Double Bass Bow Management Exercises/Tips?

Keith Rawlings

Keith Rawlings

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Aug 3, 2019
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#1
I'm currently working with my instructor on beginning arco technique with German bow hold and I'm really enjoying it. I have managed to learn "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" (ha!) as well as the D major scale; while working on proper left and right hand form for double bass. This is such a revelation for me as I've had no formal training whatsoever with the bow.

What I'm having trouble with is what my instructor calls "Bow Management." I am understanding that this is managing the process of upbow and downbow to allow the motion of the bow to last as long as the note requires. Since we are doing exclusively four beats per measure right now, I'm trying to consciously divide the length of the bow into four imaginary lines -- one per beat -- so as to allow me to pull through the bow motion in time and not run out of length on the bow. I'm frequently running out of bow before I finish the beats. I feel like I'm worrying too much about where on the bow to start the hair on the string before downbow and upbow instead of just relaxing and playing through it without thinking about it so much.

This is so much harder than it seems and I'm wondering if anyone has any exercises or tips that could help me improve with this technique. Thanks.
 
#2
I found John Goldsby's bow book helped me tremendously. I worked through it beginning to end pretty conscientiously and recorded myself frequently. I think it made me nearly competent with the bow. I still have some intonation issues with bow pressure and of course I'm still no symphony progeny but I've come a long way from "sawing the strings". My latest challenge has been soloing with the bow. Definitely an order of magnitude harder but then that's consistent. Check out John's book.
 
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#3
Tom Lane said:
I found John Goldsby's bow book helped me tremendously. I worked through it beginning to end pretty conscientiously and recorded myself frequently. I think it made me nearly competent with the bow. I still have some intonation issues with bow pressure and of course I'm still no symphony progeny but I've come a long way from "sawing the strings". My latest challenge has been soloing with the bow. Definitely an order of magnitude harder but then that's consistent. Check out John's book.
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IMG_6742.jpeg

This one? I bought it last summer but have been waiting to start working on it until after
I’ve had some lessons with a qualified instructor.
 
#4
Keith Rawlings said:
I'm currently working with my instructor on beginning arco technique with German bow hold and I'm really enjoying it. I have managed to learn "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" (ha!) as well as the D major scale; while working on proper left and right hand form for double bass. This is such a revelation for me as I've had no formal training whatsoever with the bow.

What I'm having trouble with is what my instructor calls "Bow Management." I am understanding that this is managing the process of upbow and downbow to allow the motion of the bow to last as long as the note requires. Since we are doing exclusively four beats per measure right now, I'm trying to consciously divide the length of the bow into four imaginary lines -- one per beat -- so as to allow me to pull through the bow motion in time and not run out of length on the bow. I'm frequently running out of bow before I finish the beats. I feel like I'm worrying too much about where on the bow to start the hair on the string before downbow and upbow instead of just relaxing and playing through it without thinking about it so much.

This is so much harder than it seems and I'm wondering if anyone has any exercises or tips that could help me improve with this technique. Thanks.
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Check out this exercise from Dennis Whittaker called “long tones”. It really helped me to get my bow management together. I changed it to the G string since that’s the string that requires the most finesse and attention for me. Until recently, I did this every day for a couple of years.
 
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#7
Garagiste said:
Check out this exercise from Dennis Whittaker called “long tones”. It really helped me to get my bow management together. I changed it to the G string since that’s the string that requires the most finesse and attention for me. Until recently, I did this every day for a couple of years.
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Dennis Whitaker is brilliant. I watched several of his videos over the summer and they are so informative. He’s at University of Houston and is someone I would love to have a lesson with someday.
 
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#8
Tom Lane said:
No need. Just dig into it. I did it without guidance and got a lot out of it. As usual, a good instructor is always a wise investment IME.
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I exchanged messages with John about the book and as usual, he was very humble, but I found his book to be transformative . Pretty much the same as all of my interactions with him. He's really just a great human being who is super talented at playing the bass. A role model for sure.
 
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#9
"Vomit" is a classic bow control exercise that your instructor will probably know. Lauren Pierce also has a video on starting her practice routine with scales up and down a string where each note takes the entire length of the bow for as slow as you can draw it and still make a decent sound (iirc). What I like about both of these is that they are about sensitivity to continuous changes of the string on the bow (ie, what point on the bow you're playing at) and the bow on the string (ie, bow position as you move up and down the string with the left hand).
 
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#10
I've been warming up by playing a C scale first one note per bow stroke (C, D, E, F, G, A , B, C, B....), then two-note slurs (C-D, E-F, ...), then three note slurs (C-D-E, F-G-A) and so on. It has many benefits, including getting used to using different lengths of bow. And as you get comfortable in thumb position the more octaves the merrier!
 
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#11
The Fred Zimmerman book has been the classic for many years. I believe Mr. Goldsby references it in his also excellent book. It is definitely geared to orchestral or classical playing but the exercises are very useful. One thing I emphasize with students(and myself) is that progressing with the bow takes patience. It is definitely not a quick study.
 
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#13
daveriedstra said:
"Vomit" is a classic bow control exercise that your instructor will probably know. Lauren Pierce also has a video on starting her practice routine with scales up and down a string where each note takes the entire length of the bow for as slow as you can draw it and still make a decent sound (iirc). What I like about both of these is that they are about sensitivity to continuous changes of the string on the bow (ie, what point on the bow you're playing at) and the bow on the string (ie, bow position as you move up and down the string with the left hand).
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I remember hearing about Gary Karr having a legendary vomit exercise that he would put his bass camp/masterclass students through. These are exercises where you just focus on the bow movement and shifting to the note of a scale, correct?
 
#15
Keith Rawlings said:
I remember hearing about Gary Karr having a legendary vomit exercise that he would put his bass camp/masterclass students through. These are exercises where you just focus on the bow movement and shifting to the note of a scale, correct?
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‘Vomit’ came about when Karr was teaching at Dalhousie, his whole class was doing the exercise and the door was open, he saw a person making a vomit motion at the door while looking in. This totally amused Karr (of course) and the ‘vomits’ started. It is a violin exercise, from a famous violinist Karr knew.
(going from memory on all this)

Vomits are about bow control mostly, not intonation.

The Karr DC School bow lessons are awesome, as are the David Allen Moore series. You will learn a lot.

 
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#16
Keith Rawlings said:
These are exercises where you just focus on the bow movement and shifting to the note of a scale, correct?
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That could be a really distilled description. You do a one or two octave scale, returning to the tonic between each step, down bow for tonic-to-step and up bow for step-to-tonic. Can be done strating low or starting high. A beginner bassisy could start by glissing between steps and progress to a "regular" shift by increasing LH speed and decreasing LH pressure during the shift. But like @CaseyVancouver says, it's about bow control, and focus should be on the speed & placement of the bow relative to the LH position. For such a simple exercise it covers a ton of ground.
 
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#18
Don Kasper said:
Do I have to do everything around here?
C'mon.
(jk)
This page - exercise and variations in Simandl Bk.1 is the starting point. Your teacher should be VERY familiar with this page.
(Is Simandl no longer considered relevant and worthwhile??)
IMFO, of course, as always.
Thx.
View attachment 5275045
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Clearly Don, you need to do everything around here. ;)
 
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