HOW TO PRACTISE ŠEVČĺK'S MASTERWORKS - 2

  Ševčík's method is sometimes criticised for developing one-sided virtuosity in the pupil.  This is unjustified: It is not fair to blame the method for having been applied to men of outstanding and lesser genius alike.
  The true musicality contained in his works is just as
outstanding as their practicality.  Whoever studied under Ševčík's guidance and had the benefit of his oral instruction knows how he insisted on good musical interpretation.
  Consequently,  though Ševčík's  personal  teaching was fully adequate both technically and musically, it may not be so simple to apply the printed music to full advantage, for none of his works contains adequate instructions about the necessary and efficient condition of the physical mechanism.  This Ševčík controlled and corrected when teaching.  Sparing of words in his lessons and never fond of lengthy explanations, he gave his students useful exercises designed to eliminate or correct faulty movements.
  Like any other course of studies for the violin, Ševčík's work, though more concentrated and rational, is a means of schooling the sequence of movement. It is however impossible to secure functionally correct performance through exercises unless the right attitude exists towards physical problems.  This attitude may be a natural gift or it must be developed through a conscious grasp of the principles of movement.
  All repeated actions become habitual : if motions are
systematically  wrongly  practised,  i.e.  inefficiently
executed, they will defeat their aim.  In short, one may learn systematically what is wrong just as easily as what is correct.
   In his Violin Method Ševčík aimed at absolute freedom and independence of both left and right hand. To achieve this, he proceeded so systematically that every possible movement is provided for.
   Such thoroughness combined with such rational selection of material had never been achieved before in a method of musical studies.  However, Ševčík presupposed a natural ability for faultless playing functions.
  When studying, one of the greatest dangers is to apply force when attempting to overcome emerging difficulties.  This results in strain which will magnify the handicap, rather than remove it.  All playing motions must, therefore, be practised first at a slow pace in order to control their ease of execution as well as their correct course, and intonation.  The pupil must learn how to remove inhibitions by reducing the tension which arises through overstretching during
practice.  What must be "practised " is the permanent control of the state of tension and of the unimpeded course of motions.  But in 95 cases out of 100, the violinist assumes that practice consists in the countless repetition of functionally faulty passages, hoping in vain that they will thereby one day become faultless.
   Speeding up of motions automatically adds to the tension.  It follows that it is necessary to practise with a minimum of strain so that no hypertension can develop when speed of movement is increased.  For, if the movement of playing is not relatively effortless and faultless at a slow speed, it will be even less so at a fast speed.