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Gabi Spurlock
MUSE 355 Final Project
Violin and Viola Set-Up
For basic set-up, students should sit with a good supported posture on their sits bones.
This means students wont be on the very edge of their chair but feel more
support from right below their hips.
A tip for teaching this posture without technical terms or analyzation, have students sit, then
stand, then sit, on repeat to get them comfortable in that ready position.
Violin and Viola have a very basic beginning hand frame. This requires keeping the same hand
shape for each string. Students should learn the hand frame and be very comfortable with it.
If students are having problems with the hand frame, tell them half steps kiss. This means the
space between their index and middle finger is the distance of a whole step. The middle finger
and ring finger are a half step apart and kiss so they should be touching. Kissing half steps will
help students maintain a good hand frame.
The bow should be drawn across the instrument between the fingerboard and bridge right above
the f-holes for the best sound. The movement should also come from the elbow, not the shoulder.
Cello Set-Up
The scroll (the top of the cello) should sit about the height of the students ear. Be sure students
have the end-pin properly adjusted to allow for this height.
The bow should be drawn across the strings atop the f-holes and between the fingerboard and
bridge.
The left arm should not rest against the neck or upper bout of the cello.
The cello hand frame is based on half steps. The distance between each finger is a half step
interval and when all four fingers are down, the interval is a minor third. The thumb stays behind
the second finger.
As students progress, cellos will begin to come across extensions which will require students to
stretch their hand all the way out the way a cat stretches its paw.
Double Bass Set-Up
NO TREES! The instrument should be angled and tilted into the body so it feels as if balanced
against the body.
End-pins should be extended far enough to allow the right arm to swing the bow much like an
elephants trunk. This should also put the scroll at about eyebrow level when standing upright.
The left arm should not rest against the neck or upper bout of the bass.
ONLY rosin in the down bow position.
The K shape, Bass mans salute, or hand frame, is the same as the cello extension. Students
should stretch their hands from the middle the way a cat stretches their paw.
Violin and Viola Bow Hold
Violin and Viola bow hold should pronate into the bow.
Holding the bow in the left hand, have students shake their right hand out and shape a
hitchhikers thumb.
Bend the thumb and place it at the space between the frog and winding nearest the frog.
Keeping their thumbs in place, have students form a rabbit and have buck teeth over the bow onto
the frog slightly.
The Pinky should round out and the index finger should curve over the bow to be able to apply
pressure into the bow against the strings.

The bow hold should be sturdy enough that if I were to hit upwards on the bottom of their bow
while playing, the bow would stay in place (for the most part). If students are at all supinating,
this will show it.
To teach bow hold before using the bow, students can use a pencil and practice the bow hold.
Bowing can be practiced on rosin (such as the rosin raps found in the Essential Elements book).
Have students practice moving the bow with just the space in their hand. There should be some
flexibility here that doesnt deprive them of a good bow hold.
Cello and Bass (French) Bow Hold
Cello and Bass hold should pronate into the bow.
Holding the bow in the left hand, have students shake their right hand out and shape a
hitchhikers thumb.
Place the thumb on the corner of the top of the frog.
Fingers should be around the bow as if falling off a cliff.
Pressure from index finger should allow proper pronation into strings.
Try the windshield wiper exercise to check the students bow hold. Be sure to tell them the weight
shifts between the pinky and index finger as the bow waves from one direction to the other.
For basses, have students pretend they are elephants swinging their trunks. Remain relaxed and
let the arm swing from the shoulder.
For cellos, have students walk down the bow by using their fingers to move up and down the
bow while maintaining a proper bow hold.
For cellos, the bow should have the hair angled slightly so the stick of the bow is slightly higher
than the hairs. (Model for students).
Dtach
Dtach bowing is the basis of all bowing. Its the building blocks of every other bowing
technique used.
This kind of bowing is great for practicing and refining tone. Work with slow bows and help
students to understand the balance between weight and speed thats needed to maintain a good
tone.
Unless otherwise marked, bowing will always begin down.
use full bows for everything. This will also help with tone.
Like long tones for winds, have students maintain one bow motion with 4 counts, then 6, 8 etc.
Practicing like this will increase their understanding of slow bows.
Staccato
The bow will stay on the string for this bowing, unlike spiccato.
Staccato is notated with a small dot under or above the note.
For better understanding, students should understand that staccato is just like dtach but for
shorter duration.
Remind students to use full bows for staccato.
Playing staccato is like tip-toeing. Imagine playing short, quick notes, just like how you step
when you walk tip-toe.
Spiccato
Spiccato is bowing technique which begins and ends off the string.
The bow should make a u shape.
The bow will press into the string and draw across before lifting.
For spiccato bowing, the bow will bounce on and off the string repeatedly creating a rapid
repetition of sound.

