Should a concert violinist be able to play 32nd notes at150 bpm?
Asked by
Strauss (
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August 2nd, 2024
I’ve written a piece for a vocalist accompanied by string ensemble, with the tempo at 150 beats per minute. I’ve included a solo violin run that contains 32nd notes. I like the way it sounds in a digital playback; but I’m not sure if it is actually reasonable to expect a human musician to play it in person.
—For non-musicians, a 32nd note is 1/8 of a beat,—
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12 Answers
While there may be violinists who could pull it off, it’s not something I would expect any violinist to be able to do (even solo violinists). How reasonable it is also depends on what sort of articulation is called for, as well as how many string crossings the run requires. You’ll never get a clean staccato sound at that speed, for example. An actual violinist could give you more specific feedback if you showed them the music.
And while you probably already know this, I will remind you not to get too attached to how a piece sounds in digital playbacks.
If you’d feel comfy uploading your piece, I’d like to hear it.
That way I could give you an en veritas opey dopey. ;-p
That would also give me an idea of how it would sound on guitar.
Given your parameters, I’d say for a second or two they might be able to, depending on what the notes are. You are talking about playing 20 notes per second. This is not reasonable for a human to do with any accuracy, if at all. Again, if the notes were on different strings and were repeated, where the violinist could just pull the bow across a series of strings rapidly, it might be able to be done…but not well.
Ask a violinist. They should be able to tell you. I would be curious what they say
@Caravanfan I used to play cello. The fingering and performance is the same as with violin, except the spacing is bigger. It comes down to how fast a person can move fingers and hands. To play 20 separate notes in one second is basically impossible, but could be possible given certain criteria. If I just have to saw my bow back and forth for a second I might be able to meet that speed.
Ben Lee did an electric violin version of Flight of the Bumblebee and got up to 15 notes per second.
I’ll ask my sister, she is a professional concert violinist.
@seawulf575 I play the banjo, which can be played pretty fast and I don’t think I could play 32nd notes at 150 bpm. I was thinking that maybe possibly it could be played on a violin by sliding aross the notes glissando.
@Caravanfan That’s sort of what I was suggesting. Sliding across or up/down on the strings could effectively hit a certain number of notes, but it isn’t actually playing the notes, per se. And it couldn’t be done for any length of time.
In a word, Yes. That is a standard practice goal for many violinist. I have heard some get above 270bpm.
Flight of the Bumble Bee is written for 150.
My sister says not really but 16th notes at 150 bpm is very much a requirement.
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