The Integrated String Player: Embodied Vibration (The Integrated Musician) - Softcover

De Alcantara, Pedro

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199899339 ISBN 13: 9780199899333

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2018

Synopsis

Pedro de Alcantara's The Integrated String Player: Embodied Vibration is a practical guide for all string players: violinists and violists, cellists and bassists, but also gamba players and anyone who makes music drawing a bow across a string. Dozens of exercises, supported by a dedicated website with 80 video clips, cover all the basics of string playing, including left-hand articulation, vibrato, changes of position, double-stopping, sound production, string crossings, and many other techniques. Each exercise, however simple or complex, can become a meditation with the goal of integrating the musical, technical, and metaphysical aspects of a player's practice.

Part I is devoted to the fundamentals of coordination, rhythm, and listening in depth. Part II focuses on the left hand, with an emphasis on healthy gestures that are charged with musicality and meaning. Part III covers the bowing arm, exploring innovative concepts such as expressive gesticulation, mechanical intelligence, and the use of the bow as the player's voice, both literally and symbolically. Part IV covers the integration of analytical thought and sensorial practice, providing an extensive study of the harmonic series, the circle of fifths, Tartini tones, and many other sonic aspects that are essential to a string player's musical freedom. In addition, the conversational, linguistic, compositional, and improvisatory dimensions of string playing are discussed and supported by multiple practical exercises.

The Integrated String Player is addressed to players of all abilities and from all aesthetic backgrounds: students and professionals, teachers and performers, classically trained musicians and jazz players, chamber-music players and orchestral players.

About this title

About the Author

Pedro de Alcantara is a musician, writer, and teacher, leading workshops worldwide on creativity and health. His books include Integrated Practice: Coordination, Rhythm & Sound and Indirect Procedures: A Musician's Guide to the Alexander Technique. He lives in Paris and is Visiting Professor at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 0199899339
• ISBN 13: 9780199899333
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272