Corda Music Publications – The Viol Rules  ISBN 978-0-9528220-4-2


A Notebook by Alison Crum  —  £19.00 plus post & packing

also available in French translation:

Règles pour la Viole   ISBN 978-1-914076-12-1

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It is more than twenty five years since Alison Crum wrote her first seminal book Play the Viol. The Viol Rules is a detailed analysis drawn from many years of teaching the viol in colleges seminars, courses and festivals around the world, updating and expanding on many of the topics first discussed in Play the Viol. The Viol Rules is not intended as a complete tutor for the viol, but rather a reflection and enlargement based on many years of teaching experience. There are multiple music examples, with explanatory text on a facing page so that technique and interpretation can be instantly cross referenced to the music. There are a number of full colour illustrations, including details taken from historical works of art, as well as humorous sketches to enliven the matters dealt with in the text.

The principal chapters are:

Basics – Holding the viol, Left hand position, Holding the bow, Moving the bow.

Bowing – Bow speed, Pressure and weight, Distance from the bridge, Starting a note, Bow changes, Bow direction, Bow distribution, Dotted notes, String crossing, Articulation, Phrasing.

Fingering – Resonance, Fingering choices, Playing in higher positions.

Music Examples – from works by Byrd, Tye, Purcell, Lawes, Jenkins, Ward, Gibbons, Holborne, Mundy, Locke, Ferabosco, Ravenscroft, Buxtehude, Marais,Telemann.

Preparing to Play - Equipment, Practising, The well-tempered consort, Solo playing

There is a list of treatises and sources, a selection of web pages to visit, a glossary of terms used and an index. 148 pages (2nd edition, March 2015). Price £19.00 plus postage. We can give you a quote for postage when we know where to send it.


Règles pour la Viole (The Viol Rules)

Alison Crum est heureuse d’annoncer la publication de Règles pour la Viole, la version française de The Viol Rules. L'intérêt de cette traduction est de mettre son contenu à la portée des lecteurs non anglophones, et de présenter aux violistes francophones pas moins de 44 pièces appartenant au répertoire anglais de la viole, rarement décrites en français.

Les étudiants, les débutants ou les violistes amateurs (adultes et seniors), et particulièrement ceux dont les progrès sont entravés par l'absence de professeur, bénéficieront également des très nombreux conseils pratiques couvrant tous les aspects du jeu de la viole — avec l'avantage d'éviter tout effort de traduction.


Les Bases                                     L'Archet                                                                 Les Doigtés

La Tenue de la Viole                       La Vitesse d’Archet                                                 La Résonance

La Position de la Main Gauche         La Pression et le Poids                                             Le Choix des Doigtés

La Tenue de l’Archet                      La Distance par Rapport au Chevalet                        Jouer dans les Positions Aiguës

Le Déplacement de L’Archet          Démarrer une Note                                                  La Musique

                                                      Les Changements d’Archet                                      Se Préparer à Jouer

                                                      La Conduite de l’Archet                                           S’Équiper

                                                      La Répartition de l’Archet                                        S’Entraîner

                                                      Les Notes Pointées                                                  Le Consort Bien Tempéré

                                                      Les Changements de Cordes                                    Jouer en Solo

                                                      L’Articulation                                                           Conclusion

                                                      Le Phrasé

            L’ouvrage de référence d’Alison Crum sur le jeu de la viole de gambe, enfin disponible en français.

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Alison Crum is internationally acknowledged as the doyenne of British viol teachers. Professor of the viol at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London for more than thirty years, and also teacher and advisor to West Dean College, she is also a visiting teacher at a number of universities and institutions worldwide. After reading music at university she went on to advanced studies on the viol with Wieland Kuijken and Jordi Savall. Well known as a concert artiste, she has made more than one hundred recordings with many specialist early music groups, many of them with the Rose Consort of Viols. Corda Music publish her books of First Solos and Intermediate Solos for each size of viol, as well as her collection of Pièces de Résistance – a selection of 'naughty bits' for the bass viol drawn from the master composers of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Since 1997, as acknowledgement for her masterly contribution to the world of the viol, she has been the invited President of the Viola da Gamba Society of Great Britain.

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Last updated  19th April 2022