Help with accented bow strokes!

June 30, 2004 at 09:55 PM · which part of the bruch specifically?

June 30, 2004 at 11:40 PM · Greetings,

try to separate the idea of marcato and the other two to beign with. The marcato is a bowing -technique- which should be studeied carefully and practiced ona daily basis. There is a good article in the June issue of the Strad bt Simon Fischer which breaks this stroke down into its component parts so you can learn it correctly.

Then there are two kind sof accent: dynamic and agogic.

The formwe are things like sfz and the latter use lengtehning and shortening notes to make them stand out or the opposite (a negative accent).

A dynamic accent is created with a) the bow , by increasing spped, pressure or both and b) the vibrato by increasing with, or intensity or both. Read Gerle- Art of Bowing.

You also nee dot pay careful attention to where yu are playing (contact point).

Cheers,

Buri

July 1, 2004 at 03:24 AM · Greetings,

to continue...

the kind of sound you produce at the beginning of a note is influenced by whetehr you start the bow from above the string or on it, the speed of the stroke and so on. You can vary the attack from the above the stirng stroke by changing the angle you strike the string, speed of bow movement and amount of hair you use. This kind of stroke is more soloistic orientated whereas an orchestral plaer is obliged to puyt the bow on the string before strating for the sake of ensemble. If you palce the bow on teh stirng and begin playing immediately you will get a kind of clear head to the note. If you do this prpocedure but use a faster bow stroke you will get a differnet kind of attack.

Ypou might want to sail smmothly inot the note by practicing lanfing the bow at the heel as though a plane on an runway. Playing a not in the lower half and taking off again. So the bow is making a banana shape. This is a rather difficult exercise but very usweful even at an advanced level. The bow cannot really be placed on ther string at the heel for example to starta piano passage as it will produce a rough sound. Learn how to approach the string from the air to p@roduce the most beautiful sound.

It is not a good idea ot listen to one recording of the Bruch to imitae. You will sound a fake plus it is often true that people who copy recoridngs lose their sens eof rythm- I don`t know why....

Try listening to the recording of Casals playing the Kol Nidrei t sget a sense of what Bruch is about.

Then use langauge to decide how to begin notes or articulate. IE does the beginning of this note need a `p` or a `guh` or `mmmm` or what. Experiment until you play what you have created with your imagination,

Cheers.

Buri