How many times have you played something where you thought you were making a big enough gesture but were told it wasn’t enough or even inaudible? I think, especially in this 21st century culture of string playing we are often asked to be even bolder, more dramatic, more passionate, more everything!! Sound familiar??
I have found that one very basic technique that we can focus on more is developing our crescendos and diminuendos better. These very basic gestures can certainly make a big difference for the more extreme gestures that we are trying to produce.
The most obvious way to practice a crescendo is to start ppp at the tip over the fingerboard and gradually move closer to the bridge while increasing the weight and slowing down the bow speed as we get closer to the frog. Then doing the same exactly in reverse to achieve a great diminuendo starting at the frog. Doing this work can also be even more helpful if we do a super slow staccato to feel every centimeter of the bow and bow placement, speed and pressure and listen intensively to the gradual pacing of the sound as we get louder or softer.
And then work on doing everything in reverse! In other words start ppp at the frog and crescendo towards the tip – and then start fff at the tip and diminuendo to the frog (also with the slow staccato)- totally unnatural- but great practice and sometimes actually necessary in music…
Here’s to creating bolder gestures and keeping those “that’s not enough!” comments at bay! 🙂
