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How do they do that?

A question on violin bowing answered
Concertmaster Leslie Shank and violinist Dmitry Kustanovich perform with the Festival Orchestra during a Music in the Mountains' event in 2014 at Purgatory Ski Resort. Note that their bows are synchronized.

At the beginning of the 29th Music in the Mountain festival in July, I asked a question that has perplexed me for decades: How do the string instruments, particularly the violins, always have their bowing synchronized?

It turns out I am not alone in my bewilderment. Many people have stopped me at concerts saying, “I’ve always wondered about that, too.”

Thanks to festival librarian Diann Wylie, I now have my response. (She’s also the librarian for the San Juan Symphony, so Wylie is definitely the expert.)

Once the pieces are selected, she starts gathering up the music and sending it to Concertmaster Leslie Shank. In Music in the Mountain’s case, the process starts in November.

Shank will mark a master score for the first violin section for Wylie, and then Wylie will copy it by hand on all the other first violin scores. (I have attached a marked score she sent me online if you want to follow along.) The principals of the other string-instrument sections will adapt that score to their instruments and parts.

The flat mark at the beginning indicates a down bow, meaning that the player will pull it to the right. A down bow is stronger than an up bow, which is pushing to the left and marked by a “V,” because that’s just the difference between pushing and pulling.

Sometimes there are long curved lines on the score. That means the fingers on the left hand are changing to new notes, but the bow is continuing in the same direction.

Not all notes are marked, because sometimes “it just comes naturally,” Wylie said, so if there’s a down bow for one note or group of notes, the next bowing will automatically be up. And just in case you’re wondering as you look at the page, Pizz. mean pizzicato, or plucking, and arco means with bow.

“The concertmaster is a mystery to me,” Wylie said. “They have such great insights as to what is appropriate and accepted for a certain piece.”

At the rehearsal – and Music in the Mountains generally only has one rehearsal per concert – the conductor may change some of the interpretations or bowings, with the musicians marking their own music. But generally, Wylie said, there aren’t too many changes.

Then – if the music is rented or on loan – the scores have to be cleaned before they’re returned. It can be a very pricey and time-consuming project, she said.

So, when you watch that beautifully synchronized bowing at the next classical music concert, think of the concertmaster and librarian, in the dead of winter, making that possible with their knowledge and dedication.

Next summer I’ll investigate how Shank knows how to do what she does. An investigative reporter, or notoriously nosy person, always wants to know more.

abutler@durangoherald.com

Example of notation for violin (PDF)

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