Starting from the string (SOS, or grounding one’s overall technique by focusing on the moment the bow first touches the string) is a critical tool in making playing both better and easier.
By Laurie Niles | From the November-December 2020 issue of Strings magazine Flashy bow strokes, such as spiccato, sautillé, staccato, and ricochet, get a lo... Read More...
Awareness of the bow arm is key to improving tone and technique—and it all begins with the bow hold. Here's how to develop structure and flexibility in your bow hold.
Martelé bowing is remarkably useful as a teaching tool, specifically for bow-hand strength & balance, & for development of accurate direction in the bow arm.
Having skied almost daily now for nearly two months straight, I’ve discovered some things in the frozen wilderness that have direct string-playing parallels. It turns out violists can learn a lot about bowing from a set of ski poles.
Before you can produce the smooth sound on violin, viola, cello, or bass, that attracted you to strings in the first place, you have to overcome that tension in the bow hand.
By Miranda Wilson
“Your bow’s not straight.” I found myself writing this comment again and again in undergraduate string juries, often for good players who ha... Read More...
By Miranda Wilson
Every great composer has a few signature devices that happen so often, and in so many compositions, that an experienced listener can instantl... Read More...