Are there any helpful tips and approaches to practicing that notorious sixths passage half way into the first movement of the Walton Concerto?
The age-old practice technique for double-stops of fingering both notes but sounding only one, then switching to the other, works pretty well for this passage. When doing it this way and when putting it all together, remember to keep a light touch in the left hand, and always use the same bowing you will ultimately be doing, so that anything in the left hand which needs to happen cleanly during the bow change will also be practiced in context. Follow up non-vibrato practice for intonation purity with addition of vibrato, and keep this vibrato small enough that the interval is still clearly in tune. Try the passage in many different practice tempi, both 1) very, very slowly with total awareness of the sixteenth-note rhythmic subdivision to perfectly time shifts and finger placements, and 2) too fast a tempo on purpose, to insure that your touch is light and your movements both unhesitating and accurate. Sometimes experimentation with the bow’s amount, part, weight, and contact point wil
