Abstract:
Coordinated Action in String Playing: A Comparative Study of the Teachings of Paul Rolland and Karen Tuttle by Lauren Burns Paul Rolland and Karen Tuttle were two prominent pedagogues in the twentieth century with remarkable similarities regarding emphasis on naturalness and freedom of motion for string playing. This study provides biographical information on each pedagogue and a comparison of their specific teachings in the following categories: teaching philosophy, posture, bowing and the left arm. Some relevant examples from Rolland's Action Studies are interspersed to provide the viola teacher with examples of this resource, useful for developing these fundamentals or correcting a student's faults in preparation for studies in Tuttle's "coordination" system. I then set forth a group of studies, modeled after Rolland's Action Studies, that the viola teacher may use for exploring Tuttle's "coordination" ideas and training musical expression in students. Tuttle's "coordination" system is useful for teaching artistry and expression, especially if the student has expressive potential as well as the ability to understand tension and release. The "Coordination" Studies that I have provided in this document make these ideas available and accessible to other teachers, with concrete exercises for developing each technique in a teaching situation. When combined with proper technical fundamentals that can be established by the use of Rolland's Action Studies, a viola teacher can use these two systems to train students as complete artists with sufficient technical and expressive skills.
