The art of bowing.

[Richard Prowse]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

There are a few schools of drawing the Bow that I am personally aware of. One is the heavy strong attack on each note. Another is a smooth execution where you do not hear the attack. A third is where it draws softly at the start and quickly swells to the desired tone.

I have used all three mentioned as needed. The first and last style should be used as needed for the music. The middle one where you have control of the note from the start should be the normal way to bow. This I find the hardest to maintain as it requires great practice as well as a Bass (with good bowing strings) that responds well to your Bow. Also, the quality of your Bow will greatly aide in this approach.

I've just been experimenting with the 'finger thing' as suggested by David. I feel that Ken is probably right in that you basically push the bow backwards and forwards (my simplified interpretation). But David's concept certainly made me think as I practised... which has to be good. I've bowed for a long time (longer than I've understood verbs or how women think) and probably do a lot of things naturally, as Jeff moots (is that a pun?). I think that my bowing pattern for the B section of Take 5 is okay. I'd still like to hear what others think though.