Tone and strokes to play · From Zero to Mozart

The daily bow routine, gathered in one place to play. None of it is a piece — it's the warm-up and workout that makes the pieces possible. Five or ten focused minutes of this at the start of a session is worth more than an hour of grinding through repertoire with a rough bow.

1 · Son filé — the long tone

30 bpm

How to play it

Constant bow speed. Feed a little arm weight toward the tip, ease it at the frog. Listen — is the tip as full as the frog? Add a messa di voce (soft–full–soft on one bow) once the flat tone is steady.

One sustained note per whole bow, frog to tip, dead even — no swell, no fade, no bump at the change. Start on D, then A, then do G and E too. Build from a slow count of ten each way toward thirty seconds.

2 · Détaché scale — one bow per note

66 bpm

How to play it

Match every up-bow to every down-bow. Keep the bow speed even straight through the direction changes. The descent is where evenness slips — practise coming down as hard as going up.

G major, separate bows, every note the same length and weight, the bow changes inaudible. Play it in the middle of the bow, then at the frog, then at the tip, then whole bows — each teaches a different part of the control.

3 · Slurred scale — dividing the bow

60 bpm

How to play it

Divide the hair by eye into four. Bow travels at a steady speed; the left hand does the note-changing. Don't bump when a finger drops. The D-string-to-A crossing is inside the up-bow — roll the forearm through it.

Four notes per bow — each note a quarter of the bow. Play it portato first (a stop at each quarter), then smooth it. Then try two notes per bow, then the whole octave in one slow bow (save bow — you'll run out otherwise).

4 · Martelé scale — the prepared bite

54 bpm

How to play it

Upper half of the bow. Every note starts the same: prepared bite, ring, clean stop. Stop the moment the hand won't let go between notes.

G major, one martelé per note: grip the string in the silence, fast bow, release the weight as it starts (a click, not a scratch), stop, loosen the hand, re-prepare. Half the scale is plenty — evenness matters more than length.

5 · Bowing variations — the workout

72 bpm

How to play it

One pattern at a time, up and down, slow. Play it at the frog, then middle, then tip. This is the single most efficient bow-control exercise there is.

G major with a bowing pattern laid over it: bar 1 is 'two slurred' all the way; bar 2 is 'three slurred + one separate'. Make up more — 'one + three', hooked, a long slur the whole octave. Each pattern is a small rhythmic cell over the notes; feel the grouping, then let the bow follow.

How to use this page

Not all of it every day. Pick: always the son filé; then one of the détaché / slurred / martelé scales; then two minutes of bowing variations. Rotate the keys through the ones you know (G, D, A, C). Stop the moment the bow hand tightens.