Double Bass How does your section share bowings?

[Opus_Pocus]

For the time being, I'm principal bassist in my community orchestra, as the usual principal is having health issues. Last session I was responsible for annotating my section's parts but after some false starts, I gave up on trying to do it on my desktop computer and just used pencil and paper. I don't own a scanner so I just met with my section during the 10 minute rehearsal break to go over bowings. It was extremely inefficient, so we had no real break for a few rehearsals, instead quickly trying to transcribe bowings. Oops, sorry guys.

So to prevent that from happening this season, whats a good way to share? Ideally digitally because we have a mix of iPad and print music users.

 

[Andy Mopley]

1. Take pics & save to a common location (the cloud..) where people can download;
2. Ask the cellists (if the parts match) to give your section their copy;
3. Refer to a trusted source (eg NY Phil archives) and get people to copy bowing on their parts;
4. Ask if anyone of the everhelful folks here has a part with bowing on it.

It's a start...

 

[Anne Millington]

If I were you, I would request to see what the principal cellist has marked, and transfer whatever is useful to the principal bass part. In pencil, because things change. Then scan and send as pdf for the section to use for their own parts. They can work in pencil if printed, and if digital, well, digitally. Because again, things change.
It is the principal cellist's job to translate whatever the concertmaster and conductor proscribe into cello/bass bowings, but cello may well diverge from bass for all sorts of good reasons.

 

[PaulCannon]

I can tell you how it's supposed to work, but the truth is I hate dealing with bowings and I wish people were more comfortable mixing it up. Most of the time, it just doesn't matter.

For the times it does matter: well in advance of the first rehearsals, the principal bass should sit down and mark their part. That may or may not involve already having a marked cello part. If your orchestra has a librarian, the principal would give those markings to them to add to the other parts, or at least to scan.

For changes in rehearsal: the procedure is that once the principal marks something new, they should ask their assistant principal (their stand partner) to discretely pass on the new information to the next stand. In theory, that information should be quietly passed along like a game of telephone. When everyone in the section knows the procedure, it usually works.

By the way, as principal it's helpful if your handwriting and markings are clearly written and bold. Don't use a cheap mechanical pencil, get yourself a real pencil that your colleagues can read from a few feet away.

 

[Anne Millington]

...By the way, as principal it's helpful if your handwriting and markings are clearly written and bold. Don't use a cheap mechanical pencil, get yourself a real pencil that your colleagues can read from a few feet away...

Good advice, and I LOVE these pencils!

 

[SAlcott]

Great pencils, but hard to erase completely. On the original subject, less is more. Down or up indication where the passage starts, and everything as it comes unless there's a change.

 

[neilG]

I'm liking the Blackwing 602 more these days. A bit harder and slightly less dark than the Blackwing but lasts longer and I think it erases better.

 

[Opus_Pocus]

Good info all, thanks. I have some excerpt books that I can use for bowing guidelines and in general have no worries about picking bowings for parts. I think I'm going to spring for ForScore so I can doodle the bowings on my iPad, then send them out to the section.

If I were you, I would request to see what the principal cellist has marked, and transfer whatever is useful to the principal bass part. In pencil, because things change. Then scan and send as pdf for the section to use for their own parts. They can work in pencil if printed, and if digital, well, digitally. Because again, things change.
It is the principal cellist's job to translate whatever the concertmaster and conductor proscribe into cello/bass bowings, but cello may well diverge from bass for all sorts of good reasons.

Unfortunately the principal cellist does not have their act together and their bowings are not distributed until well after the first rehearsal.

 

[Anne Millington]

...Unfortunately the principal cellist does not have their act together and their bowings are not distributed until well after the first rehearsal..

Well, better than never getting them, I guess. In your cellist's defense, maybe they are waiting to see how much the musical context influences choices. Using excerpt books is a good idea. I do think the more you show that you value receiving timely bowings, the more likely they will flow downstream to you.

 

[Andy Mopley]

What's a pencil?? (Ducking for cover..)
))

 

[CaseyVancouver]

It is the principal cellist's job to translate whatever the concertmaster and conductor proscribe into cello/bass bowings, but cello may well diverge from bass for all sorts of good reasons.

Do you find the cellists bowings relate much to a German bow bass player? I am just curious and wondering about this.

It does look nice when everybody does it together in a performance, but I question how relevant violin/cello bowings are to bass players.

It also seems strange to me that we all look to the concertmaster for direction, yet way down the line bass players are playing German style bow on strings tuned in 4ths, or myself with 5ths. I fool around on the violin now and then, and it sure is a different creature to any upright. I am missing the traditional bowing connection of violin to cello to bass, and if there really is a point to it.

Regarding the NY Phils bass section bowings that were mentioned, my experience is the context is not clear on a lot of the markings. When in rehearsal our conductor talks about why we bow this way or that. But the NY Phils markings at times often seem random, or contradict the composers markings. Some of the basses from the old era were fitted with guts so that may account for some of it. So often I start with the Phils markings, then dump them later.

I like PaulCannon’s comment ‘most of the time, it just doesn’t matter’. We all have spent so much time on bowings. I dislike when a marked bowing messes with, or distracts, my natural bowing technique.

 

[Andy Mopley]

"most of the time, it just doesn’t matter" may hold true, yet keeping bow movement uniform is one of the most common comments I hear - at least at amateur orchestra level. As for the NYP markings, I take them with a grain of salt, tbh. but in the absence of a reference, or in doubt, it's a start?

 

[Bruce Calin]

As far as matching cello bowings, I prefer marking similar phrasing and adapting the bowing as needed. If I get a part with bowing marked by the conductor or concertmaster, I have to be even more aware of changes that need to be made.

 

[SAlcott]

Upper string players and conductors usually have little or no understanding of bass bowing issues.

 

[Leif Dering]

Upper string players and conductors usually have little or no understanding of bass bowing issues.

Yeah, it's really not uncommon to see a bowing and think "this is totally a violin bowing"

 

[bpclark]

Yeah, it's really not uncommon to see a bowing and think "this is totally a violin bowing"

Agreed. In our orchestra, the concertmaster marks bowings for all the sections. While most of what he does seems to make some sense, there are times when they cause a unanimous eye-roll.