Viola Gauntlet, Day 4 (Thursday): Bowing - key of F major. A daily practice routine for viola with a play-along backing track: the score scrolls with a playhead, every exercise has a 2-bar count-in. One short F major figure played with a different bow stroke each time: detache, legato, martele, hooked rhythms, colle, string crossings, spiccato and sautille. The left hand stays easy so the whole day is about the right arm, over a light groove.
1. Open-string long tones - One unbroken tone per bow, in tune with the drone; near the fingerboard: light and fast, then back to the middle (stretch: 12-beat bows with no audible bow change) 2. Drone intonation - Each note rings with the drone - no beats; thirds low, leading note high 3. Fifths across strings - One finger flat across two strings: a pure fifth means the hand frame is right 4. Detache: middle and whole bow - One note per bow, no gaps, no accents: the bow changes are invisible 5. Legato slurs: 4, 8 and 16 - Long slurs with an even bow speed; string crossings rolled, not bumped (stretch: 16 notes per bow at q=60 with full tone to the end of each bow) 6. Martele: bite and stop - Pinch the string, release with speed, stop: clean silence between notes (stretch: the 16th-note martele at q=60, each stroke still stopped) 7. Hooked bowing, dotted rhythms - Dotted 8th and 16th in the same bow; the short note stays short and clear 8. Colle (optional quick drill) - At the frog: a tiny pinched click, then lift the bow off the string 9. String crossings: bariolage - Fingered note against the open string: tiny level changes, from wrist and fingers (stretch: the slurred 8s across G-D with no bumps on the open D) 10. Spiccato, lower half - Off the string: each note is a small dropped arc, clear and even (stretch: spiccato 16ths at q=72 through the whole figure) 11. Sautille, brisk - Fast short detache at the balance point: the stick bounces, you just steer (stretch: the whole exercise: sautille 16ths at q=100) 12. Mixed bowings (Kreutzer 2 style) - Uneven groupings with even sound: plan where the bow is before each group (stretch: all three patterns at q=66 without drifting to the frog or tip)
Full week, PDFs and backing tracks: https://www.grahampaasch.com/viola-gauntlet