Rolling a chord with the bow · From Zero to Mozart

Stage 4 told you why a violin chord is rolled: the bridge is curved, so the bow can't press three or four strings flat at once — it has to move across them, bottom to top. This lesson is the right-arm half of that: the actual bow gesture. And you can do it now, on open strings — it's the exact motion the Mozart concerto opens with.

The gesture: drop low, roll up

Land the bow on the lowest string of the chord, with weight.
As the bow moves (usually a down-bow), let the arm drop through the string levels — the weight rolls from the bottom string up to the top, the same arm-level move as a string crossing (string-crossings), just done as one continuous sweep.
Arrive on the top note(s) and let them ring — that's where the melody usually is, so that's what should sing.

It's quick — a chord isn't spread out slowly like a harp; it's a fast bottom-to-top brush that lands on top, all inside one bow.

50 bpm

How to play it

Down-bow from the frog. Bow on the G string, weight in. Move — and as you move, roll the arm down so the bow crosses to D, then to A, arriving on the A with about half the bow left to sustain it. Fast roll, then sing the top.

Three open strings — G, D, A — rolled as one chord. Start on the G string with weight, sweep the arm down through the D level to the A, landing and sustaining the A. Two down-bows; retake between them.

With a finger on top — a real G-major chord

Add one left-hand finger and it's a G-major chord you can play: open G, open D, and B on the A string (1st finger). Three different strings, so it rolls cleanly.

50 bpm

How to play it

Down-bow from the frog. Weight on the G string, then sweep the arm down through the D level to the A string, arriving on the B. Keep half the bow to sustain the B. Fast roll, ringing top.

Open G, open D, and B (1st finger, A string) — the notes of a G-major chord, on three separate strings. Roll from the G string up; land on the B and let it ring. This is the shape the Mozart concerto opens with.

This is the first note of Mozart

The K.216 solo entrance (Stage 4, the-first-note-of-mozart) is a G–B–D chord rolled bottom to top, landing on a ringing G, on a down-bow. Everything you just did on open strings is that gesture. The left-hand shape for the real chord is a Stage 6 job (stopped notes on three strings at once), but the bow move is yours right now.

Try it

Try

Roll the three open strings G–D–A as one chord, down-bow, eight times, with a retake between each. Aim for: a clear start on the G, a smooth fast roll, and a ringing sustained A on top, every time. Then try G–D–B (with 1st finger). That's the Mozart gesture in your arm.

The usual mistake

Rolling too slowly, so the chord sounds like a harp arpeggio instead of a chord — or crushing all three strings at once trying to make them sound together (the curved bridge won't let you, and you get a crunch). It's a fast brush that arrives on top. The other mistake: letting the top note arrive weak because you spent all the bow on the roll — save bow for the note that sings.