As editor of the Viola Forum of the American String Teacher from 1972-78, he contributed numerous scholarly articles. He was also the author of several widely used string methods. In addition to his involvement with ASTA, Kievman was a strong leader of the American Viola Society and of the International Viola Society.
In the early 1980s, I studied for my Master's degree with Kievman at the California State UniversityBLong Beach. During this time, he taught lessons and master classes at his home in beautiful Pacific Palisades. (There I saw an incredible tapestry patterned after his extremely rare Gasparo da Salo viola.) I would like to share some of the many performance concepts that were imparted to me during several years of lessons and conversations with Kievman.
Louis Kievman was one of the most fiery and dynamic teachers with whom I have ever worked. His energy was focused like a laser beam on every detail of my performance and technique from start to finish of each lesson. I would be exhausted from the intensity of my lesson, while Kievman had tremendous drive even into his seventies. He was relentless in his demands for perfection and knew exactly how to tell the student what to do to achieve it.
Back to Basics
One of the greatest secrets to Kievman's success as a violist and as a teacher was his insistence on the basics of technique. He was not satisfied that even a graduate student could perform a whole note properly. At one of my first lessons, he asked me to show him my instrument. Naturally, I presented him with my viola. He leaned out of his chair and said, “Aha, I thought so! Don't you know that the bow is your instrument! The viola doesn't make a sound without it, except for a few pizzicatos.” From that time on, I began a careful study of bow technique, bow proportion, and bow economy. He was insistent that 50 percent of the practice time be spent on right‑hand technique and 50 percent of the time on left‑hand technique.
The bow is like a paint brush with the hairs being pulled rather than pushed on each stroke. The bridge then becomes the artist's pallet, where different textures are produced. Kievman divided the bow into three separate sections. “To draw an even tone out of the viola,” he cautioned, “we must be aware of the speed of the bow in each section proportionate to the dynamic level that we wish to achieve.” The reason many students achieve a mf sound is because they pull the bow fast at the frog and the tip and concentrate on the middle. This is fine if you want to achieve a mf. For f or ff, however, the bow is held back at the frog and the tip, moving slowly and released in the middle. A p is achieved by moving the bow at a fast speed throughout, with a lighter pressure. In one eight‑bar phrase of a concerto, the performer may change the bow speed and proportion several times to achieve the proper dynamic coloring. This is artistry in motion.
Bow economy can either bankrupt violists or make them wealthy. As Kievman explained, “One of the most common faults of beginning students is that they spend all of their bow on the short notes, and they are stingy with their long notes. The opposite is true. Use less than one inch of bow on the short notes and give more bow to the long notes.” He often said, “It doesn't take a genius to figure out that too much bow on the fast notes means wasted energy and tendonitis.”
Many professionals have studied from Kievman's method book, Practicing the Viola: MentallyBPhysically. I was very fortunate to have first‑hand instruction from Kievman on exactly how these exercises are to be performed. Part I includes eight lessons for strengthening the left hand technique, and Part II includes ten lessons for the bow arm. I bought the book about two years before I met Louis Kievman and thought that the exercises were simple. Nothing could be further from the truth. If done with perfect mental focus, the Kievman exercises are some of the most powerful lessons a violist can practice. After following his instructions carefully and slowly, my tone and technique improved beyond what I thought possible.
Kievman talked a great deal about the importance of gravity in performance of the right‑ and left‑hand techniques. He told me, “It is far easier to place your finger down than to pick it up, because gravity is going against you. Yet the trick is to make it sound as if both are easy.” Similarly, “It is easier to play a down-bow stroke than an up‑bow stroke because of gravity, yet the artist must make the bow sound as if we are using a wheel of horse hair with a smooth continuous sound as if there was no bow change at all.” While working with the Vertical Movement (Trill Motion) he would say, “Each note should sound like a bullet being fired.” The motivation must come from the knuckle root.
Finger Independence
It is interesting how the strength of the left hand often determines the quality of intonation in the performer. Kievman prescribed double stops to strengthen the left hand. The side benefit of double stops is that the intonation also improves on single notes, especially in the higher registers. Kievman stressed the importance of finger independence as well. Several exercises in Practicing the Viola help with left‑hand facility. He gave me several exercises that are not in this book, or, as far as I know, in any other book.
The first “finger independence exercise” is a silent exercise where each of the fingers are placed in order on a different string, for example, 1 C, 2G, 3D, and 4A. The student then moves the first finger from the C string to the A string several times without picking up the other three fingers. This is easy. Now the student replaces the first finger and moves the second finger from the C to the A string. Again, no cheating with the other fingers. The third finger is the most difficult to move successfully. The fourth finger is usually more flexible. Now you reverse the order of the fingersB lA, 2D, 3G, 4C B and do the exercise again in the same manner.
In the second finger independence exercise, the student performs a C major scale in left‑hand pizzicato, the next highest finger always plucking the note being played. Kievman often warmed up in the morning on the 24th Paganini Caprice, and I was amazed at the brilliance of his left‑hand pizzicato in this exercise.