Spiccato bowing should be practices with relaxed shoulder, arms, and wrists, creating a arc-like
motion with the bow across the strings.
Lour
Lour bowings are also called portato.
It is bowing without separation, but in the same direction.
To perform the pauses, apply to pressure the bow with the index finger.
Hooked bowing and slurred staccato are both Lour bowings.
Lour bowings are much like an umbrella for the fact that its a broader range for more specific
bowings like hooked bowing and slurred staccato.
Slurred Staccato
Slurred staccato is a slur with staccatos underneath the slur.
The slur indicates the bow will move in the same direction and the staccato indicates the bow will
move in the same direction.
To maintain a good tone, students should be reminded to maintain a steady weight in the bow
while playing slurred staccatos
For students to learn to learn how to play slurred staccatos, teaching staccatos and also slurs first
would be beneficial.
After students know both, learning slurred staccato should be easy. Remind students the bow
moves in the same direction with separation between the notes.
Retake
Retakes are notated by breath marks in the music.
To retake, simply lift the bow and place in the position to down bow.
Some retakes are much faster than others. To keep these more quick transitions, a solid bow hold
is a must!
Keep a strong bow hold and use a good deal of weight when placing the bow back on the string to
prevent a bouncing motion in the bow.
Practice with lift, set, settle. For beginners lifting the bow, setting it back and relaxing into the
proper position will be tedious work. Its important to build strong foundations.
Hooked Bow
Hooked bow is a lot like staccato bowing in the sense that the notes are short.
The basic rhythm for hooked bow is short-long. Without this rhythm, its simply staccato.
For hooked bowing, the short note is an up bow and the long note is down. This creates the shortlong feeling and also keep the notes staccato.
Using a hook and pull exercise will assist students in having a better understanding.
Have students place the bow on the string and lean or push to feel hooked.
This slight pause will allow for the release of tension and also permit students to pull the bow
down for the long note.
Be sure to clarify the difference between hooked bowing and staccato.
Slur
A slur is when more than one (different) note is marked under a curved line.
To play a slur, the bow will continue in the same direction to play all the notes under the slur.
The best way to start with slurs is in two-note groupings.
This allows students to feel the subdivision more easily in a very basic manner.
Demonstrate slurs by a simple scalar passage the students are familiar with moving in twos as
mentioned above.
Clarify that the left hand moves in quarter notes and the right hand moves in half notes(or
whatever the notation may be of the passage they are learning).

