MUSE 355 String Pedagogy Handbook

Name: Grace Marshall Date: October 13. 2019

Required Topics

Violin and Viola Instrument Set-Up

Definition: The set-up for violins and violas is how the instrument is
held in playing position. Violins and violas are held similarly.

1. For starting a student who is standing, I start them in rest

position, then feet angled to make a “V” for violin or viola before
putting the violin up on your shoulder.
2. Hold the instrument in your left hand, by the neck. Raise it up
above your head and stand like the Statue of Liberty holding
her torch.
3. When it is on the shoulder, you should be holding the
instrument up by your jaw. There is a chin rest, but your chin
isn’t what holds it up. If you use your chin, you will have a violin
beard because it will point down.
4. While holding the instrument up, it should be parallel to the
floor, and the scroll should be facing the left—not forward. The
left hand can reach around and grab the scroll to make sure it is
the correct size. F holes should face the ceiling.
5. When sitting down feet will be flat on the floor, back will be
straight, and the student should be sitting on the front half of the
chair. The instrument should still be parallel to the floor, but
also to the seat of the chair as well. It is acceptable to bring the
right leg back a little to make room for the bow arm when
actively playing.

Cello Instrument Set-Up

Definition: The set-up for a cello is how to hold the instrument to be
able to play with proper technique.

1. When a student is standing up, the scroll of the cello should be

about nose height after adjusting the endpin. Tell the students
to smell their scroll.
 2. Sit down on the front of the chair with feet flat on the floor. Bring
the instrument to your torso with the fingerboard on the left side
of your body. The pegs will line up behind your left ear. They
can be about 2 inches or so behind the left ear.
3. Bring the heel of the instrument to your sternum by doing a
similar action to putting your right hand on your heart, like when
we say the pledge of allegiance, when bringing the instrument
to your torso. Once it is positioned have the students softly give
the cello a hug because they love their instrument.
4. When placing the left hand on the neck and fingerboard to play,
first pretend to hold a can of Coke. Bring that shape up to the
instrument with thumb and middle finger across from each
other. Keep the fingers rounded as if you are still holding the
Coke.
5. The left arm should not be resting on the cello in playing
position, but it also should not be up in the air like a chicken
wing.

Double Bass Instrument Set-Up

Definition: The set-up of the bass is how the bass is positioned in
relation to the body in order to play the instrument.

1. The left hand is much more spread apart than the other
instruments. Make a peace-sign with the left hand, and then let
the ring finger and pinky fall loosely and place the thumb across
from the middle finger. If you bring those up to your face where
the first finger is by the eyebrow and the middle finger is under
the eye, that is your bass man or woman salute. Bring the same
shape up to the fingerboard, and that is the left-hand position.
2. When standing behind the bass, feet should be planted and
turned out a little. They should be angled out like how Fred
Flinstone stands.
3. Standing up straight is very important. Don’t be lazy and lean
like the leaning Tower of Pisa—stand tall like the Statue of
Liberty or a skyscraper. Don’t hunch shoulders or bend the
knees too much. You also don’t want to keep the legs
extremely stiff.
4. The bass itself should be adjusted by the endpin. To check for
correct height, stand face to face with the bass and see where
your head lines up with the scroll. You should not be taller than
 the scroll, but you also should not be significantly under it so
that you can reach the fingerboard comfortably. The nut should
be even with your eyebrows.
5. Lean the instrument into the body slightly. When standing
properly, there should be a comfortable place where the
instrument rests between the hip and leg on the left side of the
body. The face of the instrument will be angled to the right
slightly. If it is placed properly, it will not be blocking the whole
body because you need to be able to bring the right arm around
to bow.

Violin and Viola Bow Hold

Definition: the bow hold on violin and viola is the correct set-up of the
right hand on the bow. Having a good bow hold is the first step in
order to be able to play any bow strokes.

1. Make a bunny with the right hand where the ring and pinky are
the ears, and the middle two fingers are the buck teeth. Every
good bunny has buck teeth, so bring them over the thumb a
little. Have the bunny bite the stick between the frog and the
grip. The bunny got sleepy, so he leaned over to take a nap.
2. The first finger should be curled around the grip slightly, and the
pinky should be rounded on top like a rainbow or macaroni
noodle. The thumb should also be bent a little to support the
bow.
3. When you tilt the hand away from yourself, that is called
pronating. Pronating is very important in the bow hand because
it gives the bow the necessary weight to play. It makes the bow
sticky on the strings.
4. When placing the bow on the strings, the bow will be parallel to
the bridge. The fingers will bend when bowing on the string, so
they should be flexible.
5. Bow hold exercises help build the fine muscles needed to use
the bow. Up and down like a rocket ship, windshield wipers,
stirring a pot, and back and forth like a train.

