Double stops in high positons and with open strings

June 11, 2009 at 03:29 PM ·

Russ,

Sound quality in the upper positions, and especially with double stops, is difficult. It's often what separates really top players. I'm not sure if there's a magic bullet except to keep in mind all the same principles of sound production in the lower positions: contact point (are you close enough to the bridge?), pressure (are you using enough?), bow speed, and vibrato. 

Scott

June 11, 2009 at 04:06 PM ·

I believe the main point regarding your query is contact point.  As you shift higher and higher you want to find the sounding point for the bow, which will be nearer and nearer to the bridge as you go up.  A good exercise is shifting back and forth between two double stops, the upper one being in a high position. You'll get the clearest tone, all during the shifting back and forth, by shifting the bow's contact point  toward and away from the bridge as the fingers move toward and away from the bridge.

June 11, 2009 at 03:57 PM ·

My teacher would say that this is mostly a contact point problem.  Whenever playing any double stops, like octaves, tenths, or larger intervals involving open strings, you need to find the contact point relative to the bridge that suits the higher note.  Once you've worked that out, play both strings with that contact point.  However, if you just stop there you'll find that since the contact point for the lower note is much to close, it will not sound well.  You must compensate for this by leaning into the lower string.  The increased weight on the lower string will make both pitches come out nicely.  It will feel like you're playing too close to the bridge, so there's a comfort zone to come out of, but it pays off in the end.

June 11, 2009 at 10:55 PM ·

My teacher used to go so far as say that the bow should be angled in such a way so that the higher of the stopped notes is played nearer the bridge with the bow than the lower one. This works particularly well with chords too.

June 13, 2009 at 02:37 PM ·

Thanks for the advice; adjusting the contact point certainly makes a large difference.  I can now get a more balanced sound, the problem is that playing so near to the bridge on an open string makes that string very loud - is this something one needs to correct for with weight distribution between the two strings?

Cheers,

Russ.

June 13, 2009 at 06:18 PM ·

Can I ask Russ, did you try my suggestion by any chance? Just wondering if it helped at all.

To clalify, here is an example. Suppose you play an open A, plus an A 2 octaves higher on the E string. Try tilting the bow so that the high A is played at a sounding point much nearer the bridge than the open A. I would have thought that this would alleviate the problem you described, with the A string being too loud in comparison to the higher note.

June 13, 2009 at 09:36 PM ·

It is definitely a compromise situation. 95% of the time we favor the melody. The open string will have less than an ideal sound. Sometimes (shh!) we let the open string almost disappear. In fact there may be some notes where we will not play the open string at all. However the sound of the open string will still be resonating and also it will still be in the listener's imagination. Listen carefully to some of the great artists and you will hear them do this.

June 16, 2009 at 03:08 PM ·

Neil - yes I did try your suggestion, albeit with limited success.  Angling the bow between the strings seems to increase the likelihood of scratches.  It also feels very strange when I've always strived to bow perpendicular to the strings.

Cheers, Russ.