Category: Jacqui Patreon lessons

Bass Viol Elementary Lesson 2: How to hold the bow and bowing with Jacqui

Viol Player Book 1

Chapter 1

• Feeling the weight in your arm by swinging it.
• Hold your right arm, with your left hand and wiggle it! Feel the wrist move as a reflex action to having a floppy arm.
• Bow hold: Put your bow on lap – horse hair on knuckle, 2nd finger through the hair and stick. The thumb tickles the stick and the 1st finger is passive and cradles it. Bow hold is only complete when bow is on string. What does it feel like?
P24 Up and Down Again
• How much to tension the bow hair: Depending on the density of the stick, but if it looks like Robin Hood can ping arrow from the bow, it’s too tight! If it’s too loose, it’s difficult to hold and wiggles around.
• Being comfortable: Take a picture on your phone for a physical reference to your body and the position of your viol.
• Bow under the strings – before you apply rosin! Feel the movement of hour relaxed arm.
• When you hold the bow, think of the arm coming ‘up’ from under – this will help to keep the elbow down (especially if you play modern strings). Make sure your palm is vertical and the is bow is turned away so it looks like you’re playing on the wood of the stick. If the palm of the hand is not vertical the bow hold can feel very insecure.
• Check you bow hold: Take off your 1st finger and thumb from the stick and see if the bow remains on the string and feels secure. Take your bow off the string with your left hand and it should ping back onto the string.
• Hold the bow in the left hand at the tip and put the bow on a string and move the arm up and down the bow. Close your eyes and feel the movement of the arm.
• Starting to bow on the middle two strings.
• For bowing think push and pull rather than up and down and this can help modern string players to not get the bow stoke mixed up. Think of racket sports and a strong stroke with a bat is the same as a forehand stroke and a back hand being the same as a pull bow.
• Push is strong and pull is weak; tension and resolution.
• How to rosin the bow.
• Looking after your viol: Always wipe the strings, the belly of the viol and the stick of the bow with a duster when you have finished playing. It’s very easy to get a build up of rosin on the string and not make good contact with it.
• P14 Bowing & Viol Aerobics in 8 bows to each string and continuing with 4, 2 and 1 move bow forward and back – not up and down.
• To keep the bow parallel to the bridge, imagine you are bowing under a table (apart from the top string).
• Use right leg as a runway to keep the bow level. (apart from top string)
• Close your eyes and remember physical references to help embed muscle memory.
• P24 Up and Down Again; arco (with the bow). Separate each hand by learning skills separately: play without the left hand and bow the string the notes are on.
• Bow on string – breathe in and out.
• When string crossing in bar 8, the bow comes back, not down.
• P14 N25 Singing Cucumber – arm forward and back. Memorise, play with your eyes closed and feel the bow stroke changing from string to string. Little challenges. Important to learn these skills by putting them on autopilot.
• 15. Up and Down Again – both hands finishing with 2 fingers down and a relaxed right arm.

Lower Intermediate Bass Lesson 1: Chordal Fingering

Looking at the technique of Chordal Fingering and how it maintains the resonance of the viol. How do you know when to use it and does it really make life easier?

Viol Player Book 2, Chapter 4 Exercise 1, 2, (eyes closed).

In this lesson we recap on some of the bowing technique learnt in the Elementary Lessons to enable a beautiful sound. Also starting to build a repertoire of good habits! For example:

• putting the left hand on the viol without looking

• putting your bow on the string, breathing in and out, relaxing and sinking into the string with good sense of bow arm weight
• Keeping the same hand shape using chordal fingering in first position using fingers 2-3 and half position with fingers 3-4.

P 33 Fanfare No 33 No 3:
Covering notes for bass lines and putting your left hand on autopilot!
p.38 Rondeau:
looking at changing hand shape from chordal fingering to normal hand position.
Playing with dynamics using the 2nd and 3rd finger on the bow:
• 2nd (or middle) finger can provide more weight (or pressure) on the horse hair, making the sound louder
• 3rd (or ring) finger supports the weight of the bow hair, making the sound quieter.
In conclusion: Chordal Fingering: don’t jump on the same fret with 2-2 or 3-3, just add a finger 2-3 or 3-4.

Lower Intermediate Bass Lesson 2: How to play elegant dotted rhythms

How to play elegant dotted rhythms. Understanding the relationship between different types of compound time signatures: 6/4 and 6/8 How well do you know your C major scale? Looking at c major in first position with F on the C string. C arpeggio with chordal fingering P38. Viol Player Book 2 Lull me Beyond Thee p37 : Using a 4th finger or an open string to avoid string crossing for one note. The un-cluncky quaver: bow distribution for dotted rhythms and playing short bows for short notes. Skye Boat Song p45 Looking at slurs on 3 notes and bow direction across 4 strings. Bowing long notes and feeling free and relaxed.

Lower Intermediate Bass Lesson 3: Half position, hand shape and resonance

Half position, hand shape and resonance C major scale: holding fingers down when string crossing for resonance. C major arpeggio; do you have a good hand shape so chordal fingering in half position feels relaxed? Viol Player Book 3, Page 2 Dance: Working on bow distribution, so weak notes have shorter bows. F major Scale: comparing bow direction on the top and bottom D strings and relating the notes on the top D string to the bottom D string. F major arpeggio: Chordal fingering in half position and keeping the hand relaxed by having a left thumb bent outwards. No 7 Helas Madam: Resonant fingering by holding thirds down and starting on a back bow. Playing quietly by supporting the bow hair with the 3rd finger. P4 Mrs Nag Viol’s Chordal Fingering Challenge! Exercises to install the feeling of chordal finger in your hand. For access to lessons 4-10 at Lower Intermediate and 4 other levels, become a Patreon.