Cello and Bass (French) Bow Hold

Definition: the bow hold on the cello and bass is the correct set-up of
the right hand on the bow. Having a good bow hold is the first step in
order to be able to play and bow strokes.
 1. Hold the stick with the left hand—avoiding touching the bow
hair at all costs. “The horse hair’s lava!” With the right hand,
make a karate chop hand, and chop the bow over the frog. Flop
the fingers down flat on the fleshy side of your hand. Finally,
grab the stick with the perfect bow hold finger arrangement.
This is a quick way to remind students how to hold the bow.
Often remind students to “chop, flop, and grab”.
2. The finger positioning on the right hand begins with a curved
thumb on the underside of the stick. The bow should somewhat
balance there—like a seesaw. Next, the four fingers should
hang over the stick and onto the frog. The stick should rest
between the first and second joints, and they should be curved
slightly.
3. The four fingers should rest on top of the stick like you’re
hanging onto monkey bars or the side of a cliff. If your life
depended on you holding onto the side of a cliff, would you do it
with bent fingers or straight fingers? I don’t think straight fingers
would help you hold on for dear life, so don’t hold your bow that
way!
4. Always pronate! Turn your hand away from you when bowing to
get the best sound out of your instrument! Don’t hold the bow
like a spicy meatball (with the palm tying to face up and fingers
straight). Demonstrate the hand gesture for “that’s a spicy
meatball”. We will “whip” into the bow hold. Turn your hand
away from your body with curved fingers.
5. To get big strong finger muscles, we will work out the hand.
Let’s go to the gym and do some heavy lifting with the bow. The
“gym time” will include exercises like rocket ship, stirring soup,
windshield wipers, and elevator.

Détaché
Definition: This is a bow stroke, but the word most literally means
detached. Playing detache means changing the bow direction
between notes. It should still be a smooth transition—don’t let the
word detached make you think it should be staccato. It is an
unaccented attack.

1. Detache string crossings are best practiced with a rest between

notes to be able to pay attention to the angle of the bow and the
 movements it takes to cross over. Eventually nix the rest and
the stroke should happen successfully.
2. To create a similar feeling of detache without using the
instrument yet, use a dowel rod and cardboard tube in place of
a bow and instrument. For violins and violas, hold the tube
across from the left shoulder. For cellos and basses, hold the
tube by the bellybutton or thighs. Put the dowel rod in the tube,
and with a correct bow hold practice smoothly changing bow
directions together with a metronome. It’s like a snake slithering
in and out of his hole in the ground.
3. Play a one octave D Major scale together with a written-out
map of up bows and down bows coinciding with the note
names. (i.e. D-down, E-up, F#-down, G-up, etc.) This is meant
to emphasize the importance of changing bow direction for
each note for the detache bow stroke.
4. To work on detache, introduce bow arm geometry. When the
bow is on the string on the end with the frog, your arm will be a
small triangle—an acute triangle if you will. Halfway down the
bow, your arm will now be a box shape. All the way down at the
tip, your arm will be a big V. Exercises or games can happen
where the teacher says “triangle, box, or big V” to make the
students learn about bow placement.
5. Pretend that your arm is a gate or door. The elbow is the hinge
of it. Practice opening the door and closing the door from
different points of the bow. This will help cement the bowing
action for this stroke.

Staccato
Definition: Staccato is a bow stroke that is detached or separated. It
does not necessarily mean short, rather it is separated by space
between sounding pitches. It is from the string, and does not come off
of the string.

