of fingering, when practising scales and exercises. If a passage of extraordinary difficulty presents itself, stop and analyse it, then decide upon some way of fingering. Whether the best way will be adopted is another matter, and a matter in which our first class artists disagree, but the chief thing is to adhere to the fingering adopted.

The fingers must be firmly placed on the strings; to allow this, and so that the tips of the fingers are used, the joints must be bent outwards. This will allow the fingers to fall and rise like little hammers; and also if properly accomplished, will cause the strings to pass under the centre of the tip of each finger, in an almost parallel line with the tip edge of each finger nail. A very important rule, is to have as many fingers placed on the strings as possible, thus when playing the fourth finger, do not have the other three pointing upwards in as many different directions, they should be placed in semitones on the string, ready for use if a descending passage happens to follow. In some cases of vibrato, and always when playing harmonics, the fingers behind the one used must be kept off the strings; even then it is advisable to have them only slightly raised, and bent ready for use. In descending passages as previously hinted, the fingers must be placed simultaneously on the strings, the necessary fingers being raised as the passage proceeds; the student will find it rather difficult at first to place the fingers in tune behind the one actually played, but constant practice will accomplish this.

CHAPTER V.

General Remarks on Bowing—A Useful Method of Combining Scale Practice with the Study of Various Bowings—Smooth Bowings—Crescendo—Diminuendo—The Slur.

Bowing.

The student should always strive to produce a beautiful pleasing tone from his instrument. Rapidity of execution can be acquired with downright hard work, but great skill, prompted and controlled by a fine sense of tone quality is necessary to obtain a full tone, without it partaking of a hard, forced quality, or accompanied by scraping so pronounced as to be most unpleasant except perhaps to people at a great distance from the player. To acquire this skill, and also in some measure to educate the ear to the various tone-colour effects which are possible on the violoncello, much thoughtful practice is necessary. The student must not only know the correct movements which the hand and arm are to make in performing any particular style of bowing, but with much practice, he must so develop the muscles of his bow-arm, that they respond instantly to effect the slightest change in the amount of pressure required for the different degrees of sound-volume, or for the various parts of the bow used.

Eventually it will be found that it is possible to produce a complete change in tone-colour, which will prove a great relief to a continued tone of one character. Thus by using a whole length bow, without any pressure for a note of a certain description, the quality of tone produced will be far different to that obtained by using half the length of bow, with pressure applied to make up the sound volume. This and other changes in tone-colour will gradually unfold themselves to the student, if after thoroughly mastering the correct way of holding the bow, he practises the following bowings according to the directions given.

Various Bowings Applied to Scale Practice.

It is a mistake for a young player to imagine that after he has once "been through" the scales with his teacher, he need never bother himself about them again. When the major and minor scales in three octaves can be played from memory, it will be found to be of great assistance in keeping the intonation correct in all the keys, to adopt a system of daily scale practice. The number of scales taken each day must depend upon the amount of time which each student has at command; it is advisable, however, to be content with one kind of bowing each week, and even longer may be devoted to bowings which are difficult to master, or in which the student happens to be backward. The advantage of studying the various bowings after this method, is that the attention of the student, not being occupied with reading the music, can be fully directed to the management of the bow.

Smooth Bowings.