Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Double Bass Fingering q.
- Thread starter Andy Mopley
- Start date
Hi, Andy.
Yes, the slurs should be played in one stroke (hooked bowing).
The fingerings suggested by the strings you wrote underneath look fine to me.
They look like slurs but they are two short staccato up bows each time, as indicated by the dots above the notes. With the hair semi-off for the two ups this passage has to be played powerfully, punchily (?) and almost crudely. It keeps you in the lower part of the bow hair inside the balance point, but not too close to the frog where the hair would be too stiff. The weight of the bow and arm here help dig the notes out. It is an exultant tutti passage for the strings, to be heard at some expense of musical beauty IMO. The fingerings are a good choice.
Some more thoughts after "sleeping on it". See what the cellos' (and more broadly, the tutti strings) bowing is because visually we are mostly tied to them. The important notes to hear in this fast aggressive crescendo are the long ones, with increasing bow lengths, speeds and weights. The short notes will tend to be lost in this rush. As the down bow lengths increase for the crescendo keep lifting the bow quickly back to the same place to continue up and execute the two linked up bows. An alternative (if everyone does it, eg tutti strings) is the one in your extract. Yet another is to bow "as it comes". Experimenting at home with all of them to measure which is the most successful is not time wasted because you are adding to your bag of tricks.