1. To initially teach staccato, have students simulate the

springiness of the bow by pushing the hair into the instrument
without sliding the hair across the string. This gives a simulation
for how much the student should pronate.
 2. Have students press and release the bow on the string. Tell
them to make the bow hair bite the string. It is Jaws taking a big
chunk out of a ship, but not releasing. A quick, strong bite!
3. When doing an upbow, think about squeezing the thumb and
middle finger together without squeezing the stick too hard.
Imagine you are holding a stress ball or a puffball, and you
don’t want to squish it all the way. Bending the fingers slightly
for an upbow gives it more power.
4. To make the connection between hearing how a note is played,
and seeing how it is notated on paper, you can draw a line on
the board and explain that it is long, smooth, or connected.
Then draw a dot quickly and explain how that could be a
different way of playing the note. Draw dashes and dots on the
board and have students play that marking on an open string or
in a scale. Once you introduce sheet music with staccato
markings on it, remind them of the dot you drew on the board
and that this is the way to play notes with dots every time.
5. Staccato is an “into the string” stroke. This means that we do
not lift before or after the note. You will stay on the string. It is
like driving through town; there are stop signs and stop lights
that make you take a few little breaks on the way to your
destination. Having staccatos in the music would be like driving
a few feet, then stopping at the stop sign, driving, then
stopping, etc.

Spiccato
Definition: Spiccato is a separated bow stroke that tends to come off
the string slightly.

1. One thing you can do for your students is dropping the bow
onto the string and letting it bounce. By doing this and having
your students try, it introduces the concept of bouncing on the
string. The bow hair and string are taught, but there is some
give to it. The bow bouncing on the string is like a tightrope
walker bouncing on their rope to do a cool trick. This will help
demonstrate the natural bounce of the bow needed in spiccato.
2. Colle is very important for spiccato. The finger movements
discussed in the colle section are directly applicable to spiccato
because the fingers must build up and release tension by being
flexible.
 3. Spiccato starts on the string and ends off the string. First place
the bow, and then lift off like a rocket ship. There is not much
pull of the bow, so it isn’t like a plane that moves forward to
take off. It is a rocket because it stays in one place and lifts
upwards. (This is extreme wording of the concept because it
does move across the string some. For students the figurative
language is helpful—that is why I like this example)
4. It sounds crisp like stepping on fall leaves or taking a quick bite
of a juicy apple. (yay fall!)
5. A way to help students have more control over this bow stroke
is to have them play a scale where they first bounce unmetered
on each note. This means that however many times the bow
bounces on one note will change each time. Then have them
do only 4 bounces, then 3, then 2, and finally 1 bounce per
note. This is a form of acceleration scale.

Louré
Definition: A bow stroke, sometimes called Portato as well, that is like
a legato stroke with the spacing of staccato. It is considered
connected, but with a gentle pulse.

1. Playing this stroke is like ice skating. You continuously move

forward in a straight line, but you slightly pick up your feet to
continue gliding. You don’t stop the bow like you don’t stop the
skating action. There just needs to be a little bit of a push to
keep it going.
2. Loure is a calm heartbeat. It is even and metered, but
continuous. Play on the string like your bow is a heartbeat.
3. Start by playing whole notes legato. Tell students to pronate
and use the first finger to give a little push down on the stick on
the 1st and 3rd beats. That is loure half notes. Then, have them
press slightly on each beat. This would be quarter note loure in
one whole note bow.
4. One way to differentiate loure and slurred legato notes is to
play them back to back while explaining that loure has a pulse
to slightly separate the notes.
5. Have students play loure with and without vibrato to enhance
the warmth of it. This bow stroke is as soothing as a bow stroke
could be. Make it sing with a little vibrato!
Slurred Staccato
Definition: An even bow stroke with space between beats that is from
the string. Within one bow, multiple notes can be played staccato.
This can go up or down.

1. Slurred staccato is like loure, but with more space between the
notes. Think of the calm heartbeat of loure. This is like heart
palpitations (that doesn’t mean it is a scary concept though). It
is a very rigid stop-go-stop-go.
2. Take a previously learned passage with staccatos and add a
slur over the notes. Play the familiar passage in this new way.
3. Colle is very a very important concept to have taught before
slurred staccato. Tell students to make each new note stick like
it’s the start of a new bow. You should be able to get the same
bite at any point in the bow. With enough pronation, you can
play slurred staccato at the tip with the same amount of grit you
might get at the frog.
4. You will not play slurred staccato well if you have a frozen wrist
and fingers. Let them thaw out so that they can move with the
small slurred staccato movements. Try it with more bow per
note and less bow per note.
5. Start incorporating subito dynamics between slurred staccatos.
That happens in music sometimes! If there are two slurred
staccato notes together, play one loud and one soft, etc.

Retake
Definition: A bow lift with the intention of resetting it where it needs to
be for the next note.

