"With Nicky" - Developing your sound

Developing and producing sound on your instrument is a journey inside your mind and inside your hearing. To really create a sound you love and are comfortable with, you need plenty of space and peace within your practice; take things slowly, don’t put pressure on yourself and take the time to hear and feel things clearly.

The sound we make is the most personal thing about our playing - everyone’s tone is unique. No two violinists sound the same, nor should they sound the same. Be inspired by other musicians’ sounds, of course, but remember to be yourself. The route we each take to developing our own sound is a voyage of experimentation and discovery: rewarding, completely engrossing, and of course it can also be frustrating at times! But it is about finding a balance and remembering to take the time you need to work on it.

The videos have been generously supported by ESTA UK, MiSST – The Andrew Lloyd Webber Programme, and Oasby Music Group and I am very grateful for their support.

Huge thanks to our media partners Classic FM, The Strad, The Violin Channel and WQXR who will be sharing the videos with their audiences each week when released.

Finally, these videos wouldn’t have been possible without an amazing team: Scott Jaeger, our film maker, Laura Gardiner, our Education Manager, Rebecca Driver, PR Manager and Hannah King, Online Media Manager. I want to say a huge thank you to all four of them for being with me on this journey.

If you have any questions, or you want to know more, leave me a message in the comments.

Nicky

00:06 Producing Sound
04:12 Contrasting Sounds
06:26 Experimentation
12:31 Exercises
16:21 Collective Sound

Film produced by www.jaegerfilm.com

Notes from the Film:

To see more of Julian Rachlin teaching, this would be a good place to start:
Julian Rachlin | Bowing Masterclass | Part 2 | 'Optimum bow angle, contact point & change technique' https://youtu.be/UBY2pxbKEII

To see more of Pinchas Zukerman teaching, you could start here:
Violin Position - Bow In & Out (Pinchas Zukerman) - https://youtu.be/rVfp0P_1dGE

Kreutzer Studies referred to in the film can be found here:
https://imslp.org/wiki/%C3%89tudes_ou_caprices_(Kreutzer,_Rodolphe)

YouTube links:

Below are the links to the clips used in this film if you want to find out and watch more:

Beethoven Kreutzer Sonata No.9 - Patricia Kopatchinskaja & Fazıl Say - https://youtu.be/OF9fneQ50Us

En Aranjuez con tu amor - Andrea Bocelli - Concert. One Night in Central Park - https://youtu.be/fV-_rlqC3ok

Nicola Benedetti: Beethoven on period instruments - https://youtu.be/wOkIZ9TjvYE

Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1 - Julian Rachlin - Orchestre National de France - Daniele Gatti - https://youtu.be/W0lJa-Do7F0

Pinchas Zukerman, Marc Neikrug: Johannes Brahms - A major Violin Sonata No.2, Opus 100 - https://youtu.be/ihccHvgXbJg

Janine Jansen: "Melodie" (Pyotr Tchaikovsky) – encore 30.03.17 - https://youtu.be/Ie4He0vOR2Q

Nicola Benedetti Masterclass at RWCMD - Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 by Tchaikovsky - https://youtu.be/cTNQ70UWVLU

Bruch - Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor - I. Vorspiel: Allegro moderato (Zukerman / Mehta) - https://youtu.be/srQLtBsiiKc

Vengerov - Waxman - Carmen Fantasy - https://youtu.be/yfHA7Qqs97o

Cadenza- Beethoven violin concerto - Anne Sophie Mutter - https://youtu.be/7IwVou8HAHc

Milstein plays Brahms - https://youtu.be/Clque0acvaE

Hilary Hahn - Glazunov - Violin Concerto in A minor, Op 82 - https://youtu.be/jq8oxIgyp8E

NCO: Symphony No. 5 - 1st movement, Tchaikovsky - https://youtu.be/EonnVpVQu8Q

Видео "With Nicky" - Developing your sound канала Nicola Benedetti