The third exercise is a silent exercise to do when sitting in classrooms or traveling on airplanes. Kievman instructed me to put all five fingers curved on the desk and move each finger back and forth between its neighbors without picking up the other four. This is then transferred to the viola in the fourth exercise. Each finger in succession is slid back and forth on the string, slowly and evenly, in between the stationary fingers.
Finally, students should make up their own finger twisters by holding one finger stationary on one string and playing slow finger trills of a second or a third interval on a higher or lower string. This can be done with or without the bow, but not to the point of damaging the left hand. Kievman warned not to over practice any exercise. “If it hurts, your body is telling you to stop before there is damage.”
Shifting
Kievman broke down the elements of shifting into the basic units of movement. “There are three actions which take place in shifting,” he told me, “releasing your finger, sliding lightly across the top of the string, and pressing again in the new position.” This may seem simple, but as we all know, shifting is one of the most difficult tasks in playing the viola. If you fail to release at the same time as the bow change, the result will be disjointed. The hand moves as a unit to the next position, guided by the thumb and with the instrument held by the chin rather than the left hand. Often, the difficulty comes in arriving at the new note prematurely and then not committing yourself strongly enough to the new note. The result is a jerking motion, an uneven shift, and an out‑of‑tune note, instead of a graceful motion.
Kievman was also careful to point out that in shifting positions and landing on a new finger, on the way up, the finger you are leaving guides you into the new position, and the new finger replaces it at the last second.
Balance
Kievman and I talked a great deal about balance and tracking down tension between the two arms. He pointed to the tendon at the back of the neck and said, “The right and the left arms are connected by this tendon. If there is tension in the left hand, it will be transferred to the right hand, and visa versa.” He said that “often a left hand problem is actually caused by a right hand problem. The balance of the two arms is necessary to achieve perfect articu1ation.” The position of each hand is natural, never contorted or forced or stiff.
The right hand can help out the left by motivating the stroke properly. If you know where you are heading with a phrase, and in what part of the bow you want to be when you get there, then the notes of the left hand will fall in place without effort. For example, spiccato is done with a flat wrist, slightly below the middle of the bow; it is motivated by the forearm with the elbow down, and the bow bounces more off the string than on. Sautillé, however, is a hand motion: the fingers of the bow move up and down at the wrist, slightly above the middle of the bow, and the bow stroke is more on then off. Parlando is motivated by the first finger pressing on the bow as you draw it slowly across the string.
Practice
According to Kievman, “Ideally, one should devote 50 percent of the lesson or practice time to technique and 50 percent to repertoire.” Many students want to rush to the dessert, and skip the meat and potatoes. “If you take a concerto from A to Z without stopping, you are just practicing your bad habits.”
I was already a professional by the time I came to Louis Kievman for lessons. He showed me ways to get the most quality out of the little practice time I had left between graduate work and symphony jobs. He showed me about 50 different ways to practice eight measures of a difficult sixteenth note passage. I practiced the same passage with different bowings, rhythms, dynamics; by starting up‑bow and down‑bow; and in triplets, reversed rhythms, and even taking the piece backwards. When I was done, the section was learned and worked every time. “If you program a note in wrong on the first reading, then it will be five times more difficult to program it right again, so practice a new piece very carefully,” he warned me. Kievman also advised, “You should practice a passage with the same amount of bow or bow stroke at a slower speed as you will be using in performance up to tempo.”
Finally, Louis Kievman taught me several things about how to be successful as a musician. He often reminded me of the old adage, “In tune, on time, and in tempo.” He said that if a student can't do these three things, then “he might as well be a plumber instead of a musician.” He told me hair‑raising stories about Toscanini firing musicians for the slightest indiscretion. “To be a professional musician,” Kievman said, “you need the hide of a rhinoceros.” To be a concert artist, “An earthquake could shake the concert hall, and you would not be distracted in the least.” He also encouraged me not to take every job that came my way. “A good violist can get all the jobs he wants. It's better to stay at home and practice than to take a job that will lead nowhere. That way, when the big audition comes, you will be prepared.”
Louis Kievman told me, “You can't worry about something you can do nothing about.” For example, if you have a short fourth finger on your left hand, all of the worrying in the world will not make that finger grow a fraction. Instead, “Concentrate on those problems that you can fix right now.”
In his straightforward, clear‑thinking manner, Louis Kievman was a great teacher. By following the Kievman methods, I was no longer just a professional violist. He gave me a greater musical vocabulary to use in my quest of becoming an artist. Many of his students have gone on to become prominent teachers, solo artists, and professionals with major symphonies throughout the United States. His contribution to the viola world cannot be measured, because he has touched so many lives. It is my hope that his teaching will continue through his students and through his books and articles. We will miss him very dearly.
It was told to me by a close follower that as Louis Kievman was nearing the end of his incredibly productive life, even to the last days, he continued to teach. His dedication to the viola as a solo instrument was extremely rewarding to those of us who knew first hand the value of his teaching.
Carolyn Waters Broe received her Masters of Fine Arts degree from California State University B Long Beach, where she studied with Louis Kievman. After six years as principal violist of the Capistrano Valley Symphony and as music director for the Capistrano Chamber Players, she former her own orchestra in 1990. She is now executive director of the Four Seasons Orchestra in Scottsdale, Arizona. |
