The edition I am analyzing of this piece is from the Barbara Barber Solos for Young Violinist.

This piece contains many challenges for players of very high skill level.

  • Use of the whole bow and uneven bow distributions in the Theme – This should be planned out if the student has trouble using the whole bow and different parts of the bow for the theme at the beginning.
  • Challenging tuning in beginning of Theme – Tuning should be paid attention to in this theme as it is difficult because of intervals that leap.
  • Shifts to fourth position for harmonics in Variation 1 – Instead of an extension, students should shift to the fourth position for the harmonic.
  • Spiccato Bowing in Variation 2 – Any etude that uses spiccato on singled and doubled notes can be used. Kayser #19 is a favorite of mine for spiccato on doubled notes.
  • Ricochet Bowing in Variation 2 – There is a Wohlfahrt Op. 45, No. 40 can be practiced with ricochet. (It is not notated with ricochet in the Foundation Studies Book 2 No. 8, but it can be played that way as a variation.)
  • Down bow chords in Variation 2 – The challenging part of this section is tuning while moving 2 and 3 back and forth and then dropping 3 and 4.
  • Chords with slurred string crossings in Variation 2 – These chords are simple, but execution should be practiced so the bow moves evenly across the strings.
  • Chords with left hand pizzicato in Variation 3 – Smooth dotted half notes should be played while chords are played underneath.
  • Challenging shifting and tuning in Variation 3
  • Harmonics in Variation 3 – A scale in harmonics (like from the Flesch book) can be used to get proper tone on this passage.