Developing bow control for improved tone

A mix of exercises to help you draw out sound actively and attentively with the right hand

MARTIN OUTRAM Lionel Tertis Professor of Viola at the Royal Academy of Music, London; violist of the Maggini Quartet

MELANIE STROVER

BORN Billericay, Essex, UK

STUDIED WITH John White, Csaba Erdélyi

TEACHES Conservatoire students

There are many issues that get in the way of successful tone development. This article is intended to help students – especially those who have migrated from the violin to the viola – develop their sound so that it is always free and ringing, never forced. Very often violinists who start to play the viola think that they need to use more bow weight, because the viola is a bigger instrument with thicker strings, but sound can be crushed on the viola as easily as it can on the violin. It’s all about releasing the string as much as possible and discovering how much weight one’s own instrument can take.

EXERCISES

Learning to apply and particularly release bow weight is crucial when it comes to producing a full, rich and free sound. To begin, work on drawing sound constantly and actively with the right hand, while monitoring the weight, speed and positioning of the bow relative to the bridge. As you do so, make soft, elliptical pulsations with the bow by playing a portato or parlando stroke to apply and release weight:

Play any scale with long, slow bows and a mezza voce sound, with four beats per note at q= 60 On each beat, gently squeeze the bow up between the thumb and first two fingers, then immediately release into the string again. The effect should be soft and rounded, not hard-edged Play 6, 8, 10 and then 12 pulses in each bow stroke. If you continue to add pulses, you will eventually find that you have ‘joined the dots’ so that you are playing one slow, controlled and continuous legato bow

Practise this bowing with crescendos, diminuendos, and combinations of hairpins and subito dynamics

In music we mostly shape notes and phrases using uneven bow distribution, so now try the following:

Play any scale with two notes to a bow, using half a bow for each. Begin with four pulses on each note Now divide the two halves of the bow up unevenly. Pulse three times in the first half, then five times in the second; then twice followed by six times; and once followed by seven Reverse these pulsing patterns and experiment with other possibilities. Always plan before you act

Combine these skills in exercise 1, using an uneven bow speed to achieve the crescendos and diminuendos.

Begin at q= 60. Pulse first in crotchets (q), then in quavers (e), and finally in semiquavers (s) Repeat the exercise at progressively slower metronome settings

EXERCISE 1 Practise Kreutzer’s Etude no.1 at progressively slower tempos, pulsing with the bow in crotchets (q), quavers (e) and semiquavers (s)

Observe the flow of air in and out of your nose, without controlling it. It’s so important to remember to breathe!

Check that your shoulders, neck, face, stomach and knees are free

UP BOW STACCATO

Practising up bow staccato with a ‘soft’ articulation is very useful for developing bow control. Work on exercises 2 and 3 as follows:

1) Play without the left hand (so on open strings), in semiquavers or triplet quavers according to the printed subdivision. Play one crotchet beat per bow. Prepare each string-crossing as shown below

2) Repeat 1), now adding in the left hand 3) Repeat 2) using one whole bow per half-bar

4) Play the printed bowings, again in semiquavers or triplet quavers

5) Practise as printed. Remember to breathe and keep the body free

Breaking up the sound in this way will help you ultimately to create an effect that is smoother and more organic in performance. It will teach you to be accountable for what you do with your bow at every moment, without ever leaving anything to chance.

STRING-CROSSINGS

Many players lose tone and energy when crossing strings in legato. In exercises 4 and 5, bow as close to the new string as you can without touching it, for example by playing on the D-string side of the A string for an A-to-D string-crossing. Always look ahead! If you hug the curvature of the bridge in this way, you will transform everything you play. You can never practise this too often!

SCALES IN HARMONICS

Work in harmonics is useful to improve bow control, because the notes will only sound properly if you bow consistently! Practise scales as well as double-stopped harmonics – either natural harmonics on adjacent strings, or artificial harmonic scales in parallel 5ths – to reveal imperfections and variations in the way you draw the bow.

REPERTOIRE

While it is possible to create the same dynamic at different bow speeds, a faster speed will give you a more active, animated sound. This means that it is important to plan bowings based on the effect you want to create, rather than only using a certain bowing because it is convenient. You should always vary your bow speed and distribution according to the needs and direction of the music. In example 1, practise using the bow to serve the expansion and contraction of each phrase. In example 2 focus on bowing continuously and transferring your arm weight smoothly down the length of the bow as you move from one string to the next. In example 3, begin in fourth position and look ahead to plan bow distribution and angle for the string-crossings.

IN YOUR PRACTICE

The exercises in this article will force you to think about bow distribution and control, and to be accountable for every millimetre of bow that you use. They will also help you to plan the amount of bow that you use meticulously and judiciously. I recommend practising all of them as written, but also using different bow contact points relative to the bridge, so that you learn to adapt your right-arm weight as necessary. The higher you go up the fingerboard, the closer to the bridge you will need to bow to make a resonant sound. Always monitor your sound so that you know exactly what you are doing with your bow at any given moment. Your bowing choices should always serve the music rather than simply being convenient. Of course, working on these ideas alone won’t mean that you will instantly sound like Pinchas Zukerman, but it’s a start!

TIPS FOR TEACHERS

I give these exercises to my students as and when appropriate, depending on their individual needs – most often because they are over-forcing their sound or don’t fully understand how to transfer weight on to the string along the length of the bow. They can help even advanced students to develop a freer sound, more awareness of how to vary bow distribution and speed to serve the music, and smoother string-crossings. Very often when we play, the sound that comes out of our instruments is more angular and disjointed than we imagine. It is so important to focus on the technical minutiae while also looking ahead to prepare for what is coming next. In my opinion, that idea cannot be overstated.

INTERVIEW BY PAULINE HARDING

FURTHER MATERIALS

I recommend watching any videos of Pinchas Zukerman playing the viola on YouTube because his bowing is just so beautiful, economical and well planned.

I have found Berta Volmer’s Viola Method very useful over the years. The book focuses on the left and right hands using an eclectic mix of studies by different composers.

NEXT MONTH Double bassist Edwin Barker