Top 5 Myths of Bowing for Cellists
Whether on or off the cello, we’ve all been shamed for slouching. Tall, wide and symmetrical is good. Slumped, narrow and crooked is bad.
These posture rules are so ingrained in most of us that we ask only how we can obey them better, not whether we should obey them at all. And, to be fair, these rules have some merit. It’s true that being tall, wide and symmetrical is often useful. It’s just also true that being slumped, narrow and crooked is useful too - especially on the cello, especially when playing heavy.
If we always maintain the same upright “neutral” posture while playing the cello, then our depth of sound will be no more than the weight of our arm. If we want to play even heavier, then by definition we will have to press. And sometimes we want to press, but when we want an unforced, big, juicy sound, we must change our posture. We must slouch.
And not just any slouch, an extremely refined slouch that pours our weight directly into our string. Each string, each contact point, each place in the bow and ultimately each sound calls for its own tailor-made slouch. And the beauty is, not only can we change our amount of weight this way, we can change our quality of weight too. Slouching in our pelvis creates a very different flavor of weight and sound compared to slouching in our chest or shoulders. One feels and sounds like a pelvis and the other feels and sounds like a shoulder!
The same principle applies to playing softly. If we maintain a “neutral” posture, then by definition the only way we can lighten our weight is by lifting our arm. This strains our arm so we’re less free to sense the string. It also creates a more surfacy piano. And sometimes that’s exactly what we want. Yet it’s possible to create a deeper, sweeter piano too and for that we’ll again have to change our posture, this time by arching.
Here is a video of Rostropovich playing the opening of the Dvorak concerto (heavy) vs the exposition (light). Notice how he slouches and arches according to the weight of his sound.
Letting go of the posture rule to stay “tall, wide and symmetrical” frees us to approach our body in a more functional, creative, musical and even emotional way. Not to mention a more comfortable and efficient way too. We can flow from one body shape to the next according to the depth of sound we wish to create; never stuck in one posture nor one depth of sound. Goodbye posture police, hello musical bodies!
If you’d like to explore your musical body, check out my online workshop for cellists called Bowing With Your Whole Self.