1. Have students practice setting the bow by the frog, lifting it up,
and then putting it back in the same place multiple times in a
row.
2. Hot Cross Buns is an excellent way to introduce a retake
because they can play through the whole phrase, and then
repeat—but before the repeat, they must lift to start downbow
again. This is a great way to make the concept applicable.
Explain that we have to start the same way every time and this
is how we get back to where we need to be.
3. The little apostrophe that is the symbol for the retake is a breath
mark. Remind students that the retake is the same as a wind
 player taking a big breath before playing a new phrase. It
means to breath figuratively and literally. That means really
breathe with the music.
4. Practice drawing the bow down from the frog to the tip all the
way. As soon as you run out of hair, pick it up and move on
down to the frog again. We don’t make sound when retaking, so
be careful not to bump the string or bounce when we set again.
5. While downbow retakes are more common, we also have to be
able to do upbow retakes. Retakes are all about getting ready
to play in the right part of the bow. Sometimes a phrase will
start with an upbow, so we need to practice starting at the tip,
pushing up to the frog, and then resetting at the tip quickly and
quietly.

Hooked Bow
Definition: hooked bowing is like a slurred staccato with uneven
beats. It is two or more uneven notes played separately without
changing bow direction.

1. There are quite a few different rhythms that we can do with

hooked bow. We can play any variation of long-short or short-
long. This might mean dotted quarter and an eighth, or eighth
and a dotted quarter. It could also be a dotted eight with a
sixteenth, or a sixteenth then a dotted eighth. There are many
possibilities that I will let students come up with and present to
the class.
2. Have students play these uneven rhythms with alternating bow
directions first, and then demonstrate the hooked bow. Ask
what they noticed was different and describe how I did this. I
could also go even further as to ask why I might do this. Does it
sound like a fiddler? Try playing it for them in a fiddle tune with
double stops.
3. Do an entire scale with hooked bowing multiple times with
multiple variations. For example: Do is long, Re is short, Mi is
long, Fa is short, etc. Exaggerate the importance of bow
distribution. If the tip is the finish line, imagine that the long note
of the hooked bow gets you most almost there, but you need
just one more little push to get to the finish line. Demonstrate
slowly and narrate the “race”.
 4. It is important to note the different ways that it can be notated
on sheet music. It could be indicated by two up or down bow
markings or slurred with and without staccatos. Give students
multiple examples so they know they all mean the same thing.
It’s better to kill two birds with one stone by teaching them
these things before they see it in repertoire.
5. Ta-ka-di-mi is a great way to introduce the hooked bowing
rhythms. You can start a class warmup with having them echo
Ta-Mi-Ta-Mi and other hooked bowing rhythms before
introducing the concept as the main course of the lesson. The
rhythm exercise is the appetizer. Being able to play this
technique in a piece is the dessert because it’s sweet.

Slur
Definition: This is a bow stroke where you play two or more notes in
one bow without any separation.

1. There is fluidity between the notes. You got swept up by a tide.

You want to change the pitch, but the tide has pulled your bow
in one direction.
2. The left hand has to be very articulate to make up for the lack of
articulation in the right hand. The fingers make the attack.
Practicing left hand rhythm exercises before introducing slurs
could be beneficial. If students are struggling with playing even
rhythms, have them play hooked bows first, and then lead by
example to switch to even rhythms.
3. Dovetail exercises help a lot with slurs—especially when doing
accelerated scales or a more challenging passage. If it is a D
Major scale, play D, D-E, E-F#, F#-G, etc. this helps with left
hand articulation a lot. When played slowly, you and the
students can focus on the bow placement and use too.
(Dovetail is referencing the woodworking technique where
wood interlocks with itself).
4. To slur between strings is a whole new beast to slay. It’s like
driving on the highway and you need to change lanes, but you
can’t stop the car or slow down to change the lanes. Playing
open strings first might be beneficial because the trifecta of
fingers, string crossing, and slurring might overload a young
brain.
 5. Seeing slurs notated in sheet music is pretty obvious. They are
two notes with a curved line from one note to the next (or over
3+). Slurs make me happy because they are pretty, which is
why a slur over two quarter notes looks like a smiley face.

Tremolo (Bow)
Definition: tremolo is a bow stroke that is not metered. It is a rapid
repetition of a note.

