ABSTRACT
Mental imagery is central to playing a string instrument. The following exercise by Dr Rodney Schmidt featured in an article, titled “Contours, Images, and the Bow” in Journal of the Violin Society of America, helps visualize the motions associated with bowing. Once an accurate picture of the movement is memorized, upper string players touch the nose with the middle and tip of the bow, and low string players, touch the belly button with the middle and tip of the bow. A substantial part of bow technique on all string instruments is bow management, or the ability to distribute the bow within any given musical context. As the student gains more experience and comfort with varied bow strokes, more and more uneven bow distribution and alternating bow strokes are introduced in playing. String crossings pose yet another challenge to bow distribution that it takes away from finite bow length to cross strings.
