196 CHAPTER 9: CONCLUSION Many of the newer techniques and technical devices found in contemporary scores for the violin are not necessarily new skills, but old skills used in new ways. Many, if not most were created and/or discovered long ago. Placement of the bow to create different timbres such as sul ponticello and sul tasto can be found as far back as the seventeenth century, as can different ways of employing the bow, such as the use of col legno and tremolo. In addition, the use of pizzicato and harmonics can be found as far back as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Even the use of percussive devices is not new, as demonstrated by Rossini’s Opera, Il Signor Bruschino, where the violins are instructed to tap the stands with their bows. What gives these technical devices new meaning is the way in which they are used today. In the past, many of the aforementioned techniques were rarely used. Today, these effects can be found in profusion. In addition, many of these technical devices are combined with other technical devices in a myriad of different ways, as the composer seeks to create ever-new timbres, sounds, and effects. The use of traditional or standard training methods, specifically those etude and method books that were written in the nineteenth century, leave the violinist unprepared for the challenges of music written in the twentieth century. These traditional method books are not to be discarded, for they provide good, fundamental grounding in the basics of violin playing. Scholars contend that the use of contemporary study material must not replace, but supplement the already existing and widely used traditional, etude books. When seeking out these contemporary etude books, there is a perception that contemporary study material is scarce or unavailable. This research has uncovered197 sixteen, commercially available books. Thus, there appears to be a significant number of contemporary etude books for the violin. In addition, these publications have been written by some of the greatest composers of the twentieth-century. The documentation of these commercially available books1 concludes the first part of this study. The second part of this study sought to create a way for the teacher to discern the value any particular contemporary book might have for a student. Many of the traditional and standard etude books used today have a long history of use, and have gained a foothold in the studio. The newer, contemporary etudes do not have such a long history of use, and may be one of the reasons that they are not widely used. When faced with the possibility of choosing from a sixteen, commercially available contemporary etude books, a tool was created to assist the teacher in determining the precise nature of contemporary techniques presented. To create this tool, all of the techniques found in contemporary scores, as documented by scholars, were compiled and organized into an objective form called a Content Analysis Form for Contemporary Violin Etude Books. This form is not meant to be a tool for theoretical analysis. Its function is to record those techniques deemed important for the successful performance of contemporary music. It is intended to be useful in examining the nature and extent of contemporary practices in any and all violin etudes, not just those included in the present study. The third and last part of this study was to demonstrate the use of this form on five, selected contemporary etude books. The selected etude books were written by composers with international reputations, those composers who shaped compositional thought during the twentieth century. In fact, one of the composers chosen, John Cage, 1Commercially available in the United States.198 has been described as one of the most influential composers of the twentieth-century.2 When one examines the completed Content Analysis Forms from this study, it is easy to see that many of them emphasize a limited area of contemporary skills. The narrow focus of certain technical skills is not uncommon for an etude. In fact, the purpose of the etude is to present a technical problem or challenge in the context of a musical setting. For example, the etudes of Ysaÿe use specific intervals and double-stops, thus stressing left-hand and aural skills. The etudes of Martinu stress rhythmic skills. While the etudes of Adler and Hindemith cover a variety of issues, the individual etudes in each set focus on one, sometimes two facets of contemporary violin technique. Even the Freeman Etudes by John Cage, with its diverse array of techniques, can be seen as etudes that focus on one skill, that of abruptly switching back and forth between techniques. The Cage Freeman Etudes stand apart in their incorporation of many types of contemporary technique. The Content Analysis Forms demonstrate that the Freeman Etudes display both a large number of contemporary techniques as well as providing depth of coverage. Of the five etude books analyzed using the Content Analysis Form, this research has determined that the Freeman Etudes provides the best coverage, both depth and breadth, of twentieth-century violin techniques. Especially notable are the use of expanded timbres and the rapid change between techniques. With the exception of any non-traditional uses of bow, (such as bowing under the strings of the violin or bowing the strings of the peg box), the trill, percussive effects, and the use of mute, the two etudes analyzed utilized every other aspect of contemporary 2James Pritchett and Laura Kuhn. “Cage, John,” in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanlie Sadie, vol. 4, 796-800 (New York: Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2001), 796.199 violin technique. Most notable were the rapid changes of bow placement and the rapid uses of bow. These technical feats were most often accompanied by the rapid and drastic changes of dynamic that further increased the difficulty level. Also notable were the use of time and meter. Measures are notated in a non-traditional fashion, and are marked under the staff. The grouping of notes within a measure represented a different practice of marking time. Within a frame of 3½ seconds per measure, one could estimate how close in time adjacent notes are to be played by their proximity to one another. The closer two notes are together, the closer in time they are to be played. This different way of marking time is not too far