“This manual is written for members of a string quartet who want to improve their playing so that their quartet sounds like a “real quartet.” This manual offers tips on how your quartet playing can be improved, how you, through your own effort, can attain a higher level and greater satisfaction. This manual is neither a study text nor a recipe book. It does not recommend methods for individual practice. It is not meant to replace individual teachers or chamber music coaches, but is intended rather as an additional resource in their absence. We are limiting ourselves to the string quartet, as it is the most common string chamber music ensemble with the most extensive and important literature. String trios, quintets and sextets are somewhat different but our advice is also applicable here. You may already have incorporated some of the tips you find here into your playing. Even so, you may want to pass them on to your fellow players. Perhaps you will not agree with a ti p. Discuss this with your fellow players as objectively as possible before deciding how you and your group want to proceed. You will find cross references to the Exercises for String Quartet by Mogens Heimann (available under Online Resources on the ACMP Web site, www.acmp.net) scattered throughout the text. You will also find references in brackets to selected movements from readily available quartets with which to test the topic in question. A bibliography of related books and articles appears at the end.”

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String Quartet Self-Coaching (English)