The big release

Starting to free your sound on the double bass

ALEXANDRA SCOTT Professor of double bass, Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Munich, Germany

GEOFFROY SCHIED

BORN Taunton, UK

STUDIED WITH Caroline Emery, Chi-chi Nwanoku, Rinat Ibragimov, Esko Laine, Klaus Stoll

TEACHES Undergraduate and postgraduate students, and a few students 15+

Whichever instrument you play, it is important to be able to produce a beautiful, full sound in a relaxed way, eliminating physical effort and mental tension as far as possible. To do this the player should aim to harness the natural weight of the body to release a warm, resonant ‘3D’ sound.

Double bass students who have a tendency to use too much force, with excessive weight on the string, find it a challenge to create a free and vibrant sound. Their effortful way of playing derives from a primal evolutionary reaction to wanting to make lots of sound, but it has anything but the desired effect.

Instead, students should imagine their right arm as a pendulum hanging from the shoulder, with the bow cradled by rounded fingers in a soft palm. Knuckle and finger joints should feel free and spacious as though full of air. Whether sitting or standing, soft knees and hips should help the upper body to feel free, enabling the instrument to resonate fully. Sound production is further enhanced by the correct combination of bow speed, bow weight and an ideal contact point between the end of the fingerboard and the bridge.

EXERCISES

WARM-UP EXERCISES WITHOUT THE BASS

The body scan

Use this as preparation for your practice:

• Without the instrument, stand in a balanced way with both feet on the floor, roughly a shoulder width apart, your arms hanging loosely by your side

• Shut your eyes to enable you to listen to your body better

• Breathe in and out deeply and slowly through your nose, well into your diaphragm

• Focus your mind on each part of your body in turn, letting go of any tension you notice. Begin with your feet, checking the balance between the left and right foot. Take your awareness to the spread of the weight within each foot, checking that it is spread equally. Also remember to take your mind to your toes and heels. Continue methodically – left ankle, right ankle, left calf, right calf, left knee, right knee and so on.

• When you get to your torso, picture your trunk sitting on your pelvis and visualise your ribs hanging from your spine and melting down

• Whether you sit or stand while playing, it is important to pay particular attention to letting go in your hips, as this area of the body tends to hold on to tension. Other less obvious parts for focus are the ears, the jaw, the eyes and eye sockets, and even the armpits.

After the body scan

• Limber up by gently doing some clockwise and anti-clockwise circles with both arms. As you do so, feel the natural weight of the arms and allow gravity to bring them around in a full circle. (When you hold your bow to play, it is this feeling of gravity that will be crucial in helping you to generate a free and big sound.)

• Add in any other stretches or twists that you feel may be beneficial for your daily condition

Remember

• Each day you will feel different, so listen to your body. Looking after your body and mind is fundamental to everything you do as a musician. Good sleep, hydration, nutrition, and keeping fit are prerequisites, and a good regime will support your playing. Meditation, Alexander technique and yoga are all helpful too.

EXERCISE 1 This simple bowing-arm exercise will help with sound production. Harness gravity to swing the weight of the bowing arm well into the string.

WARM-UP EXERCISES WITH THE BASS AND BOW

Whatever bow hold you choose to use, it is important to let the right arm hang out of the shoulder with the fingers organically falling into a natural hand shape.

Exercise 1 will help to develop focus on sound production:

• First sing a D at a convenient register to envisage the sound you would like to hear. Then, for articulation, decide which consonant you would like to imitate at the beginning of each note (wa, ba, ta). It is important to have a strong conception of the kind of sound that you wish to play before you start.

• Begin on the D string at q= 40bpm and play the exercise above at a good mf dynamic. Use a full straight bow with flat hair. When you get to the tip of the bow, release the bow off the string so that it can vibrate freely.

• In the minim (h) rest, draw a large anti-clockwise circle in front of you over the bass and land again. As you do so, imagine that the bow is a jumbo jet landing softly on the tarmac. The shoulder should feel free, with the right arm straight but not locked. The wrist should be in a natural straight (but flexible) line connecting the hand to the lower arm.

