Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange
Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [bowing]

For questions related to the style or technique of using a bow on a stringed instrument.

36 questions
16
votes
3 answers

How do orchestras synchronize bow movement?

The last few times I've been to see the orchestra, I've noticed that the bow movements of all the strings are synchronized. I've been in bands and choirs before but never a group with strings, so this just amazes me that there's not a single person…
David K
  • 325
  • 2
  • 9
15
votes
8 answers

Violin - Can double stops be played when the strings are not next to each other?

Suppose I wanted to play a double stop on the violin. The double stop played the G string and the A string simultaneously. Is this possible? Can you play a double stop on two non-adjacent strings?
xilpex
  • 2,142
  • 20
  • 48
15
votes
2 answers

Mystery bowing notation

A cellist friend asked if I had come across this coloured in cross marking (hourglass?) in bar 35 and it has me stumped. (Beethoven Sonatina, so you can discount any crazy new music articulation.) Have tried searching for a comprehensive string…
Tris Forster
  • 153
  • 6
14
votes
2 answers

What's this rectangular notation symbol?

I recently encountered a symbol in a Violoncello score which I was not able to identify. It is shown in the image below after the p (piano). I looked for it in the Musescore documentation and in the Lilypond notation tables, but was unable to find…
Fabian
  • 143
  • 5
13
votes
5 answers

What is the difference between starting with an upbow and a downbow?

I'm not a violin player, so I'm surprised when people say that starting with an upbow or a downbow makes a difference. As far as I'm concerned, it is a matter of preference, and different violin players have different opinions. But I heard sometimes…
justANewb stands with Ukraine
  • 233
  • 9
11
votes
2 answers

Can I play the cello without pronation of the bow hand?

I would like to learn to play cello, but I have a mini-disability that prevents me from turning my right hand down (palm-down, or pronation) or up (palm-up, or suspination). How much is this going to get in the way of handling the bow? How…
mcadorel
  • 221
  • 1
  • 10
10
votes
2 answers

Playing sweetly vs gently in violin

I am learning violin as a beginner (2.5 months), and one of the early practice pieces contain dolce and piano. The latter is more like playing quietly and gently, so it makes some intuitive sense and I think I know how to pull that off. However, I…
Everiana
  • 213
  • 1
  • 5
10
votes
1 answer

How was the bow invented?

The way of making sound on the strings of a bowed string instrument by rubbing them with a bow made from horsehair appears to me as something so particular that it must have been very hard and unlikely to come across this idea. How did such a…
Aspro
  • 101
  • 2
9
votes
2 answers

Bowing signs (?) in Lajos Montag's double bass method

In volume II of Montag's double bass method, I found these signs above the staff which look like they should be bowing signs. My guesses for the arrows are either alternating down-bow and up-bow or whole bow. My guess for the sign that looks like a…
Thomas W.
  • 195
  • 5
8
votes
4 answers

How to improve jerky bowing on the violin

Well, I've been playing the violin for more than six years and, of course, I enjoy it immensely. I fancy myself rather good at it, but today I had the idea to record myself playing. I'm super glad I did, because it revealed a lot of problems that I…
General Nuisance
  • 3,787
  • 1
  • 18
  • 44
7
votes
3 answers

What do three layers of slurs mean for violin?

Here's a four-measure excerpt from an arrangement for violin (by Maxim Jacobsen). There are points in the score – two indicated in red here – where there are three slurs in effect simultaneously. The violin bow only goes in one direction at a…
feetwet
  • 1,098
  • 1
  • 8
  • 27
6
votes
3 answers

Slapping Violin Strings with bow

I wonder what the following violin technique is called it happens in the following video at ar 4;50. It seems that it is some sort of slapping motion with the bow and also something that resembles pull offs.
Neil Meyer
  • 14,365
  • 7
  • 40
  • 88
4
votes
1 answer

My arm length feels short while practicing violin

I am trying out different bowing exercises for violin and I am realising as I go for the down bow, I'm not able to keep my arm straight. I meant just from my wrist action, my arm straightens out with still some top portion of bow remaining. And in…
Ruchi
  • 305
  • 1
  • 9
3
votes
1 answer

Difference between Martele & accent

I’m studying string articulations and I’m having trouble finding the difference between these off the bow articulations. Why should a composer choose to use martele in a situtuation instead of something like an an accent or sfz or even a down bow?
eraserhead
  • 83
  • 2
3
votes
2 answers

Why does my bow bounce on lower half?

Picking up the violin after a few decades I am unable to keep my bow from "bouncing" or shuddering while bowing steadily on its lower half. Here is a video of me illustrating a full stroke with three different bows (to show the problem is me, not…
anon
1
2 3