Top 5 Myths of Bowing for Cellists

So often we cellists talk as if our bow makes sound. We say up bow, down bow, bow change, bow stroke, bow speed, bow angle, and amount of bow.

But in fact our bow doesn’t make sound, our string does! It doesn’t matter what we do with our bow, or even our body; what determines how we sound is what happens to our string. A much more accurate way to describe these terms would be string right, string left, string direction change, string stroke, string speed, string angle, and amount of string.

The reason this distinction matters is because so many of us cellists do things with our bow and body that do not translate to our strings and therefore do not translate to our sound. We make our body and bow the goal, but this actually leads to confusion and unnecessary work.

Only once we make our string and sound the goal, do we have a clear target around which to find our own most comfortable, efficient and effective way to use our body and bow. This helps us not only sound better, but feel better too. 

So next time you go to do a bow stroke or arm movement, think of it as a string stroke or string movement instead. Search for the most comfortable way for you to make the string do what it needs to, and notice the difference in how you sound and feel.

If you’d like to explore organizing around your string, check out my online workshop for cellists called Bowing With Your Whole Self.