Tremolo
Tremolo bowing is moving the bow quickly back and forth on the string to rearticulate the pitch.
For beginners, telling them to stiffen their wrists and arms to make the movement more stiff or
chunky will help them to produce the right sound.
When playing tremolos, students can imagine waving their hands from their wrists and making
the bow move on the strings.
Tremolo is notated by three lines drawn on a pitch.
To transfer between arm tremolo and wrist will take practice, be sure to specify with students
what is wanted in the passages being played.
Sul Tasto
Sul Tasto is a bowing technique used to create a specific sound or tone.
Bowing over the fingerboard uses a light bow with flat hairs against the string.
Not only is the bowing light, its also faster and played in the upper half of the bow.
Bowing must stay light, producing a soft dynamic. If too much weight is added, a scratchy and
harsh tone will be produced.
A practice technique for sul tasto and ponticello is to create lanes on the strings and have students
practice bowing in the designated lanes.
Ponticello
Ponticello is bowing near the bridge; this position allows for a lighter bowing and more volume.
Remind students to keep the bow hair flat on the strings.
Ponticello bowing, like sul tasto is more of an effect than a traditional bowing technique. it
creates a distinct tone which has the ability to create a mysterious or eerie feeling.
Sul Tasto and ponticello are remarkably similar and require light bow strokes with flat hair.
Ponticello is notated as pont. in the music.
Coll
Tell students that Coll means sticky. This phrase has been used repeatedly and is personally,
the first word that comes to mind when Coll is on the page.
Coll is an accented note with a short bow stroke.
This motion should come from the wrist, not the arm.
Practice moving the bow with the shock absorption parts of your bow hold. The motion comes
from the fingers.
Coll bowing will sound similar to the short notes which come from performing pizzicato.
The bow should have plenty of weight on the strings and come off the strings with a lift of the
finger.
String Crossings
For beginners, recognizing that each string has a different position and angle to be played.
For the educator, recognizing that the motion is inversely related between high and low
instruments is a major component.
Notice that for lower instruments to play higher strings, the elbow lowers. For higher instruments
to play lower notes, the elbow raises to reach across the string.
A beginning practice exercise is bridge rocking.
instruct students to rest the bow on the strings and rock it back and forth.
For faster tempos and more advanced passages, remind students to stay relaxed and just rock the
bow into the correct string.
To practice this more closely, work string crossings at varying speeds.
Hand Frames

For each of the instruments, the hand positions vary and need practice for students to take care of
and keep up with.
With the exception of bass, the hand position for bass stays stationary. The other string
instruments get used to altering hand frames.
Students should understand that hand frames are set and dont fluctuate. Each passage or scale
will fit a basic hand frame.
Hand frames are like when you start a job and you notice a certain tool is necessary. Each hand
frame is a specific tool used for very specific jobs.
Working with hand frames will be more of an intermediate skill. For beginners, it will take a
while to switch from the basic one they started with. Teaching that each note has a spot will
reinforce that hand frames stay in place.
Shifting
Shifting will start with Basses within the first few weeks. Teaching them that its not that tricky or
challenging will help them be confident with their parts.
One way to show bassists about shifting is playing harmonics and model Taps for them to hear
what potential they would have with shifting.
For cellos, violins, and violas, shifting comes a little later and by then, they are used to the ranges
they play in so extra exercises and technical warmups are beneficial for them.
One exercise to show students about shifting is to play octave leaps on any string. Have them
bow in first position with their hand to the top of the neck then shift down to play the octave on a
harmonic on the same string. Repeat this, but play the harmonic on a different finger each time.
Shifting should happen with the entire hand frame, thumb and all. Students will have the
tendency to leave their thumbs in place and only shift their index-pinky fingers. The entire hand
needs to move when shifting.
Tone Production
Good Tone is achieved by the weight of the bow, bow placement, and also the quality of the
strings and instrument.
Tuning is another factor of tuning. When properly tuned, the instrument will naturally vibrate
more and produce a better tone.
If the strings are too old, a good tone may be more difficult to achieve. Older strings can become
dead and resonate less than desired. They may still produce the right pitch but have a much less
warm tone.
Bow Placement affects tone in the fact that a bow closer to the bridge or fingerboard will have a
different tone and are used in some effects for the tones they produce.
To practice good tone, have students focus on the movement of their bow and where their bow is
on the instrument.

Dynamics
- Dynamics are determined by three things:
1. Bow Placement
2. Bow Weight
3. Bow Speed
For a louder sound in regards to bow speed, bow faster. For softer dynamics, bow slower.
- In terms of weight, a heavier bow will produce a louder sound and a lighter bow will produce a
softer sound.
- For bow placement, a bow closer to the fingerboard will be at a softer dynamic and bowing closer
to the bridge will be much louder.

