Today, I worked with a student on achieving better string contact with the bow, particularly in the upper half. We focused on short staccato strokes on the open D string, performing a set of ten consecutive down-bows from frog to tip, followed by ten up-bows from tip to frog. I instructed the student to use a metronome set to 90 bpm, executing one stroke per click.

The student was guided to concentrate on several key aspects: pacing the bow evenly across the ten strokes to avoid running out of bow, maintaining a steady pulse, ensuring consistent articulation for the staccato strokes, and preserving a uniform dynamic throughout. This exercise proved highly effective because it required the student to re-articulate in various parts of the bow, fostering greater control and awareness.

Following the staccato exercise, we worked on long tones on the D string, sustaining each bow direction for ten clicks of the metronome. The improvement in both the student’s tone quality and ease of bowing was significant by the end of the session.