The Bowing Thread.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Richard Prowse

Slow bow, near the bridge, at a varying distance as your left hand moves... on it goes.
Here's my question:
What should one practise to really improve one's bowing? I know it's a very big question, but I'd love to hear your views.

What type of bowing exactly are you looking to improve as far as technique goes?

Gradus Ad Parnassum by Zimmerman is the best I can think of for bow control as well as the Zimmerman book on bowing. These require careful and slow study. Years ago (actually decades ago) my teacher Lew Norton (NY Phil, now retired) picked out a couple of pages and marked where to start and finish. Then pencils in to play one beat per click at 60/bpm with 8 notes tied in one bow playing it as close to the bridge as possible.

I was playing then on my old Italian bass over 42" SL, barely a D-neck and with some big shoulders. I was using Spirocore Reds then as well, with the bow. The Bow was a Sartory so that helped some.

It sounded horrible but, made me sound and play better in normal conditions. People today always (usually actually) compliment my bow arm but I don't know why exactly. Maybe from lessons like that as well as the earlier ones with Bill Blosson (NY Phil) when we worked mostly on just Bow technique and the Bow Grip.

It doesn't sound so good when working on special techniques but when you put it to work, that's when the hard work starts to pay off.