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Double Bass Teaching How To Hold A German Bow

Steve Freides

Steve Freides

Former Mannes College Theory Faculty
Supporting Member
Dec 11, 2007
2,576
1,508
Ridgewood, NJ
#1
I'd appreciate a general discussion of how to hold a German bow, and how to teach this to students.

The problem I run into most often is the students hand is too far "under" the bow. When I hold my bow, the back of my hand basically faces sideways, but for some of my students, the back of their hand almost faces the ground, and this isn't a good thing, in my opinion.

Put another way, I am bending my hand at the first knuckle, and the bow sits in that 90-degree-ish bend. My students often have the bend at their wrist instead.

Thanks.

-S-
 
#7
There certainly are many different schools of thought when it comes to holding the German bow. One thing that I have found helpful in developing a good resonant sound is to have the student play without the thumb on the bow. This can get them to stop squeezing and pressing (common problems for beginners on BOTH bows). When they do go back to placing their thumb on the bow (wherever that may be, depending on which school you are teaching), they will likely use a lighter touch with the fingers and draw the bow more from the weight of the arm and body.
 
#8
Peter Dominguez told me that your arm and hand position should look like Joe Louis' punch.

DE-joelouisfist.jpg


The arm position is ergonomically correct, and allows a more free range of motion down the entire arm (so that your hand and wrist can flop like a dead fish--ala "Gary Karr" style).

What your students are doing sounds like a posture issue. At the Bass Works at Peabody, Barbara Fitzgerald and Tracy Rowell both did some classes that had to deal with posture. Barbara said to assume a singer's posture--shoulders should be in line with the hips, hips in line with the feet, and your feet should be as wide as your shoulders. You shouldn't have a droopy shoulder either, and I think that's where your students are making their error--slouching your shoulder will alter the angle that your bow is placed on the string, creating a downward-facing hand rather than the desired hand position.

They could be tilting their wrists outward as well.

Hope something I said was correct/coherent!
 
#11
I like the "How not to hold the bow" video. One thing that's important to point out that as you emphasize the importance of a loose wrist the student will begin to rotate almost automatically to more of the "90 deg" hold. You can't get the loose motion right if your wrist is bent to start with.
 

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