Boldly bowing became a point of discussion in yesterday’s lesson – I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, but I think it’s the first time Teacher and I have really discussed it in a lesson.  She’s trying to get me to pay more attention to rhythm and the accented beats in the music, which, to my novice ear, are not so easy to hear.  It’s especially interesting in the context of learning my third gavotte.  The rhythmic profile is what makes a gavotte a gavotte; I need to focus on the beat more, and on making the notes as long or as short as they need to be, while continuing to bow boldly to produce the best sound.

We’re progressing slowly on this Gavotte by Lully, which is fine.  I’m very much enjoying the minor sound and the somewhat complicated bowing.  This is also the first song I’m playing that includes open G string, so that’s fun too – my G string needs more of a workout!  The Gavotte by Mignon also utilizes the G string a fair amount, though not open G.  I’m starting to be able to be more in tune down there.  To my ear, there’s a bit more lea-way in playing lower register notes; they don’t tend to sound as terribly out of tune as higher register notes do when they are similarly missing their mark!

So I’ll keep striving to boldly bow, circling back to those tenutos, and to make it all in tune, even the low stuff.

Thanks for reading.

Ryan