JAVS Fall 1997

volume with both bow directions by using less arm weight and a more distant sounding point on the single note, but more arm weight and a closer sounding point on the slur. To accomplish this, students unaccustomed to the technique must aim to exaggerate. Then I might have them try Kreutzer No. 2 with these same bowing patterns. Eventually I ask them to apply this technique to specific pas sages in their repertoire. (The speed of this teaching sequence depends on the level and quickness of the student). Applying the Specifics Generally The next step is helping students incorpo rate these specific bowing strategies on their own in a general way-throughout every thing they play. While bright, hard-working, focused students may already have learned to do so, even very strong players can revert to former habits. For some, these new bowing strategies will demand a whole new way of thinking. To stimulate careful thought about these issues-which can seem quite complicated-! ask students to divide a piece into manageable sections. Then I challenge them to apply a dynamic range of twenty-five different levels to a single section. After having them number approximately every beat of this particular passage from one to twenty-five (or using a smaller range if necessary), I then ask them to play through the passage, adjusting only arm weight to bring about these dynamic changes. Of course, arm weight cannot be isolated completely from other factors, but I tell my students to concentrate primarily on arm weight. Immediately after this exercise, I have them play the passage again, this time con centrating on varying bow speed to achieve the dynamic changes. Playing the passage a third time through, the students focus on the adjustment of their sounding point, with the same goal in mind. You may find it helpful to begin with bow speed variation or adjustment of sounding point, whichever suits a particular student's needs. However, since most students rely

heavily on arm weight to vary dynamics usually without thinking much about it-this is the most logical place to start. Once a student has considered and prac ticed each factor separately, the final step is putting them all together-thinking about all three aspects of the bow at once. Analyzing each variable in an isolated exercise should result in a noticeable improvement; the player should gain a better sense of line and a wider dynamic range. Of course, it takes time to work these things out. This learning process is exacting and requires a lot of patience and concentra tion on the student's part. Under normal cir cumstances I have my students do this for no more than two or three weeks, by which time effective bowing should have become almost second nature to them. They see and hear the phrase, and their bow does what is necessary to shape the phrase. Perhaps this is the ulti mate goal of the process-acquiring an ability to hear the phrase before playing it and natu rally making the necessary adjustments to match the intended sound. Students may even benefit from singing the phrase as they play it-or from imagining themselves play ing the phrase exactly as they want it, then actually playing it to see if it matches their mental picture. Most importantly, the analyti cal nature of this pedagogical approach will help students play more musically, expressing with their bow what they hear and feel. jeffrey Irvine, professor ofviola, is director ofthe string department at the Oberlin Conservatory ofMusic and assistant editor for pedagogy for JAYS. During the summer he teaches for the Quartet Program at Bucknell. He previously spent ten summers on the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival and two summers on the faculty of the Meadowmount School ofMusic. He was the violist ofthe New World String Quartet and the Carmel String Quartet. He is married to violist Lynne Ramsey; they have two children, Hannah and Christopher. He plays a 17-inch viola made by Hiroshi Iizuka in 1993.