When teaching dynamics, focus on weight and speed before mentioning the placement. Speed
and Placement come first.
Phrasing
Phrasing is a more musical topic and includes articulations, retakes, dynamics, connected sounds,
moving together and intonation.
Overall there needs to be listening and a strong connection for students to be paying attention to
what is happening around them. If ever they miss a retake or skip a note, it will be very visually
obvious. Students need to keep their heads out of the stands and aware of what is happening
around them.
With dynamics, its important to listen around the ensemble and match what is heard. When it
comes to phrasing, dynamics play a big part. If there is a dramatic decrescendo, and one person
ignores it or doesnt give enough, then the entire feeling is lost.
As students progress and learn more melodic passages and less technical pedagogical passages,
thinking of connected sounds and making music, not just reading notes.
A more basic aspect of phrasing is the ability for students to move together and listen for
alignment that rhythms sound together and alike.
Vibrato
Vibrato is a motion from the wrist, especially in violins and violas.
To have students better understand vibrato, a clip of an operatic vocalist will demonstrate what
vibrato should sound like. Since vibrato is mimicking the vocal technique, this would be a good
start.
A strong model provided in the classroom would also suffice as this would show students what it
looks like when actually performing.
For cellos and basses, some movement comes from the elbow naturally just because the range of
the instrument requires more movement between pitches.
To start students off with vibrato, have the class move together to understand how to move their
hands. Partnering up so students can see another student do vibrato will help them in
understanding and performing.
Five Elective Topics

1. Arco and Pizzicato

Arco is how it is notated when switching from pizzicato to Dtach bowing.
Teaching arco and pizzicato go hand in hand because transitioning from one to the other is a skill
students may need to practice.
While playing pizzicato, the bow should still be held in as close to the correct bow hold as
possible. This will make the transition much more smooth.
To refine this skill, simply practicing a passage which alternates pizzicato and arco to reinforce
and continue to use those muscles will help.
When pizzicato-ing, students should be sure to use the correct part of their finger. For violins and
violas, its the tip of their finger. For cellos and basses, the side of the finger is used more. Basses
especially use more of the side of their finger.
2. Double Stop
Double stops are when two notes are played simultaneously on the same instrument.
Double stops are used in tuning exercises for violins and violas so they are a basic skill.
To play double stops, students simply need to apply more pressure to the bow and change the
angle slightly. This will pull the bow across both strings to vibrate both at the same time.

Some parts which look like Double stops are actually marked divisi so clarity is key.
Since Double stops can be used for used for tuning, students need to not worry about them.
Double stops arent challenging or tricky.
3. Tuning
Tuning will begin with sounding each pitch for every string.
After a while, students will be able to tune using harmonics or double stops.
For basses and cellos, harmonics will alternate between strings.
For violins and violas, tuning double stops to open 4ths and 5ths.
After tuning with harmonics and double stops, students can listen from the bottom up to double
check the intonation.
For large ensemble tuning, droning pitches can be helpful. if the drone starts in the bass, then add
cellos, then violins, then violas, and allowing students to listen to each other builds their ear
training and takes the focus tuner.
Droning also allows students to make adjustments while playing the instrument.
4. Maintenance of Instruments
There are some things to watch out for in regards to maintenance. Falling bridges is one of them.
If a bridge is falling and is noticed before it falls flat, then minimal damage is done.
Simply rectify this straightening the bridge.
Rosin will need scratched up before used for the first time. Also, the bow will need to be rosined
every time the instrument is taken from the case.
Strings do not last forever. If one breaks, it of course needs replaced. But sometimes strings
which have been on the instrument for a couple years sound dead and dont resonate as well.
After every time the instrument is played, the rosin needs to wiped from the strings to keep the
strings clean.
When tuning, micro tuning pegs can become all the way depressed from tuning. At a certain
point, they will need adjusted and then re-tuned using the macro-tuning pegs.
5. New hand frames
Practicing new hand frames adjusts the whole/half step relationship and will need extra practice.
When new hand frames are learned, shifting with these new hand frames might be challenging as
leaving first position may allow for the frame to relax.
Each frame, as above mentioned, frames have certain spots for certain pitches, and students will
need to be sure to learn them accurately.
One detail which is a slight advantage for string players is each hand frame is easily applicable to
every string.
If students are struggling to learn a new hand frame, setting the instrument up so the student can
see their hand position will be incredibly helpful for them to see what new pitches theyre
playing.