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!"