Learning to Feel Comfortable on Gut Strings: The Bow

Abstract

Gut strings sound, feel and react very differently to today’s strings. At the heart of this lesson is the need for a constant two-way flow of information between the ear and the hand, for which both must be in a state of total awareness. The strings are in a constant state of flux, shortening and lengthening as the hand moves around the fingerboard, and responding to the needs of the music with its continual shifts of dynamics. The seven exercises in this lesson help the gut string novice establish a living relationship with the strings, testing their resistance via the bow and the fingers. This process has two phases, the Experimental Phase, in which the fingers, through tactile awareness, feel the string and gauge the correct amount of pressure for obtaining a clear, basic sound, and the Evaluation Phase, when the ear evaluates its resultant quality.