How to Sound Like a Pro Wrestler

Last night my wife and I were at it again. No, not being disagreeable to each other; and not getting all lovey-dovey neither. We were in front of the old teevee watching skaters.

It was the men’s ‘long program’, we’d taped from the International Championships a couple of weeks ago.

Now, if you’ve ever tuned in to figure skating, you’ll notice that they often skate to violin music. Small wonder when you think about it – bow flowing over strings, skates gliding across ice, nothing could be more appropriate.

So last night one of the skaters chose ‘Winter’, from Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons.’ You’d think it’d be a good choice except for the fact that the last moment portrays skaters falling to the ice – I doubt many in the audience caught the irony.

But that wasn’t the only disconnect for me. I had a problem with the way the violinist body-slammed his or her way through the piece.

It’s not to say the mystery violinist couldn’t get around the notes. He did, with tremendous velocity.

But she – I have to switch genders so’s not to come off sexist in my criticism – had an unfortunate way of slamming the bow into the string to make accents.

So yea, if you want to play like a professional wrestler get in the habit of doing the same. Start with the bow, oh, some ten to twelve inches above the string and slam it down on the string as you begin the bow stroke.

If you do it just right, in fact, you’ll produce a fast, ripping scratch before any tone manages to surface.

Ah, what joy!

Allrighty, enough sarcasm for one day. Let’s get serious.

First off let me say that this kind of a stroke CAN make sense in some more hard-edged 20th century music – Bartok, Dohnanyi come to mind. But in the Baroque, no way.

You see, in Vivaldi’s day the bow itself was shaped differently than the modern bow. Try what the mystery-man was doing with one of those and you might break your nose when the bow rebounds back off the string.

Further, to me this is the lazy person’s way of making an accent. It sound’s so careless and uncultivated.

Now, correcting this habit would take a little patience and some slow practice. It’s an art to PLACE the bow on the string just prior to the outward FIRING of the bow.

Off hand there are two courses of mine I can think of that specifically address this form of bow control. One is in ‘Bach and Kreisler for Violin Artistry’ – at the end of the Allegro section of ‘Praeludium and Allegro.’

The other is in the 8th variation of Caprice #24 which you can find in Paganini for Violin Virtuosity, Vol. 1.

But just to get you started, remember this. Violin playing, as I’ve written before, is largely a horizontal game. You get scratch, not tone, when the bow is propelled vertically to the string. You need timing in combination with relaxation to place the bow in contact with the string at the instant just prior to the firing of the bow.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. This kind of bow control will certainly be part of the Violin Mastery’s Allegro Players program that is just getting started.