You can sign up for just a month or longer by clicking here. However to make the most of the channel, it’s best to sign up at the beginning of the month. Lessons are going live on a regular basis.

Lower Intermediate Bass Lesson 5: Resonant consecutive back bows and melodic minor scales

Book 3 p 20 Bass part Belle qui tien ma vie.
Learning notes across the frets and how they relate to each other. Playing with dynamics. Playing two resonant consecutive back bows.
Theory: understanding how to construct melodic minor scales.
p 22 No 3 playing with chordal fingering and semiquavers using the wrist.
How to play pizzicato holding the bow. p 22 No 12 Goddess Holding fingers down to finger in 3rd to get more resonance from the viol. Seeing music in shapes and patterns to help sight reading.

Lower Intermediate Bass Lesson 6: Technical review and ‘Why should I move out of half position?’

Technical review

Left hand;

1. Chordal fingering in first and half positions

2. Holding fingers down across 3 or more strings and fingering in thirds.

3. F on the c string, F on E string

Right hand:

1. wrist movement, realizing arm weight.

2. Leading with the wrist on a push bow and the back of the hand with a pull bow.

3. Lifting the bow off the string with the tip of the 3rd (ringed) finger

4. Playing quietly using the tip of the 3rd finger to take the weight of the bow, especially on two consecutive back bows.

p26. Bellezze d’Olympia – second section: chordal fingering as a hand shape

p35. Ah Robin, Gentle Robin: Looking at G and E flat on the same fret with fingers 4 and 3.

How to play resonant rests: leaving notes ringing supporting the bow hair with the tip of the 3rd finger or moving to an adjacent the beat before on a rest.

p 30 Coronation Bells: Why should I move from half position? Looking at how to shift by reducing finger weight and keeping the thumb bent out.

Gentle Robin part 2: More shifting

Lower Intermediate Bass Lesson 7: More String Crossing and Shifting Position using Chordal Fingering

Chapter 4 Viol Player Book 3 P 27 Gavotte: placing the bow away from the tip for string crossing and using a forward and back bow stroke. Avoiding slurring on a string-cross by adding a finger to keep on the same strings. Triple barring and thumb tension. p29 No 1 and 2: First position revision and shifting using chordal fingering. p31 no 2 Shifting from half position to first position using chordal fingering. p31 No 20 Irish Hoe Hoane: Elegant dotted notes and applying the shifting techniques learnt in the exercise above.

Lower Intermediate Bass Lesson 8: Bow management with consort playing tips

Playing catch up with the bow and being on the right place on the bow.
p38 Chapter 5 No 25: Whereto should I express? bow management: playing a weak note at the tip after playing a long note; avoiding a bounce when putting the bow back on the string.
Playing scales in different rhythms: G minor melodic.
p41 No 27 Harvest Home
How to make lots of string crossing, in compound time, easy with elegant dotted rhythms. Working on good practice techniques.
p44 Dont vient cela
Revisiting the technique of a weak note at the tip on a back bow after a long note. Consort playing tips.
Lesson 9 Articulation and yet another way to shift!
P47. Galliard d’Ecosse
Pupil part: how to bow a galliard. Looking at how sometimes it’s not possible to have the bow the right way round, but still make the music sound rhythmically correct!
Spot the hemiola!
Looking at articulation for bass playing and how it affects the rest of the consort.
Teacher’s part Galliard d’ Ecosse: Looking at different choices for fingering and shifting.
p48 Another way to shift using crab walking shifts with contracted fingering.
p49 Mrs Nichols Almand: applying the new shifting technique to the top part and a quick example of different articulation on the Teacher’s part.
p54 Scales and Arpeggios: how to practice them.

Lower Intermediate Bass Lesson 9: Articulation and yet another way to shift!

Lesson 9 Articulation and yet another way to shift!
P47. Galliard d’Ecosse
Pupil part: how to bow a galliard. Looking at how sometimes it’s not possible to have the bow the right way round, but still make the music sound rhythmically correct!
Spot the hemiola!
Looking at articulation for bass playing and how it affects the rest of the consort.
Teacher’s part Galliard d’ Ecosse: Looking at different choices for fingering and shifting.
p48 Another way to shift using crab walking shifts with contracted fingering.
p49 Mrs Nichols Almand: applying the new shifting technique to the top part and a quick example of different articulation on the Teacher’s part.
p54 Scales and Arpeggios: looking at different ways of practising them.

Lower Intermediate Bass Lesson 10: Sight Reading Techniques, Which Position is Best – Half or First?

p32 More Chordal Fingering with 2nd and 1st fingers. Looking at the basis of advanced techniques in the study: More Chordal Fingering – Yipee!
p50 No 36 My Love gave me a Cherry – Looking at key signatures and accidentals to define which position. More crab walking shifts with contracted fingering across two strings starting with pizzicato. Then arco with a reminder to check the position of the thumb.
p52 Mad Tom: Techniques to help sight reading: scan (a quick look!) a piece by looking ahead, spotting accidentals that would necessitate a shift and then deciding which position (half or first) to play in, before you start. Looking at how some phrases are so much easier to play in either first of half position. How the bass player in a consort is responsible for keeping the consort together rhythmically, with good articulation.