|
Newent Orchestral
Society Bill's Musical Notes, Jan., 2009 Up bows; down bows It's Saturday morning just before 10.00 a.m., and I'm driving my car through the country lanes leading into Upleadon. I'm on my way to an orchestra rehearsal and thinking how lucky I am to be driving through this beautiful countryside to spend a couple of delightful hours making music with my friends. I'm also wondering what our conductor, George Taylor, has in store for us today. George has a unique style when taking the orchestra through its paces, a style that involves attention to musical detail but also a humour that keeps our attention. Rehearsals are as entertaining as the final performance. My thoughts turn to how the orchestra can improve its presentation, especially as the membership consists of such a wide range of abilities. My own speciality is as a string player (violin and I dabble with the viola) and one thing I'm sure of is that more work is needed in coordinating the bowing of both the first and second violins. When you watch a good orchestra in action, it's a pleasure to watch not only how all the string players' bows seem to be invisibly linked so that they move exactly together, but somehow the musicians know to use the same part of the bow and the same amount for each stroke. It looks good but it also has a great effect on the consistency and quality of timbre that is produced. There's room for improvement for us - and it is relatively easily done. How do string players know how to coordinate this? Well, much of it comes through experience. For example, an "up beat" or introductory note that occurs just before the beginning of a bar line will by convention be a "up" bow, while the first, strongest beat of a bar will usually be an "down" bow. And there are other conventions like this that help to make the music flow smoothly. In addition, if you see a piece of string player's music, you would notice how many pencil marks have been made by previous musicians. It is usual for the orchestra leader to mark one set of music with his/her bowing preferences and then pass it around for the others to copy. So, no mystery or magic in that and an easily practical solution. I like my music to have as few distracting pencil marks on it as possible, but some are inevitable - and there are not only bowing variables to consider but phrasing, dynamics and changes of tempo to be played according to the whim of the conductor. If you can't remember all this, it has to be pencilled in. The golden rule - never use ballpoint: a heinous crime. Here's an investment tip. Buy a good bow. If you are a string player you'll appreciate its responsiveness, but also they make a good financial investment. Why? Attrition, that's why. Take a quality bow maker who made 100 bows 100 years ago. Every now and then one of them gets damaged and, unlike violins, they are often impossible to repair. So, those good bows with time become rarer and rarer until one day there will only be one or two left and they will be worth a lot of money.
|
Bill Anderton, January, 2009