Double Bass Bow Direction..

[David Kaczorowski]

Originally posted by Don Higdon

In the 9th, are you referring to the A natural in bar 8? I do play it up bow. What am I missing here? I haven't played 5th.

The 9th- It will sound very different if you play it down, down at that spot as some orchestras do.

The 5th, 3rd mvmnt- slurred 1 1/2 octave minor arpeggios starting in 2nd inversion in single up bows at ppp. They're some wicked licks, slurring up bows across all 4 strings... there's a lot of stuff going on there.

 

[dhosek]

I would just add that playing in a section bow direction really becomes critical since

1. It helps guarantee that everyone has a uniform tone. I play with a lot of amateur and semi-pro orchestras and the difference in sound between a uniformly bowed section and a randomly bowed section is tremendous.

2. Space on stage is tight. If you aren't matching bowings with the players on either side of you, you WILL have collisions, especially if you're playing with two basses to a stand.

-dh

 

[jarroc]

Originally posted by dhosek
I would just add that playing in a section bow direction really becomes critical since

1. It helps guarantee that everyone has a uniform tone. I play with a lot of amateur and semi-pro orchestras and the difference in sound between a uniformly bowed section and a randomly bowed section is tremendous.

2. Space on stage is tight. If you aren't matching bowings with the players on either side of you, you WILL have collisions, especially if you're playing with two basses to a stand.

-dh

Then you have better luck than I do. I also play with a few semi-professional symphonies. And the volunteers in the section are generally incapable of bowing something in a uniform manner.