more about clinics from Jason Heath at https://doublebassblog.org/clinician

1. Movement and String Playing

3. doublebassblog.org/grmea

4. Principles of Body Movement

5. Paul Rolland and
Gestalt Theory

7. Principles of Body Movement:
Without Instrument

8. Applying Principles to the
Instrument

9. Primary Motions

10. 1. Weight Transfer - Flying Pizzicato
• Establish balanced posture
• Strum strings in large circle
• Feel weight shift in contrary (bi-lateral) motion

11. 2. Bi-lateral Bowing Exercises
• Play down bow and retake
• Similar motion to flying pizzicato
• Feel torso moving in opposite direction from bow arm

12. 3. Breathing and Bowing
• Exhale on down bow
• Inhale on up bow

13. 4. Four Primary Bow Movements
• Out and In
• Forward and Back
• Vertically Up and Down
• Follow-Through and Recovery

14. 5. The Three Phases of Bow Movement
• Prep
• Movement
• Follow-Through and Recovery

15. Paul Rolland Motions

16. 1. The Shuttle
• Great for cello and bass
• Strum strings with left hand fingers
• Low, middle, and high positions
• Makes sure instrument is set
• Good for left arm positioning

17. 2. “Birdie” Shifts
• Curved path of arm between destination notes
• Use elbow to guide shifting motion

18. 3. Flying Pizzicato
• Moving the whole body
• Making an oval with right hand
• Center your body, lean to right, pluck all strings and lean to left
• Then pluck just one string
• Make “bass lines” to familiar tunes

19. 4. Tapping
• Good for lower and upper strings
• “Raindrops” on ribs with both hands
• Free lefty hand tapping on strings
• “Make popcorn”
• Useful for teaching slurs

20. 5. Rock & Roll
• Hook bow at tip with left hand
• “Rock” - shake the bow hand
• “Roll” - raise/lower bow arm

21. 6. Rebound
• Like flying pizzicato, only with the bow
• Set, release, rebound
• Short rebounds at frog
• Combine down and up bow in small groups

22. 7. Statue of Liberty
• Upper strings only
• Left hand holds upper bout
• Raise up
• Turn upside down
• Güido in place on top of shoulder

23. 8. Place and Lift
• Place bow at frog
• Place bow at tip
• Experiment with angles tho learn what straight bow looks like

24. 9. Vibrato
• Polishing the string
• Similarities and differences in upper and lower string vibrato
• Rotary motion in vibrato

25. 10. Pulling and Pushing
• Pretend left index finger is bow
• Simulate the feeling of pulling for down bow and pushing for up bow

26. 11. Bow Finger Flexibility
• With bow in hand, raise above head
• Raise/lower bow using wrist, keeping it pointed straight up
• ‘Write your name” with screw of bow

27. 12. Case Walk
• Upper strings only
• Walk around with holding case in front of you or overhead
• Immediately go to instrument and play
• Notice the feeling of lightness and freedom

28. 13. Early Bow Hold
• Good for students having trouble with bow hold
• Don’t spend too much time in this zone
• Games for teaching bow hold concepts

29. Principles of String Movement
• Pizzicato principle
• Energy: from strings to instrument
• Allow physics of instrument

30. Helmholtz Motion