19 THE CHORDAL CONCEPT: LEFT HAND EXPANSION So far the discussion and examples for the left hand have been basically within the framework of tis el of a fourth, or the double stop of an octave (first and fourth finger). To advance one’ res a layer now think, listen, and perform in the context of the interval of a fifth. We will call this a ‘‘chordal” concept. In order to better understand the benefits of a chordal approach, we will imagine a violinist with five playing fingers instead of four. Let us see what could be done. Thirds could be played as follows. Ex. 45 ‘The same with fingered octaves: Ex. 46 Ex. 48 ‘Thus three double stops instead of two can be played before shifting, an advantage of 50 percent, Obviously we eannot graft on another finger but we can obtain five finger benefits from four by trying to keep the interval of fifth within our grasp (the root, third, and fifth of a chord). ‘The following example demonstrates that we can encompass this chordal outline with four fingers. The fifth finger is held down (e and b) to cheek in tonation, and fingers two and three can be altered as a finger exercise, 48751