Arriving in style

Teaching bow landings with special reference to Mozart

IAN HUGHES

• BORN

Cape Town, South Africa

• STUDIED WITH

Pierre de Groote, György Pauk, Sándor Végh

• TEACHES

Undergraduate and postgraduate conservatoire students, private students (all ages)

Instead of thinking about the angle and position of the bowing arm on landing, violinists tend to focus on what happens when the bowing-arm fingers meet the string. This is apt to cause problems, especially in concert situations when the upper arm can become tense, causing the fingers to stiffen.

All too often students land on a note on the G string and wonder why it crunches, then land the same way on a note on the E string and look mystified that it works brilliantly. They haven’t fully explored what they need to do on each string to make the sound they want in a reliable way.

To gain greater understanding of this and to create a feeling of freedom in playing, it is important to pay attention to the role of the whole arm as a starting point, and especially to the elbow and the space around it. Often the way that gravity works means that the right-hand elbow droops, with all sorts of undesirable consequences.

Here the focus is on Mozart, whose music demands subtle bow control to make it sound natural and easy, with articulation that matches the nuances and variety of speech.

THE MINDSET

• Factor in the physics. Consider gravity and what happens to a bow when it lands on a string; this should be your number one go-to when thinking about the way your bow connects with the string on impact.

• The position of your right arm in the air is vital to any bow landing, while your fingers on the bow should be strong but cushioned

• Different bow landings require an individual approach to give character to your playing:

• Some articulation can be achieved with the arm alone; whether delicate or energetic. Experiment with this, rather than automatically choosing to articulate the notes with your fingers. You can always add the fingers later to create an accent or more of a martelé.

• Sense the angle of each string when you land, keeping wrist and fingers comfortably aligned with that level. Your arm will tilt as you cross strings. Remember, any extraneous or sudden movement of the wrist or fingers will affect the landing.

• If you want a deep warm sound with a ‘waa’ beginning, imagine an aeroplane landing when you approach the string; the depth of your arm into the string will give you the volume and richness.

• If you want attack, consider the energy in the arm before deciding on the role of the wrist and fingers, and don’t forget to inject momentum into the up-beat, whether you are playing it or whether the up-beat is silent. This will add a sense of freedom to your playing.

EXERCISES

• Play eight staccato notes on each open string. Set the contact point, raise the arm above the string, then focus on the arm and elbow creating even cup shapes in the air.

• Practise a scale with triplet quavers (e) on each degree of the scale aiming for even notes

• To change from on-the-string to off-the-string landings, grade your arm levels. Think of a bookshelf (top shelf G, then D, A and E lower by varying increments). Imagine that there is a little extra shelf above each of these for staccato playing. Practise bowing four legato notes on each string with short bows, then four staccato notes; adjust the level of your arm to the appropriate shelf before making each type of stroke.

• Rode’s Caprice no.17 is great for exploring staccato landings across all strings (it includes couplets and on-thestring notes that need an immediate adjustment of arm level to work well)

REPERTOIRE

The first solo note of Mozart’s Violin Concerto no.4 (example 1) is played on the E string. It should be played with energy and spirit from above the string after a strong gestured up-beat in the air. There is a tendency for students to play it by bowing in a straight line. This results in a shrill and skiddy sound after the initial attack, like a skier leaning backwards instead of forwards, and therefore going down the slopes far too fast. With the level of gravity caused by playing on the E string, it is essential to play a Cshape against the string at the frog using the third and fourth fingers to control it. This will slow the bow down and enable the player to grip the string and play deeply into it, generating a good, resonant tone. The balance of the fingers on the bowing hand changes towards the point, in favour of the first two fingers. Gravity will hold the bow to the string at the end of the first note unless you remove your arm weight to let the note resonate.The first solo note of Mozart’s Violin Concerto no.4

Return into the string on the second beat, following the same path, but with a different energy for the weaker beat. Beats three and four will have different landings, created by the arm, showing a sense of direction to the next bar. The first landing is deep and plate-shaped, while the second is like a bowl, but played with a lighter arm weight towards the frog.

For the start of the second bar, try lowering the arm to play a Cshape to avoid a shudder. When you retake in the quaver rests, raise the arm above string level for a good bowl-shaped landing. Lighten the arm as you are in the lower half, and then lower the arm back to string level for the plate-shaped crotchet (q) landing. For bar 3, make sure your arm creates symmetrical bowl-shapes by creating the curve into the air at the end of down bows as otherwise gravity makes the bow to cling to the string.

EXAMPLE 1 From Mozart Violin Concerto no.4 in D major K218, first movement

When playing the couplets in example 2 (on the next page), decide how to play them. Use your arm accordingly, employing the bowl-shape idea. Less bow with more curve will mean that the second note will sound more clipped, sounding livelier. If your arm lifts out of the string in more of a plate shape, it will sound gentler.

To play two same-pitched notes at the end of a phrase (marked in example 2), take the arm out of the string (bowl-shape) to create the end of one ‘word’ and the start of the next. Exaggerate this at the point of the bow where it’s harder to end a note elegantly.

Listen carefully and if you want to make adjustments remember to check out the bigger picture, not just the fingers.

EXAMPLE 2 From Mozart Violin Concerto no.4 in D major K218, first movement

IN YOUR PRACTICE

• Our instincts are good if we sing. Sing the passage you are practising as you’d like it to sound (observing which consonants you naturally use to express the phrase). Then play it, trying to match the note lengths and consonants that you sang.

• Practise bow landings in all parts of the bow, taking them out of context each time. When landing at the point, don’t wait above the string – the longer you wait the harder it is to land; first build impetus in the arm by moving in a down-bow direction with your up-beat breath, and imagine a pendulum for a smooth landing.

• Sometimes practise arm movements in the air without allowing the bow to hit the string, especially for a strong attack. The energy in the arm should be visible and should match the character of the music you are going to play; use a mirror to check that the movement looks good. Then think about the landing itself, bearing in mind the string you are landing on.

• Remember: listening is everything, and we can always create a better sound

TIPS FOR TEACHERS

• Feel empowered to experiment when you teach; it is not all about following rules. Tailor to the individual, especially in your use of analogies.

• Choose two or four bars of a student’s piece and work them like a study, isolating particular aspects. Students can then immediately appreciate the context, and can also apply this way of working elsewhere, as appropriate.

• Use the visual; I have a few props including a pad of scrap paper alongside me when I teach (drawing a wedge of cheese is great for explaining bow angles)

• Engage your student with the process of experimentation so that they learn to listen more perceptively for themselves, and to understand what they need to do to create the sound they wish to make. Explain how to create crunches and skids and other non-ideal sounds: that way students will understand how to avoid them.

• Explain why you want them to practise a particular aspect of their playing and share your thought processes with them. When I play staccato landings, for example, I think about my elbow, not what I’m doing near the string. (I’m making cup, bowl or plate shapes with my elbow).

• Be on the lookout for stiff upper right arms, which cause staccato bow landings to crack and sound ‘bashy’ (envisaging the arm as a sack of potatoes often helps the arm to relax). Also beware stiff fingers on the bow; fingers should curl and cushion like shock absorbers, but still be strong enough to support the tip of the bow so that the bow becomes part of the whole arm.

INTERVIEW BY NAOMI YANDELL

FURTHER MATERIALS

Science and the natural world have always influenced my work. Here are two thought-provoking links: