ŠEVČĺK'S VIOLIN TECHNIC - School of Bowing Technic, Op.2

   Of the six books, two (I and II) are devoted to the training of the arm movements and four (III, IV, V and VI) to the training of the joints of the hand.  It follows from this that the exercises contained in both parts are to be practised alternately,
   In the School of Bowing Technic Sevcik used his outstanding gift of combination in developing supremely efficient exercises for all bowing possibilities. However, if play is functionally correct, it is possible to make do with only a part of these to learn a special set of movements.  If this is functionally established, one may at times do without the variants.   On the other hand it must be considered that these variants in particular give the playing technic extraordinary assurance and polish because they deal exhaustively with all movements of play.
  To the practising material and its faultless acquisition, the same basic principle applies as to the technic of the left hand.  Studies and exercises here are comparable to the wall-bar in the training of ballet dancers: it is not the use of the bar which will lead to success, but rather the method of training at it.
   The bow-hold as postulated by Sevcik has already been discussed.  It is the sense of touch in the right hand which is of decisive importance for faultless bowing.  Here the position of the right arm is of only secondary importance, i.e., it has to adjust to the requirements of the hand.  Hence it is inefficient and dangerous to allow the arm to take a certain position, to which hand movements would have to conform. The less the arm participates in the bowing technic, the smoother and more precise is the playing.  Exact rhythm in the execution of bowing exercises is essential.
  There are two advantages to the method of counting loudly demanded at times by Sevcik : first, it is more reliable than beating with the foot which will automatically accelerate as the number of notes increases, and, secondly, loud counting promotes independence
of play.
   The 1st and 2nd exercises serve to establish control of bowhold and bowing in general.  Rests in the 1st, 3rd and 5th variants of the 2nd exercise should be used for controlling the tension of grip and direction of bow, and to correct them if necessary.  The same goes for exercise 3, particularly in the variants 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12, 13, 14, 15.  Arm movements in full bow should be flowing and any unnecessary lift of the upper arm and elbow is to be avoided.  Together with the 5th exercise, the 29th exercise from the second part of the " Bowing Technic " should be started.  Crossing of strings should here be practised wherever possible  by bending the wrist.  Particularly the 30th exercise with variants (missing out one or two strings) should  be played in this manner with only slight use of the  forearm.  Starting from here the bowing exercises of the first part should be used alternately with those from the second part.  Detache bowing should never be pressed, but should sound intense and forceful also when played piano ; this is to be achieved only through a kinesthetic feeling of elasticity in the right hand. Any unnecessary lifting of the right arm forces the tone and deprives it of its carrying power.
    Spiccato is a bouncing technic of medium rapidity, in which the springing effect is produced through co-operation of the hand and forearm in dropping and rebounding.  As a preparatory exercise the hand should perform a small semi-circular movement and at the centre of this motion the string should be touched during the up and down bow.
   The sautille on the other hand is a technic which develops from the detache.  As soon as the bowhold relaxes somewhat during a quick detache, and the pressure of the bow on the string is thereby decreased, sautille will result due to the stick's proper elasticity.
An immediate start of sautill~ is effected by accentuating the first note, so that the bow bounces off the string.
   Staccato is best practised at first as a rolling movement in which the next lower string will also be bowed.
  When this rolling motion has been sufficiently practised, the lower string will no more be touched.
   Staccato downwards is produced without change of bowhold but by raising the hand a little, which turns the stick inwards and the hair outwards.
  Flying staccato is a combination of spiccato and staccato.  The frequency of the bounce and thereby
the rapidity of the flying staccato will be increased, if the hand is slightly bent downwards at the wrist, and thereby tilted inwards.
  Staccato ricochet (spring bow) is produced through the proper elasticity, of the bow.  As a preparatory exercise, the bow should be thrown at the empty A string at down bow and slightly pulled  immediately (but steadily)  after the first drop; it is best to hold the bow only with the thumb and index finger.  If the stick is not impeded by being pulled too quickly or too slowly, it will develop its own drumlike rebound, which gradually becomes smaller and quicker.  This proper vibration of the bow is used in ricochet.  One practises scales with it by playing first 3, then 4, 5, 6, etc. notes, keeping in mind that the bounce decreases, and that fingering therefore must be speeded up.
  The spring bow arpeggios become ricochet arpeggios if taken at a fast speed.  The bowhold should be very elastic, and the movement of the arm no bigger than necessary for crossing the strings.  To keep the spring bow arpeggios at an even flow, a slight accent must be placed on the lowest note, which will give renewed ricocheting impetus to the bow.
  The 20th exercise in sustained notes and retarded bow should not be neglected.  Any unnecessary participation of the arm will be automatically excluded, because the player will feel it is inefficient.
  The exercises in the higher positions should also be practised intensively.  These are: exercises 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 25 and 26.  Practising bowing in high positions, i.e. with shortened string vibrations, is of great advantage to the technic of bowing.