Top 5 Myths of Bowing for Violinists and Violists
Whether on or off our instrument, 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 are not without 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 violin/viola, especially when playing heavy.
That’s right, if you maintain the same upright “neutral” posture while playing the violin/viola, then your depth of sound will be no more than the weight of your arm. If you want to play even heavier, then by definition you will have to press. And sometimes you might want to press, but when you want an unforced, big, juicy sound, you must change our posture. You must slouch.
And not just any slouch, an extremely refined slouch that pours your weight directly into the 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 you change your amount of weight this way, you can change your 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 you maintain a “neutral” posture, then by definition the only way you can lighten your weight is by lifting your arm. This strains your arm so you're less free to sense the string. It also creates a more surfacy piano. And sometimes that’s exactly what you might want. Yet it’s possible to create a deeper, sweeter piano too and for that you’ll again have to change your posture, this time by arching.
Here are three demonstrations of slouching to get a heavier sound and arching to get a lighter sound, each artist in their own way.
David Oistrakh on violin:
Tabea Zimmerman on viola.
Shunske Sato on baroque violin.
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 want; 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 violinists and violists called Bowing With Your Whole Self.
