The Joy of Feuillard - A Sequential Approach to Teaching Bow Technique (Part 34 - Feuillard No. 36 - Variations #39-42)

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The Joy of Feuillard – A Sequential Approach to Teaching Bow Technique (Part 34 – Feuillard No. 36 – Variations #39-42)

This will be the final Blog in this series on using the Feuilliard “Daily Exercises” to teach bow technique.

Variations #39 and #40:

Variations #39 and #40 address chords over four strings. For #39 we have to use the full bow with the bottom two notes as grace notes. That means that they are played before the beat, with the top two notes on the beat. If playing with a piano, the pianist would probably play on the downbeat with the top of the chords. The string crossing is not too difficult at the frog, but playing the grace notes at the tip and then getting the main notes to sound strong is harder at the tip.

I addressed two other important issues with George in this video: the contact point (higher for the low strings and lower for the high strings), and the number of arm levels (two double stop arm levels).

We also tried two different ways of starting the double-stop grace notes on the low strings. First George played them from the string. Then I suggested trying it from above the string, by “plastering” the bow at the tip. In doing so we get two different kinds of attacks.

Variation #41:

This is a tricky variation. It requires doing the chords, as in the previous variations, but after playing the top double-stop one has to leave the D-string note briefly in order to re-articulate it on the way down.

Variation #42:

This is the very last Variation in the Feuillard bowing series. It returns to the sautillé stroke that we have seen throughout the variations, but requires coordinating the very fast stroke with quick string crossings. It is important to use two different parts of the arm for the two different motions: the upper arm for the string crossings and the wrist for the sautillé . The last time that Feuillard presented the sautillé stroke was in Theme No. 33 (Variations #31 and #32). So, he was expecting the student to let the sautillé percolate over time so that it becomes “easy” and comfortable to do along with the fast string crossings. George nailed it here in this video, and I asked him to try it a bit faster than he had practiced, which was successful.

As I mentioned in the video, the next step for the students would be the Sevcik 40 Variations, Op. 3 which involve various virtuosic bow techniques based on the fundamentals that we have worked on in the Feuillard.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank George and all the other students who agreed to be videoed in these blogs (Caroline, Iestyn, Tristan, and Zach). Each of them has made great progress through the process of studying the Feuillard (which they would have done with me anyway!) and by doing the video-taping for these blogs.

I would also like to thank CelloBello for providing a forum for these blogs. My special thanks to Paul Katz, my teacher and mentor, for his help and support over the years. And thanks to the CelloBello staff – and especially Jamie Clark, who was a joy to work with.

I hope that you have enjoyed this series, and that you have benefited from it. If you would like to contact me, please do so at RJesselson@Mozart.sc.edu

By Robert Jesselson|2024-07-24T19:49:09-04:00May 6th, 2019|Categories: Technique, Repertoire|Tags: string crossings, bow distribution, chords, grace notes, The Joy of Feuillard|

About the Author: Robert Jesselson

Robert Jesselson is a Carolina Distinguished Professor at the University of South Carolina, where he teaches cello and plays in the American Arts Trio and the Jesselson/Fugo Duo. In 2013 he was named as the Governor’s Professor of the Year by Governor Haley and the SC Commission on Higher Education.

Dr. Jesselson has performed in recital and with orchestras in Europe, Asia, South America, and the United States, and has participated in the Music Festivals at Nice (France), Granada (Spain), Santiago (Spain), Aspen (CO), Spoleto (SC), the Grand Tetons (WY), and the Festival Inverno (Brazil). His performance degrees are from the Staatliche Hochschule fuer Musik in Freiburg, West Germany, from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Paul Katz, and the DMA from Rutgers where he studied with cellist Bernard Greenhouse. He has been principal cello of the South Carolina Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Orquesta-Sinfonica de Las Palmas, Spain. In 1983 Dr. Jesselson was in China for a six-month residency, one of the first Western cellists to visit that country. During that time he performed as soloist, gave master classes, and taught at several conservatories (including Beijing, Shanghai, and Canton). In December, 2001 he led a delegation of string players and teachers to Cuba to begin professional contact with Cuban musicians. He has also taught at Sookmyung University in Korea, Sun Yat Sen University in Taiwan, University of Auckland in New Zealand, at the Royal College of Music in London and recently in St. Lucia in the Caribbean. His recent CD of new music for cello and piano is called “Carolina Cellobration” and is available on CD Baby and Cellos2Go.

Dr. Jesselson was the national President of ASTA, the American String Teachers Association, from 2000-2002. During his tenure as president he initiated the National Studio Teachers Forums (2000 and 2002), started the National String Project Consortium (with sites now at 44 universities and grants of $3.1 million), and began the planning for the first stand-alone ASTA national convention in 2003. He was the founding Executive Director of the National String Project Consortium, and is currently on the NSPC Board.

Dr. Jesselson is former conductor of the USC University Orchestra and the Columbia Youth Orchestra, and he was the cello teacher at the S.C. Governor’s School for the Arts for 17 years. For 15 years he was the director of the USC String Project, building the program into one of the largest and most prominent string education programs in the country. His pioneering work on this program was recognized in an article in the New York Times in December, 2003. ASTA awarded him the “Marvin Rabin Community Service” Award in 2009 for his work with the NSPC and teacher training. He is the recipient of the 2015 USC Trustees Professorship and the 2010 Mungo Distinguished Professor of the Year, the highest teaching awards given by USC. He has also been awarded the 2002 Cantey Award for Outstanding Faculty, the 1992 Verner Award, the 1989 S.C. Arts Commission Artist Fellowship, the 1995 Mungo Teaching Award, and the first SC ASTA Studio Teacher Award in 2005. Next summer Dr. Jesselson will be teaching cello at the Green Mountain Music Festival in Vermont and at the Cellospeak Festival. He plays a 1716 Jacques Boquay cello.

Robert Jesselson website: https://sites.google.com/view/robertjesselsoncello/home

Articles by Jesselson: http://in.music.sc.edu/fs/jesselson/articles.html

Robert Jesselson contact information: RJesselson@Mozart.sc.edu