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We all have this fear, "my bow will shudder"
I still remember having the shakes...
25 years ago... in a concert
yes, and you'll remeber that,
yes forever
because it's, somehow, a shamy thing,
it's just... one doesn't do it
So, to prevent that,
we hold the bow harder,
to be "safe".
And a slow bow... may I just...
one two three four, one two three four,
one two three four, one two three four,
Do you see what I do with the arm which... together
together
because, I balanced the arm, here,
the balance was in the upper arm
and the bow is heavy
The balance is between the...
between the hair and the upper arm
instead of...
instead of the little finger and the bow against the little finger
the balance from the little finger to the bow
then my thumb goes in and then I hold,
then my wrist gets stuck
then I have to learn...
to move the wrist
and if I have a bow hold
that stiffens up everything
and when you look at the size of the bow
and look at the little finger...
I just call it... unfair...
the balance here...
But that's what we see
and then we try to loosen up,
that's what I'm talking about.
OK? If you have no bow...
that's also in the books...
then it's the hair...
the thumb is between the hair and the stick
and that is the only finger
that is between both the hair and the stick
and the thumb is the most important part of our whole body
because, it's total... connected with our brain and our tongue...
and this is my favourite story in all the New approach...
that certain antropologists say
that the reason the dolphins,
with their big intelligence capacity, cannot talk,
is because they have no thumbs.
We are the only creatures in this world who...
have our construction of the thumbs.
Monkeys don't have it,
the apes don't have it,
and the tendency is...
when you hold the bow,
then the thumb goes in... and here,
the thumb goes this ways to support the fingers.
Now I ask you all to push the thumbs out like this,
Feel the tension?
Yes
Yes or no?
Yes!
OK, if you bend it over...
it releases...
but you can't release it
if your fingers go down...
you can't release it if your bow goes down...
and you hold the stick...
and the stick...
this is what I said before,
the stick is just a piece of wood.
If you are not in touch with the hair
and through the hair with the string,
you are not in touch with the left hand,
so the right hand goes this way,
the left hand goes that way and then...
If the fingers try to find the notes,
then you are in trouble,
and then no imagination can help.
By the way, did you hear the count, when I played?
yes ... open string?... yes...
...open string?... yes...
If I didn't do that, it would go...
because I gave the right rhythm, I went... one, two,
instead of watching the bow...
where it would go.
It's the voice, it's the pulse
and if I play the note...
May I just have that?
If I play the note...
If I play it...
one two three four five six
I would do it to the the left hand,
I wouldn't do it...
I wouldn't do either...
That doesn't make any sense, no
That doesn't make musical sense
if I do the... one two three four...
because I'm going into another note.
Each note is there to prepare the next one
ok, each note is there to prepare the next one
That's like... skating, ballet,
all movements, instead of play...
I just hope that if you don't understand
anything else of the New approach,
If you just go away and understand
what horrible straightjacket we put ourselves in,
that would be something,
because when we realise it, we can get out of it.
And this goes for everybody, professionals, amateurs,
beginners, that's the tendency:
hold the violin, and play with the fingers,
play with the bow.