Bach 201: Chapter 2 - Bowing

November 14, 2008 at 5:41 AM

I was late for lessons today. The traffic into Portland was absolutely horrible. It took 2 hours what normally takes only 1 hour, and I give myself a 30 minute buffer for traffic. I SMS'd my teacher that I'd be late, and then a follow up call when I knew he would be done with his prior student. He called the student that follows me to come late.

That made warm-up scales that much more important - to soothe my mind and relax my shoulders. We did a 3-octave C-Minor, nothing terribly challenging, starting at one note per two beats. When we reached 3 notes per beat, he had me accent each note with my right hand to see if it would trigger a continuous vibrato with my left hand. I played 4 notes per bow while counting 3:) I have a triplet problem. So, rather than spend the rest of lessons on how to play groups of three, we moved to 4 notes per bow, then 8. And.... then 12!!!! I've never tried to do 12 notes per bow (that is 12 notes in one bow at a mm of 63). It was sooooo close!!! Then we did the 3-octave C-Major arrpeggios, but with a twist. We played it almost like a round, with him coming in on the second note. That was fun!

By then, I was sufficiently warmed up, so onto the 3rd Suite Sarabande. This week we focused on bowing chords. On a 4-note, playing the bottom two first only using about 1/4 of a bow, then the top two - with absolutely no "rocking" across the strings. The bottom two notes soft, then louder on the upper two, the other way around dynamically, and another alternative: playing the bottom 2 & upper two as mentioned, but then dropping the note on the D string and sustain the note on the A just a little longer. I never knew how many ways a basic CGEC chord could be played! We then moved on to ways to play a 3-note chord using some of the same techniques he just taught me with the 4-note chords, but alternating the sustaining note to the middle string.

Onto the Courante. I played it slower using the upper third of the bow like he taught me last week. Then he asked if I'd like to try it faster. Sure! That meant more in middle to lower half of the bow. That was how I learned to play this movement originally years ago. We worked on some the string crossings (from C to A) so I wouldn't hit the middle two strings. This was topped off with some pointers on bowing: how to play the last note at the end of a 3 note slur before going into 3 bowed notes, shortening individually bowed notes staccato but on the string, and what notes to emphasize in the section that has alternating notes on adjacent strings.

By now, I've worked up a sweat. This bowing thing is a real workout! One more piece: Allemande. I hadn't played this one in years. I had to remember what my fingerings were for the run of double-stops - and I stumbled. He gave me another option for the highest doublestop that I never tried before. I think it will be much easier once I practice it some more. Keeping with the bowing themed lesson, he reviewed some alternate bowing styles that I could use on this movement.

As we ended the lesson, I mopped the sweat off my brow and packed up. He asked if my quartet made a final decision on coaching, which I was able to answer happily "YES!" I'll be calling him in a few days to set up our first coached session. We are all soooo excited!

Then I headed home. It only took 30 minutes to get home - without traffic :|

From Dottie Case
Posted via 207.118.250.137 on November 14, 2008 at 2:33 PM

Mendy, it sounds like you have a really good teacher. :)

From Christina C.
Posted via 132.205.125.42 on November 14, 2008 at 8:11 PM

that’s fabulous, Mendy. For me, chamber music has become far & away the most rewarding part of playing. Finding a group of people you like & are compatible with as both people & musicians who want to meet regularly… well that’s pretty much the holy grail.
Do you know about ACMP’s coaching programme (do you know about ACMP?)? If everyone in your group were ACMP members & you wanted to have coaching every now & again, they pay for half of the coaching-fee

From Mendy Smith
Posted via 72.90.121.245 on November 15, 2008 at 3:16 AM

Dottie - I DO have a great teacher, and look forward to lessons every week. I feel very lucky to have gotten him as a teacher.

Christina - yes I do and we are not members. At what we will be paying for occasional coaching split 4 ways, it is not a concern.

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