WHOLE BOWS

 Whole bows must be drawn without a swell and bow changes at the frog and the tip must not include a hiccup or click or other change of sound. Practice fast whole bows and look in the mirror to see how orderly your tip is throughout, particularly at the frog. You should be able to play without any wobbles at the tip. Be sure you can do it without a swell in the middle. I have several colleagues who consider “wah-wahs” a dealbreaker in an audition. Fix this so you don’t find yourself in the unfortunate position of doing something over and over that irritates someone who is choosing whether or not to hire you, who worked hard to elevate their technique to avoid this.

Also worth considering is how long your bow is, by which I mean how far to the tip you can get with your arm length and viola setup. If you can’t manage your bow for the last few inches of the tip, do not expect to use that part of the bow most of the time. You may be able to use the actual tip during something sul tasto that invites a less focused sound, but you should have a clear understanding of how much of your bow you are truly in command of, and don’t go higher than you can manage. Remember, the project of becoming a professional player is to organize.

MASTERING THE WHOLE BOW

The auxilliary to the whole bow is the specific areas of the bow: frog, tip, middle. Be sure you deliberately practice your usual bowing exercises (not bouncing strokes) in a variety of places in the bow, at a variety of dynamics, starting down bow and up bow. Be sure not to forget quiet dynamics. The most overlooked part of the bow is the frog, which also happens to be an ideal place to remember the importance of each finger in your right hand. Try this exercise to remind yourself of each finger’s role:

Frog exercise: play an exercise in the bottom 4-6 inches of the bow, all the way to the ferrule (I had to look up this word!) without actually hitting it. Start with the top three fingers (1,2,3) with your pinky in the air; play again with only the bottom three fingers (2,3,4); again with only 1,2; then 2,3; then 3,4; then single fingers: 1, 2, 3, then 4. After you’ve played through losing fingers, recognizing how each finger contributes to your control, use all four fingers and vacuum the sound out of the instrument! A variation of this exercise is also useful for spun tone finger awareness.

Nice drawing of the frog.