1. Tremolo is usually played by the tip to the middle. It is not

effective to play tremolo by the frog or with the whole bow.
2. Start by doing eighth or sixteenth notes and speeding up the
tempo. Tremolo is sometimes used as a sound effect. It sounds
shimmery. I tell students to make the note shimmer.
3. Tremolo can be slow or fast depending on the music. If you are
trying to play forte, you will need to play faster and with more
weight, and the opposite for piano.
4. Do NOT play tremolo with your whole arm, shoulder, and
elbow. You will get EXHAUSTED quickly. It also sounds icky
when you overplay with your whole arm. The motion is
produced by wrist and fingers, but mostly fingers. Make your
fingers and wrist vibrate up and down to get a quick back and
forth movement. There is a little bit of elbow movement to
initiate the sound.
5. Sometimes there is an accent, Fp or Sfz on a tremolo note,
which is written with three slashes on the stem of the note. To
play this, hit the note with a burst of bow speed from frog or
middle of the bow to the tip to tremolo. It is a swift movement to
get to the tip. Imagine you are skydiving, and you have the big
jump out of the plane. It goes really fast, and you freefall. That’s
not all though, the wind sucks you out of the plane. This is the
accent. And then you pull the chord of the parachute and glide.
This is the tremolo.

Sul Tasto
Definition: Sul tasto is bowing over the fingerboard for a light, airy
effect.

1. Playing over the fingerboard is “tasty” (like tasto). It is soft and

light, not nasally or gross sounding.
 2. To play over the fingerboard makes the sound hallow, almost
like the timbre of a clarinet.
3. Have students play in between the fingerboard and the bridge,
then have them move up the neck very far to hear the extreme
contrast, then move slightly over the fingerboard.
4. To get to the fingerboard from in the middle if the piece has a
subito change in articulation, angle the tip towards the scroll to
inch over, or lift off and reset.
5. Sul tasto needs a little less weight, and more speed to make
the notes ring. Vibrato is also good to warm the sound. It is
easy to make the note die because there isn’t enough speed in
the bow. We don’t want dead notes.

Sul Ponticello
Definition: Sul ponticello is a bowing that happens over the bridge, or
very close to it for a nasally and shrill sound.

1. Sul ponticello sounds icy. We use it as an effect, so it isn’t used

very often.
2. You can play slightly sul ponticello, where you are near the
bridge for a little bit of the effect. You can also play directly on
the bridge to make it very gritty.
3. Have students play a passage, then demonstrate the passage
sul ponticello and ask what is different. Students should be able
to see the bow placement and hear the difference, so modeling
should be obvious.
4. Because we are playing so close to the bridge, the string
doesn’t vibrate as much as it would between the bridge and
fingerboard
5. It is like scraping metal on metal. You can really hear the
metallic sounds of the strings and not the warmth of the
instrument. Using too much bow will make the sound uneven,
so watch for bow usage—especially when playing tremolo.

Collé
Definition: Literally means glued. It is a bow stroke technique that
helps define attacks from the string by starting the sound.
 1. While holding the bow, pretend that you are going to throw the
bow down using only your fingers. Start with fingers curved and
straighten as you throw downward.
2. This is a jellyfish hand. The action of loosening the fingers and
moving them up and down should be flowy like a jellyfish
swimming through the water.
3. When actively doing an upbow, imagine that your bow is a
saltshaker, and you are trying to throw salt over your shoulder
for good luck. That little push needed for colle is like throwing
the saltshaker over your shoulder.
4. It’s gym time again! To do colle, we need to do some finger
pushups in order to get JACKED. Practicing the up and down
movement with the bow, but not on the string, will help develop
those fine muscles. Try it vertically and horizontally.
5. You have to pronate and put the pressure on the string before
you move. Practice putting the pressure on the string to a
rhythm, but not moving. There are a lot of etudes that the
teacher can apply colle to.

String Crossings
Definition: String instruments require you to play notes on more than
one string. To do this the bow angle has to change as well as the bow
direction.

1. The DAD song is a great way to introduce string crossing

because it is only open strings. Essential Elements starts with
string crossing before adding and taking away fingers. That
proves that it isn’t too difficult for a beginner.
2. When you cross strings at the tip of the bow, your elbow will be
much more engaged and active because of the big V. Since the
frame is bigger, we must make the motion bigger too.
3. On the A and E string, the right arm should be a little lower. On
the D and G strings, the right arm should be higher. This is a
movement of the shoulder, but the elbow is what is raised and
lowered—the shoulder stays in place. The wrist and fingers
also have to be flexible.
4. The left hand also has to move a little when crossing strings. To
reach notes on the G string especially, the left elbow will swing
up to give the fingers some help. Pretend that your arm is a
swing-set and practice swinging it back and forth.
 5. An important aspect of string crossing is the transition. There
shouldn’t be any kind of rest or reset between notes (unless
that is what the music call for, but for all intents and purposes I
am saying it has to be connected). In the string world, we have
a term called Son File, which means sound thread. The sound
thread cannot be broken when crossing strings. It has to be as
smooth as possible, just like a change in bow direction.

