Comments

I greatly respect your vast knowledge in teaching, and was wondering whether you could do a blog focused on learning vibrato (something I've been greatly struggling with) and something I know that many people strugle learning both how to and how to improve their vibrato.

Thanks!

Jake,

Read my Viva Vibrato!!! blog (October 2007) and the follow-up “GPS” –– 2.2c Shifting plus Vib tip

Hope I did the links right. If not let me know.

Ask me any questions you have after that, and i will be happy to work a blog up for you.

Thank you for the generous compliment.
Drew

Thank you Mr. Lecher for your blogs. That are very helpful. The analogy of the solar orbits really lit a lightbulb. It seems to make so much sense. My attempts at a stright bow so far have mostly focused on the end points (e.g. push out on the down bow, wrist towards the nose on the upbow) without really providing a smooth transition between the two. Christian,

You are most welcome and I am always happy to hear the blogs help.

Another little tip: (Your own description is very good) — just add an extension of flow to your up bow by slightly lifting the hair off the string at the very end of the up-bow and go beyond the string (take care to miss the nose — mine is quite large, so this is no small feat:-) and return on the precise same path for the down-bow "re-entry."

I am sure your teacher can guide you further.
Cheers,
Drew

Thank you Drew. I haven't been looking at your book lately (been busy with lesson and orchestra stuff) but I'll look up the sections referenced here since arm vibrato and shifting double stops are areas of emphasis at the moment for me, and I'm having a heck of a time. :-) I'm still a little confused about the crescent bow - what is its relation to the figure-8 bowing? At both the tip and the frog, I would very slightly push towards the scroll and then back towards my head. So it wasn't "orbiting" either. Dear Drew,

You're famous! :-P

So this is sort of totally unrelated, but I've been playing viola in a pit for Turandot lately and I've been having a lot of left shoulder strain from all those C-string passages. Knowing me and my death-grip tendencies...got any tips for how to relax?

Hope all is well!
-Cindy

Drew,
Many thanks for these wonderful blogs and insights. I'm a proud owner/user of your book - my only regret is that you don't live close enough for private lessons.
Thanks again and please don't stop! Thanks everyone for your kind remarks and questions.

Tara:
It is good to use as a reference and “spot-checker” — also, apply the addition of double-stops across strings as you see in the scale and arpeggio sections to your other lesson and orchestral work. When you go a bit out of tune and/or off balance, use the Repetition Hits to make quick and secure corrections. Show it to your teacher and they can assist you with the concepts.

Definitely use the Rhythms #1-4 in Basics II, pg 12, when working your fast passages in the orchestra repertoire, etc.

Stewart (& Christian):
The Crescent Bow is the slightly orbital path the bow is drawn on with the given plane/string. It is linear and lateral — no dipping or rising toward another string, initially. (That will, of course, be applied to the stroke as necessary in given studies and repertoire in the approach to another string.)

A very good way to develop this plane is with playing 2 open strings, as when we tune. The bow cannot waver in the consistency of the plane without a distortion of pitch/tone.

It is simply a curving of the path with an exact return along the previous orbital curve — again, very, very slight (1-2º). As pointed out in the blog, “Mini-orbits for short strokes, like drawing commas, ...... if your orbit is correct it is pretty impossible to have a stiff wrist and fingers!” (Also, the elbow and shoulder!;)

Perhaps this excerpt from my recently published books will assist you:

Crescent Bow
The most important technique for the development of tonal resonance and fluidity of bow arm motion.

The partial slightly orbital path around the scroll of the instrument (player’s left hand) enabling the tone to resonate with greater clarity and projection, additionally offering a natural way to free up the right arm’s motions through the joints of the wrist, elbow and shoulder.

1. The bow strokes are to be accomplished with a slight rounding-of-the-path, thus Crescent Bow – the curved drawing of the bow.

2. The down and up-bow paths are mirror images of each other.

3. The down-bow must have a pulling back of the upper arm in the lower 1/2 of the bow followed by a pushing out/forward in the upper 1/2 as the bow continues toward the tip.
a. The point at which the right elbow is 90-degrees determines the upper and lower 1/2 of the bow stroke.

4. The up-bow must have a pulling back of the upper arm in the upper 1/2 of the bow followed by a pushing up diagonally of the left hand for the lower 1/2 toward the heel of the bow.

NOTE: The Crescent Bow is necessary to compensate for the natural resistance of the bow caused by the string/bridge combination – the nearer to the bridge, the greater the resistance. It is like walking into the wind – we lean into the counter force.

Cindy:
So good to hear from you:-)

Perhaps the appropriate word is, infamous…
The pit can be extra crowded, but hold that instrument up!!! Strings parallel to the flow, don’t hunch the shoulders around (lift the bow arm to get to that C-string) and keep the back straight, upper torso floating and the abs taught — do breathe via the diaphragm. (You’ll look great!;). ALL JOINTS LOOSE.

Anthony:
Thanks so much, glad it helps. Let me know if you ever come to Chicago. Love the bright-eyed pic.