Ask Augustin 17 - Smooooth bow changes!

In this episode I give tips for smooth bow changes. Sometimes we have to take several bows on the same note, and want it to sound like one note. The attack sound of the bow change on the same note is less audible at a distance, although we want to minimize it of course. For example, the bow change from the last note of the second movement of the Brahms concerto, which I demonstrate here, is slightly audible from where the camera I used to film this video was, but in the 10th row of a hall you would probably not hear it anymore. Keeping the vibrato continuous will further blur the bow change.
The biggest danger, is that there is a "dip" in sound, that the sound becomes softer right before or during the bow change, because we're careful and are trying to hide the change. This dip from a distance will make it sound like two notes. As the bow slows down just before the bowchange (at the tip for example), the pressure into the string needs to increase slightly in order to keep the sound level completely constant (otherwise there is this "dip" in the sound from the bowspeed decreasing)
I also talk about the wrist/finger motion during a bow change. Some people do more of this, some less, but it is a very good concept in principle - I use my fingers and wrist (especially at the frog) to smooth out the bow change, but I also try to keep the motion quite minimal, to make it easier to have subtle control over the sound at the frog.

Видео Ask Augustin 17 - Smooooth bow changes! канала Augustin Hadelich