Hand Frames
Definition: Hand Frames are the position of the fingers that
corresponds with the key of what is being played and what string it is
being played on.

1. Hand frames are helpful when sight reading or getting a new

piece. Before any notes are played, ask students what the hand
frames will be in that key.
2. The bass hand frame will always be the bass man salute. It will
get smaller as you move up the fingerboard. 1, 2, and 4 are
your active fingers. 3 is not used often and should just hang
around for a free ride.
3. The cello hand frame is in Major 3rd or minor 3rd. Minor 3rd hand
frame is what we start with and it is a regular 1 to 4. The 2nd and
3rd fingers are interchangeable depending on the key. If the key
is D Major, you will use the 3rd finger on the D string, but if the
key is C Major you will use a 2 on the D string. Remember,
never forget the Coke can hand shape. Just like the Coke, don’t
let the fingers go flat.
4. Because violin and viola are smaller instruments, we can use a
finger for each note in the scale. The D Major hand frame has
2nd and 3rd finger touching on all strings except E for violin and
C for viola. The fingers represent half and whole steps. When
there is a half-step, the fingers should be kissing.
5. It is a real brain workout thinking about hand frames in high
positions. I would make that an extra credit opportunity on
written tests.

Shifting
Definition: Shifting is the movement of the setup to a different place
on the fingerboard so that you can play higher pitches, or get a
different timbre.
 1. Jumping from open string to harmonics is a great way to
introduce shifting. The Essential Elements book has an
excellent activity for this. This is like burpees for the instrument.
Go down to the ground (open string) and then pop back up to
do a jumping jack (reach the harmonic).
2. For some, shifting might be a concept that they have never
heard of or considered before. A great way to help students
explore the fingerboard and it’s endless possibilities is to tell
them to hold down their first finger on any string and they slide
it up the fingerboard. Make it sound like a slide whistle! Kids will
love it (guaranteed).
3. There is a switch moment when you use the first finger as an
anchor before finding a spot with any other finger. Let’s say you
are playing an F# on the A string of a violin or viola. To find this,
we need to first find third position with the first finger. Practice
sliding the first finger, your anchor, to D (where the third finger
goes in first position). Now that your first finger is on D, simply
place the third finger down. Keep hand frames in mind!
4. Another fun exercise for students when introducing shifting is to
have them play a simple tune, like Hot Cross Buns, with only
one finger. Slide the finger around to find each pitch. This might
take some practice. This shows students that first position isn’t
the only position. It may feel like home, but as string players we
will all be poor and possibly homeless, so we have to get used
to being homeless and moving around. Remember, home isn’t
a place, it’s a feeling.
5. Try sliding slowly into the note you are shifting to, let’s say B to
D on the A string, until it “locks”—you will be able to tell when
the pitch is right because of the wiggle strings.

Tone Production
Definition: Tone Production is created in different ways, but it is
important to understand how technique and different aspects of bow
usage affects this. String instruments can change timbre.

1. First ask students how they think they can change the tone of
the instrument. They can get as creative as they want. It might
surprise you what they come up with. Hints can be given—such
as, “what might you do with the bow?”
 2. Tone can come from the left hand, believe it or not. If you don’t
press down enough, it will sound airy and scratchy. If you push
down too hard, it will hurt you. Don’t hurt yourself to play your
instrument!
3. Vibrato also helps with tone production. It makes the sound
warmer. It sounds like how a steamy cup of hot chocolate feels
on a cold winter day.
4. Bow placement largely contributes to tone production. Just like
we learned when discussing sul tasto and sul ponticello, if it is
too close to the bridge it will be airy and dead, while over the
fingerboard it is soft. For most beginning playing, we should
place the bow in between the bridge and fingerboard.
5. For bass and cello the rosin is really sticky and the strings are
thick. Have students make a contact point on the string and pull
the string without making sound. Have them move the contact
point to feel it on all parts of the bow. Sometimes by the tip, the
student will lose focus on the bow. This guides them in their
journey for good tone production. Add the bow movement after
so that they can connect what they just learned about the
contact points.

