It seems that most of us violists (and other bowed string players) are mostly left hand centric. I guess because it’s so hard to play in tune!!
And yet, when you stop and think about it- the list of left-hand tasks is actually relatively short: The left hand needs to think about finger placement/spacings, shifting, vibrato, rhythms and a relaxed left hand position. Please let me know if you can think of more left hand tasks.
BUT THE BOW is responsible for EVERYTHING ELSE that we need to think about when we are playing anything that’s not pizzicato!! That means that the bow takes care of the sound which, if you break that down, means that our contact point, pressure (weight) and bow speed all must align appropriately or we don’t get the sound, resonance, or color we are looking for. So that’s just for starters. Then the bow needs to do string crossings, bow distribution, bow changes, balancing double stops so both notes speak at the same time, a million different strokes (starting with everything from legato slurs to staccato and spiccato and everything in between), the phrasing, the rhythmic vitality and energy, the flow, the atmosphere, all the articulations and the inflections. And I’m sure I’m leaving out some other things…
So, after we’ve worked on our left hand technique of a passage and learned the finger spacings/placements, shifts and vibrato then it’s time to practice just on the corresponding open strings. So, bow alone- incorporating EVERYTHING besides the notes in the tempo that we want to play and make it sound exactly like we want it and so well that we can do it in our sleep! Once we’ve attained that- then we add the left hand and LEAD EVERYTHING WITH THE BOW and it’s amazing and miraculous to see how much better our shifts sound (and less chance of missing them) as well as feeling, hearing and executing the music more clearly…
