Say a self-instructed French-bow person notices
that there is an arco sweet spot
at the 4th overtone (an octave and a 10th).
For an open string, that spot is near the end of the fingerboard,
but for notes up the string, it moves closer to the bridge,
so that at the octave it is about halfway between the fingerboard and bridge,
and so on,
each fingered position having a unique best bowing spot.
It is so easy to pull a big sound at that overtone-spot
that the self-instructed person decides to try
to bow EVERY note at that note's 4th-overtone sweet spot.
The bow is too massive to relocate entirely, at speed,
but if the bow be PIVOTED around its center of balance,
one seems to be able to catch the sweet spot for just about every note.
The bow hand is very loose, hardly gripping the bow at all,
constantly moving up and down (toward the endpin, toward the scroll),
while at the same time bowing back and forth,
pulling way up (toward the shoulder)
to catch an open-string-sweet-spot on the E-string
or a high note on the G-string,
pushing down (toward the feet)
to make a thumb-position figure on the A-string
or catch a low note on the G-string.
The bow constantly pivoting, rather than always parallel to the bridge,
the bow-hand describing circles and arcs in the air.
And then what if the self-instructed person (who sits),
finding it uncomfortable to bend way over to bow the sweet spot for thumb positions,
discovers that one can slide the bow SIDEWAYS (diagonally across the hair),
the bow held tip-low (player sitting up straight),
so as one "down-bows" (a bow-pull toward the right shoulder)
the bow also slides across the string to the right
and as one "up-bows" (a bow-push toward the left foot)
the bow is also slid sideways to the left.
The contact point remains at the sweet spot on the string
even as the bow is held and drawn at an angle to the string,
cuz the bow is simultaneously slid sideways.
(It feels like scratching a cat with a stick or stirring soup.)
To catch a sweet-spot in a tight figure,
one can even tip/twist the bow,
catching the high note with the right side of the hair
and a second lower with the left side of the hair.
For instance, to bow a "turn" (ornament),
the bow hand makes a little circle in the air
in the plane of the string
(to pivot the bow)
while simultaneously tipping the bow
from right-side-hair to left-side-hair and back.
I am certain the "correct" bow technique isn't like this at all,
but, rather, would recommend that the bow be drawn
in some compromise position
somewhere between the fingerboard and the bridge,
(always parallel to the bridge),
using a lot of weight (rather than exact placement)
to get the string to sound big.
But I must say, the technique I have described is very seductive,
because it gives such a fine sound with so little weight/effort
(the hand, the arm, the shoulder completely loose and relaxed).
But, of course, the movement of the bow-hand is complex.
Has anyone followed the path I have described,
to the point where it becomes instinctive? Is it good?
Or do I walk this path alone (and will end up in a ditch)?
that there is an arco sweet spot
at the 4th overtone (an octave and a 10th).
For an open string, that spot is near the end of the fingerboard,
but for notes up the string, it moves closer to the bridge,
so that at the octave it is about halfway between the fingerboard and bridge,
and so on,
each fingered position having a unique best bowing spot.
It is so easy to pull a big sound at that overtone-spot
that the self-instructed person decides to try
to bow EVERY note at that note's 4th-overtone sweet spot.
The bow is too massive to relocate entirely, at speed,
but if the bow be PIVOTED around its center of balance,
one seems to be able to catch the sweet spot for just about every note.
The bow hand is very loose, hardly gripping the bow at all,
constantly moving up and down (toward the endpin, toward the scroll),
while at the same time bowing back and forth,
pulling way up (toward the shoulder)
to catch an open-string-sweet-spot on the E-string
or a high note on the G-string,
pushing down (toward the feet)
to make a thumb-position figure on the A-string
or catch a low note on the G-string.
The bow constantly pivoting, rather than always parallel to the bridge,
the bow-hand describing circles and arcs in the air.
And then what if the self-instructed person (who sits),
finding it uncomfortable to bend way over to bow the sweet spot for thumb positions,
discovers that one can slide the bow SIDEWAYS (diagonally across the hair),
the bow held tip-low (player sitting up straight),
so as one "down-bows" (a bow-pull toward the right shoulder)
the bow also slides across the string to the right
and as one "up-bows" (a bow-push toward the left foot)
the bow is also slid sideways to the left.
The contact point remains at the sweet spot on the string
even as the bow is held and drawn at an angle to the string,
cuz the bow is simultaneously slid sideways.
(It feels like scratching a cat with a stick or stirring soup.)
To catch a sweet-spot in a tight figure,
one can even tip/twist the bow,
catching the high note with the right side of the hair
and a second lower with the left side of the hair.
For instance, to bow a "turn" (ornament),
the bow hand makes a little circle in the air
in the plane of the string
(to pivot the bow)
while simultaneously tipping the bow
from right-side-hair to left-side-hair and back.
I am certain the "correct" bow technique isn't like this at all,
but, rather, would recommend that the bow be drawn
in some compromise position
somewhere between the fingerboard and the bridge,
(always parallel to the bridge),
using a lot of weight (rather than exact placement)
to get the string to sound big.
But I must say, the technique I have described is very seductive,
because it gives such a fine sound with so little weight/effort
(the hand, the arm, the shoulder completely loose and relaxed).
But, of course, the movement of the bow-hand is complex.
Has anyone followed the path I have described,
to the point where it becomes instinctive? Is it good?
Or do I walk this path alone (and will end up in a ditch)?