Dynamics
Definition: Dynamics are how loud or soft the instrument plays. It is
the volume that is produced.

1. To play forte, we need lots of bow. to play piano, we use less

bow. Of course there is a wide range of dynamics from
pianississississimo to blastissimo (students love when you do
the bit where you keep going with the issis…it’s a hyperbole—
aka figurative language).
2. Not only do we need lots of bow to play loud, we need
WEIGHT. To get lots of weight while playing, pronate. When in
doubt, pronate. When playing a woodwind, you have to use air
support to produce tone. In the same way, bow weight is the
steady airstream for strings. Don’t give a weak “hoo”—give it a
nice, strong stream.
3. Bow placement also affects the dynamics. Playing over the
fingerboard is much quieter than by the bridge. Imagine there is
a busy bridge in a busy city—it is very noisy there. The
 fingerboard is a cornfield in the middle of nowhere Indiana. It is
much quieter there.
4. Having a whole class dedicated to piano and forte dynamics
where the whole class talks, plays, and moves the dynamic of
the day. Having signs that you can change out at random times
is also a good idea so that you can switch them up.
5. Kinesthetics help solidify what students learn by applying the
motion to physical action. Play an excerpt for students at
different dynamics and have them stand like a dead flower or
blooming flower based on how loud or soft I play.

Phrasing
Definition: Phrasing is the expressive decisions of the performer.
There is some variation between performers—it is subjective, but to a
certain extent. It incorporates dynamics, style, and general flow of the
piece.

1. Start introducing phrasing by playing a passage for students in

different ways and asking them how I changed it.
2. Give students an opportunity to create. Give them an excerpt
with no dynamics and let them write in how they think it should
be. Let them perform these! When you call on them, maybe say
“which composer would like to share their compositions?” Give
them a title that makes them feel validated. Before they start
the assignment, tell them to put on their composer hats.
3. Introduce rubato. Rubato is fun to add at a cadence or a showy
part of the piece. It makes the piece “saucy”, “spicy”, or
“flavorful”. Expression makes the audience to “oooo… aaaahh”.
4. Before playing a soloistic piece, contemplate the music before
you dig into it. Score study, listen to recordings. Find things you
like about the piece and consider those when learning the
piece.
5. In a string orchestra setting, give the class obvious gestures
when conducting them. Encourage students to look up and see
what you are doing with the phrasing. I like to think of the
conductor as someone who plays the orchestra. The
instrumentalists play their instruments, but the conductor tells
them how to do that.

Vibrato
Definition: Vibrato is the vibration of strings created by finger wiggles
to warm the sound.

1. To begin teaching vibrato, you can have violinists and violists

put their hand on the body of the instrument, while up in playing
position, and wiggle on the pivot point of the pad of their fingers
on the wood.
2. Giving students a shakey egg percussion thing and showing
them the arm vibrato motion with it can be a good way to
introduce it without the instrument. Back and forth or up and
down egg shaking will help them feel the general movements.
When playing with vibrato on the instrument, remind students to
“shake your eggs”.
3. For cello and bass, pivot on the finger by turning the wrist like a
doorknob.
4. Hold your right arm as if it is the neck of the instrument, and
practice big up and down motions. Get smaller and smaller until
they are doing the vibrato motion.
5. Vibrato is not from the fingers! It can come from the wrist or
arm. Arm vibrato happens when you keep a sturdy wrist and
move the arm back and forth like shaking a saltshaker (or egg!).
Wrist vibrato moves the whole hand, but not the arm.

Five Elective Topics (These must be string playing skills)

1st Elective Topic: Son File

Definition: Literally means thread of sound. When changing bow
direction, it is important to keep the sound going for articulations that
are smooth and connected.

1. Listen to examples of profound violinists who have perfect bow

direction changes. Then play the video for them so they can
see when they actually change the bow. sometimes you can’t
tell, and that’s amazing.
2. Keep the thread of sound going. Don’t let it get cut off! Practice
playing like you sing. You don’t have to take a breath with every
note change.
3. Something that helped me with bow changes is thinking of it as
an 8 or infinity sigh. As you bow down, also push away slightly,
 and when you bow up, pull towards you. We should also keep
the sound going infinitely.
4. Another aspect of son file is holding the tone in one bow. It
takes practice to be able to hold long notes and keep a sound,
even tone. Keeping an appropriate amount of weight on the
bow is key.
5. Sometimes in an orchestra, there are long notes held and it is
important to stagger the bow changes so that the orchestra
sounds like it is holding one long note. This is a luxury soloists
and chamber musicians don’t necessarily get. It is like passing
the torch because you and your stand partner can’t change at
the same time. One has to wait for the other to change first.