• Aim to use the large muscles in your back for this exaggerated retake and feel the power of gravity pulling you down when you get to the top of the circle

• Repeat the exercise, going through the body scan once more to remind yourself to remain in a relaxed but active mindset

• Next reverse the bowing to use up bow starts instead, this time drawing clockwise circles with the arm Finally repeat on each of the other open strings

SCALES AND ARPEGGIOS

After your warm-ups, decide on a key and play one- or twooctave scales and arpeggios in that key, focusing on producing a seamless connection between each of the notes:

• Keep the weight in the bow this time; don’t release it as in the warm-up exercise. Aim for smooth and inaudible bow changes. When working towards good connection between each note it can be useful to add a small ‘stop’ at the tip and frog to check that everything is looking good before proceeding with the next bow stroke. As you improve, make the ‘stop’ smaller and smaller until there is no more ‘air’ between the bow changes.

• As you play, remind yourself to let go of any tension in your body and to play from the big muscles in your back

• To gain a better awareness of the function of each finger on the bow, play a scale or arpeggio while lifting each finger (and then the thumb, for German-bow players) off the bow stick slowly and consciously. This exercise will help you to overcome any temptation to pinch or grab the bow, which would result in a tight, restricted sound.

STUDIES

• After scales and arpeggios move on to the Etude no.1 from 18 Etudes by Rodolphe Kreutzer (example 1). Play it slowly in different parts of the bow and also try to work through different bow strokes (détaché, martelé, legato and so on). As you play, just as you did in the scales and arpeggios section, take your mind back to the principles you have explored in the basic exercises at the beginning of your practice.

EXAMPLE 1 From Etude no.1 from Kreutzer’s 18 Etudes

Allegro moderato

• Study no.1 from Gradus ad Parnassum by Franz Simandl (example 2) is helpful for exploring your sound using a slurred legato bow stroke. At first it may be helpful to simplify the bowing, so that you play two semiquavers (s) per bow, then four, before finally playing with the original printed bowing. Start at a slow tempo to allow yourself time to focus on your sound, all the while making sure that your string-crossings and shifts are smooth.

EXAMPLE 2 From Study no.1 from Gradus ad Parnassum by Franz Simandl

REPERTOIRE

Move on to your pieces and orchestral excerpts, keeping in mind the themes covered above. It is in the tricky sections that it is most important to remember the basics to ensure that you don’t tense up and lose all the benefits of your earlier work.

TIPS FOR TEACHERS

• Make sure that your student’s instrument is properly set up, so that it has the potential to sound its best. Remember to check the bow hair and the rosin, both of which can hinder good sound production.

• Emphasise that it is important to play in a relaxed but active way, to find a big sound. Give frequent reminders; new concepts take a while to become habits.

• Some students struggle to feel the natural weight of the right arm. The well-known exercise where the teacher asks the student to rest their lower arm on his/her hand, then spontaneously lets it go can really help. Then repeat but with bow in hand. Guide the bow towards the string ensuring that the arm is as relaxed as possible.

• An extension to this exercise can be worked without the teacher. Ask the student to hold the bow stick with the left hand just above the middle towards the tip. The right hand can then hold the frog with the usual bow hold. Keeping the shoulders soft, the student should feel the heavy weight of the hand hanging on the frog. When they feel ready, ask them to release the right-hand fingers and let them slip off the stick, and drop down towards the right thigh.

• The word ‘melting’ is very useful for helping students to find the natural gravity needed to relax the shoulders fully and to make a free sound

• When working on a big legato sound, ask students to put down the instrument and then to pretend to paint the walls with a large paintbrush. While they are doing this, encourage them to notice the unconsciously graceful movements made by the right arm, then transfer this back to the bow arm on the bass.

• I find that the black roll (see the link in further materials below) helpful to keep backs and arms in good playing condition. By using it between practice sessions, it can effectively iron out any niggles and help prevent tension and ultimately pain.

• It is of great importance to encourage students to develop healthy living habits outside the practice room

FURTHER MATERIALS

I recommend that my students buy this black roll (left) at www.blackroll.com as it is invaluable for stretching out the back and arms after playing.

I find Rinat Ibragimov’s sound in this fantastic recording of Vanhal’s Double Bass Concerto particularly inspiring. You can find the performance at bitly.ws/J9td

NEXT MONTH Violinist Gina McCormack on teaching bow landings