A lot of great info! One thing I've noticed from teaching spiccato is that teaching the student to work WITH their bow, and understand how the bow should work with the natural "springy-ness" of the string, and not try to force the bounce, is the key to understanding the basic technique of spiccato. I've actually taken to having my students mimic a cello bowhold, where the fingers are more draped over the frog, thus removing as much squeezing and direct control from the fingers, which forces them to work with the nature of the bow. I've gotten great success from this method of teaching spiccato.
That's really awesome! A nice bow camber and natural feel is the way to go - I agree! Thanks for sharing your experience :) I might try this myself with some students ;)
Thank you very much for your brilliant explanations on spiccato. As far as bow technique is concerned, can you some day a make a video on tips on dynamics (crescendo/decrescendo) please.
I had to play the Prokofiev Classical Symphony excerpt in a live professional audition. The extent of how soft those pianissimo passages must be executed on stage is ridiculously difficult. (you literally feel like you have to breathe while walking on a 10 ft high tightrope while fighting all the nerves and hope you don't fall off in front of the audition panel closely watching your every move*) 🥶
Thanks. I see some instructors suspending the bow hair above and off the string in order to deliver a colle derived motion called the brush stroke as you mention. But you start on the string and dont rely on a primarily finger extension and retraction.
Any finger motion is passive in true spiccato stroke, and the forearm leads. Finger motion is more visible in some players than others and it's really a reaction as part of the momentum. However, an exercise, it's often recommended to practice developing the flexibility and strength of the fingers by doing colle bowstroke. In colle (which is different from spiccato, but not unrelated) the fingers participate more. It also starts on the string.
thanks a lot for this great video. i was wondering if the wrist of the bow hand should be flexible or if the majority of the flexibility comes from the fingers