2nd Elective Topic: Crescendo and Decrescendo

Definition: These are dynamic changes that start one and end in a
different one.

1. It all comes from the bow speed. If there is a crescendo, you

will need to start slower and pick up the speed when
crescendoing. It is like picking up speed when sledding down a
hillside. It starts out slow where the hill is rounded at the top,
but once it starts escalating more vertically it goes much faster.
2. Bow weight is also important. As you are getting faster, there
needs to be more weight, so it doesn’t sound like a whisper.
The reverse is true for decrescendo.
3. Kinesthetics are a good way to solidify this idea too. Have them
sit in a ball on the floor, and then as you play for them
(crescendoing slightly), tell them to get bigger with the music.
do the same with decrescendo where they start big.
4. Practicing whispering to talking loudly is another way to do this.
Tell them they have a secret, but they can’t hold it in anymore,
so they have to say it loudly as they speak.
5. The way it is written in the music is with hairpins. They look just
like the music sounds. The symbol “<” that represents the
crescendo starts small and grows outward.

3rd Elective Topic: Double Stops

Definition: Double stops are playing 2 or more strings at a time. This
is how we play chords and drones.
 1. Drones are typically open strings or a barred note played
against moving fingers on another string.
2. There is a good amount of adjustment that has to happen when
tuning double stops. They are very good for the ear—and on
the flip side, you need a good ear to play them. Slight finger
adjustments can completely change the chord.
3. To make them “lock into place”, practice going in and out of
tune on purpose for students and encourage them to do the
same.
4. Changing fingers and shifting while playing double stops is
even harder. Isolation techniques are helpful. For sixths,
practice moving 1 and 3 together and 2 and 4 together.
5. Bow placement for double stops is important as well. There is
usually one note that is more important that you should lean
into. Let that note be the anchor that holds the S.S. Double
Stop down. If you are playing octaves, you should lean more
into the lower note.

4th Elective Topic: Tuning

Definition: Tuning the instrument is the first step to playing in tune.
We change the pitches of the instrument with the pegs and fine
tuners in perfect fifths.

1. Have students hear you wildly untune and retune an

instrument. Play “hot and cold” with the students. It can get
warmer as it gets closer in tune and colder when it gets further.
2. Have students start by turning fine tuners on their own. Tell
them that the pegs are illegal until you are old enough to use
them.
3. Have students match pitch with your playing. Tell them to keep
singing that pitch while you change the pitch of your instrument.
This will let them hear the “icky” dissonance. Have them tell
you, with a thumbs up since they are singing, when it sounds
pretty again. This could also work with them playing.
4. When tuning in orchestra class, make sure that you are tuning
quietly. Try to play quieter than your neighbor. Putting a lot of
pressure on the strings when playing can make it go flat
sometimes. Weather also affects the instrument’s tuning. This
 is why we don’t leave our instruments in the car! The instrument
is your baby… don’t leave your baby in the hot car!
5. Another way to tune a low string instrument is with harmonics
instead of fifths. There are harmonics that help tune to the
same pitch. This will be easier for some people to hear since
the lower pitches are less audible than higher pitches.

5th Elective Topic: Pizzicato

Definition: Pizzicato is playing the instrument by plucking the strings
instead of bowing.

1. First, make a backwards L shape with your thumb and first

finger on the right hand. Place the thumb on the fingerboard,
but not too far over-- maybe an inch or two from the end of it.
Use a curved first finger to grab and release the strings gently.
2. Do not lift hands off of the fingerboard with each pluck. We are
pulling the sound out of the string like a hair with tweezers, but
it should still stay right there to prepare for the next note.
3. To pluck piano, pull a little less. For a forte pluck, pull more
forcefully. Grab the string like you’re pulling back a bow to
shoot the sound arrow out.
4. Plucking the string with your finger is like the initial bite in colle.
You could even think of colle as the closest thing to pizzicato.
The bow has little hooked fibers on it that grabs the strings as it
skims past. Our finger acts as those little hooks, but it is just
one big one.
5. Another way to introduce the pizzicato setup is to tell them to
make Captain Hook’s hook with their right and. “Argh”!