Slurs can be tricky because they involve a little bit of planning, and oftentimes, what happens is we run out of bow before we run out of notes. So the first step to graceful slurring is to get comfortable with evenly dividing the bow.
Even Division
Let’s start simple: take a two-note pattern and slur those two notes together. The key is to think about bow division as you play, slicing the bow in half. As you reach the center of the stick, that’s your cue that you’re at the midpoint of the slur.
Adding Real Rhythm to the Mix
Bow division is a lot more straightforward when the notes in a slur are all the same rhythm, but music rarely works that way. Often you’ll come across a slur with uneven rhythms, such as a quarter note followed by a half note, then two quarters. In a case like that, you have to think proportionally. If that phrase totals five beats, you’re eyeballing how to divide the bow into five parts to match. If you do this right, it creates a consistent bow speed and sound throughout the slur, no matter how the rhythms within it are divided.
Bringing It to the Music
Here’s where bow division gets really fun.
Even though the bow division is a great foundation, it doesn’t always achieve the goal we want. Sometimes you want the phrasing to grow or the dynamics to build through the slur, and that can be tricky with an even bow division, as bow speed is an important element in dynamic changes.
The way we mitigate this is by changing up the division. Instead of even bow division, we can use less bow for certain notes and use more for others within the slur. A crescendo might look like reserving the last half of the bow for the final note in a slur to really help the phrasing swell.
Your Practice Plan
When you’re working on this on your own, the first step is always the same: get comfortable dividing the bow evenly. Once that feels natural, start experimenting with shifting that division and notice what effect it has on the sound you create.
For more of Lauren’s insights, visit her Technique Tuesday series and sign up for the Double Bass HQ newsletter to have the series delivered to your inbox each week.
