martelé, or even a slight staccato stroke, is not as useful as a broad, free bowing in the upper half of the bow. The student will observe that while some modern editions suggest the staccato, it was not true to the traditions of Fiorillo’s time.
Begin with the upper half or upper third of the bow. A free swinging stroke is desired. At the beginning of the sixth line play lightly near the point of the bow and on the edge of the hair:
We do not make string-transfers by tilting the bow from side to side. We play on the edge of the hair, the long string-transfers being made with a movement from the shoulder, if more than two strings are used. Halir insists on the mastery of scale runs from the highest note of the scale. The pupil must think the tone at once, then he must take his position without effort and remain in that position as long as necessary.
After we leave the third position, the thumb goes under the violin in a horizontal plane. The fingers must fall well over the strings, without unnecessary movements. One may rest the palm in the third position or not, according to one’s physical limitations, but there must be no pressure at the base of the first finger and no depression of the joints of any finger in the positions. All fingers should seek their places at once and remain fixed, unless one is playing vibrato. The character and tempo of an exercise determine how it shall be played. The first finger must always remain near its original place, so that the position may not be disturbed as a whole. Whenever the fourth finger seeks a place, the first should fall at once into its position; that is to say, the position must be mastered. In this étude the bowing is varied, a sure test of mastery of several styles or forms of triplet playing. One thing the teacher must insist upon: that the bow remain usually on the outer edge, also that accents that fall with the up bow shall be well defined. The closing chord, according to the tenets of the Berlin school, should never be played like an arpeggio. Other schools differ in this respect.