Drawing on the principles of Francesco Geminiani and four decades ofexperience as a baroque and classical violinist, Stanley Ritchie offers a valuableresource for anyone wishing to learn about 17th-18th-and early 19th-century violintechnique and style. While much of the work focuses on the technical aspects ofplaying the pre-chinrest violin, these approaches are also applicable to the viola, and in many ways to the modern violin. Before the Chinrest includes illustratedsections on right- and left-hand technique, aspects of interpretation during theBaroque, Classical, and early-Romantic eras, and a section on developing properintonation.

Preface and AcknowledgementsHow to Support the Pre-Chinrest ViolinI. Right Hand TechniqueGeneral Observations1. Tone ProductionBasic Right-Hand TechniqueThe Importance of Arm WeightThe Use of Arm Weight2. Bow-StrokesLifted strokesSlurred notesRetakingZ-bowingMartelé and SpiccatoSautilléBariolageOndeggiando3. Chordal Technique4. Bow Division5. Swift-Bows6. Combination StrokesII. Left-Hand Technique7. Position-Changing ExercisesSome Basic ConceptsThe Position Of The Left HandThe SwingShiftingHalf-positionVibratoIII. Interpretation8. ExpressionAffect and rhetoricThe role of analysisThe importance of the bass-lineThe tyranny of the barlineThe significance of metreShaping notes and gesturesBeware of the beam!The trouble with notationThe reality of rubato9. Dynamics and NuanceHarmonyMelodyFigures of musical speech(i) Repetition(ii) Sequences(iii) Tessitura(iv) The question(v) The exclamation(vi) Silence10. TempoMetrical symbolsHarmonic motionTechnical complexityAffective wordsCautionary and qualifying wordsBaroque dance movements11. OrnamentationSymbolicNotated ornamentsUn-notated ornaments12. Baroque ClichésThe classic cadential formulaSlurred articulationsThe hemiolaPulsationsSuspensionsSyncopationsMelodic accents"Down-downs"The ultimate Baroque clichéIV. Technique and Practice Guide13. TuningA word about intonationTuningDifference tonesDifference tone exerciseVisualizingWarm-up exercisesA shifting exercise14. Exercises Starting on First FingerScalesBroken ThirdsDouble-stopped ThirdsSixthsOctavesFingered OctavesTenthsArpeggios15. Exercises Starting on GScalesBroken ThirdsDouble-stopped ThirdsSixthsOctavesFingered OctavesTenthsArpeggios16. Half PositionNotesIndex