# Bowing Questions



## arnerich

I'm composing a symphony and I have a question. For this cello passage what would be best way to bow it?

Preceding this passage there's a great tutti crescendo then all the instruments drop except the cellos (and the basses on the downbeats).

The passage is very quick (quarter note = 126) and my instincts tell me that the bow changes should occur on the repeated notes. But perhaps there's a better way? Thank you!


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## vsm

I am not a cello player, but being a violinist, I think your legato bowing is the best one I could come up with as well!


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## senza sordino

I'm not a cellist, I'm a mediocre violin player. I think your bowing is good to articulate those repeated notes. I do find that bowing a little tricky but a good cellist should have no trouble with it.


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## arnerich

I've got another bowing question for you guys! This theme in the strings is very fast and it has repeated notes. (It's a fugue subject)

Below is the passage without bowing and the passage as I'd like it to be bowed. But is this the most effective method for bowing this passage? Thank you for your time!


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## wkasimer

senza sordino said:


> I'm not a cellist, I'm a mediocre violin player. I think your bowing is good to articulate those repeated notes. I do find that bowing a little tricky but a good cellist should have no trouble with it.


I'm a lousy cellist, and at that tempo, I'd probably find that a good time for a page turn . At quarter note = 126, that passage will be a real challenge any way it's bowed.


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## senza sordino

arnerich said:


> I've got another bowing question for you guys! This theme in the strings is very fast and it has repeated notes. (It's a fugue subject)
> 
> Below is the passage without bowing and the passage as I'd like it to be bowed. But is this the most effective method for bowing this passage? Thank you for your time!
> 
> View attachment 98478
> 
> View attachment 98479


It's unlikely those repeated notes would be well articulated with an ensemble at a quick pace. Perhaps a soloist could make those repeated notes sound, but not an ensemble, at least not done well and clean. If you want to emphasize repeated notes, they really need to be separate bowing, down and up.


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## arnerich

senza sordino said:


> It's unlikely those repeated notes would be well articulated with an ensemble at a quick pace. Perhaps a soloist could make those repeated notes sound, but not an ensemble, at least not done well and clean. If you want to emphasize repeated notes, they really need to be separate bowing, down and up.


Thank you for your insight!


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## Zanralotta

Don't try to micro-manage orchestra players, we always choose our own bowing!

Seriously, bowing is a lot trickier than a lot of people think. I've met plenty of pianists or guitarists who all wondered about how intonation worked and ended up rather stupefied by the bow when I offered them a go at my instrument. In many ways, bowing is the most diificult part of learning a string instrument.

I personally would not use either of your suggestions unless in a chamber music situation where I was the only person to play the passage. In an orchestra situation, the ultimate desicion would be with the conductor or the concert master how your passages would be played. 

As a composer you can denote staccato/non-legato/legato, but your bowing will be ignored like 99.99% of all violinist in the last 50 years ignored, say, Paganini's notated bowing of his Caprice No. 5 (I can name three dozen famous violinists of the last decades, including people like Heifetz or Oistrakh, who have recorded the piece, but can't recall a single name of someone who attempted the original bowing... Alexander Markov did a version that was loosely based on it, but other than that I draw a blank).

People will hardly heed your bowing advice where they ignore the most famous violinist of all times.

Instead of bowing, you should write phrasing and leave the nuts and bolts to people who know their instrument and skills better than you.


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