Feeling the momentum of the bow
With
Simon Fischer
What's in the course
11 lessons (1h 7m) · 1 free
01. Warm up to exercise one with a simple straight-bow exercise
Free lesson1:53
02. Explanation and demonstration of exercise one
27:16
03. Exercise one in more detail
12:03
04. Isolating the elements
3:16
05. Playing musically
4:41
06. Making the perfect change of bow
7:03
07. No such thing as an inaudible bow-change
1:22
08. Feeling the momentum of the bow
You are here3:18
09. Adding the left fingers
1:15
10. Applying soundpoint practice to passages
2:53
11. Sounding as good as the best player in the world - right now
2:08
Lesson transcript
Understanding Bow Technique
Evenness of Speed, Pressure, and Sound
Although evenness of speed, pressure, and sound point is something that most players need to work on, it isn't so difficult to find. Here's something that really helps:
The Arm vs. The Bow
-
Does the arm lead the bow, or does the bow lead the arm?
Most people answer that the arm leads the bow. After all, the bow can't move itself. Yet, when there's a feeling of the hand going along with the bow and a sense of allowing the bow to travel with its own momentum, many strokes work much better.
-
The Bow's Power:
The bow really does seem to have its own power to move. Look at the difference:
- If you hold the bow and try to move it evenly, you get one result.
- If instead you go with the bow, if you follow the bow, you get a different result altogether.
Embracing Momentum
Imagine that the feeling of momentum in the bow is real, like the natural bounce when the bow plays spiccato. The bow knows how to bounce out of the string and does so with a feeling of natural momentum.
- Find the Same Feeling:
- Try to discover this same feeling in your strokes along the string.
- Imagine that if you were to take your hand away, the bow would simply keep going on its own in the same direction and at the same speed.
This brings a wonderful ease and smoothness into every bow stroke. This is one of the things that makes a significant difference in achieving silky smoothness and evenness of the bow.
Following vs. Guiding
The sense of the hand following the bow is an entirely different feeling from that of holding the bow and trying to guide it by pushing and pulling it yourself.
-
Question Time:
"Yes. Yes, Tim. The question is: does the arm lead the bow, or does the bow lead the arm? And what do you think?"
"Yeah, so because the bow can't play itself. Yes. But you can have a feeling that it does play itself because there's such a thing as momentum. And you can go with the bow. You can follow the bow."
Practical Exercise
Watch this, Tim:
- If I hold the bow and try and do it all myself, look at this.
- But if I follow the bow and let it go with its own momentum, then it's like this: I go with the bow.
Key Takeaway:
Don't hold the bow and then do things with it. The bow knows how to play. Go with it and see what happens.
- Conclusion: "Oh, lovely! And deep in the string. Deeper, even. And feel the low. Oh wow. Bravo. Bravo!"
11 lessons
1h 7m of structured video lessons
Advanced video features
Slow down, loop a passage, follow along
Mobile, tablet & desktop
Practise wherever you are
100% satisfaction guarantee
30-day money-back guarantee
Meet your guru
Meet your guru
Simon Fischer enjoys a distinguished and wide-ranging career as a performer, educator and recording artist.
He has performed worldwide as a recitalist, and committed three Brahms Sonatas to record, a recording that received high praise in Gramophone Magazine.
Simon is recognised as having a place amongst the world's elite teachers. He is a professor at the Guildhall School of Music, and has held positions at the Yehudi Menuhin School, Wells Cathedral School and the Purcell School, and for 15 years was a visiting professor at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music. Having studied in London with Yfrah Neaman, and in New York with Dorothy DeLay, Fischer's approach unites the best elements of the French, Russian and American violin traditions.
Fischer's published work greatly influences the teaching of the violin. Having written for The Strad magazine since 1991, his monthly articles have attracted a worldwide following. Published by Edition Peters, his technique books Basics and Practice (translated into Korean, Italian and German), Scales and The Violin Lesson, and the DVD The Secrets of Tone Production (now available to stream via MusicGurus), have become standards on many continents. His book and DVD Warming Up was described by The Strad magazine as "23 pages of pure technical gold".
In 2014 Simon Fischer was awarded the European String Teachers Association prize "In celebration of a lifetime contribution to String Teaching".
In his four-part Secrets of Tone Production course, Simon guides you through getting to know your instrument and then working through his fundamental tone exercises step by step, so you can produce a richer, more controlled and more beautiful sound on the violin.
