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Opinion: Intelligent approaches to the bow in orchestral playing

30 May 2025

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The default for many orchestral string players is to use as much bow as possible to achieve maximum projection. Violinist Alexandra Gorski argues that a more thoughtful approach is necessary

Bow distribution plays a crucial role in articulation, phrasing and dynamic control, and string players’ pursuit of effective bow distribution can often seem endless. In orchestral playing, we can often get stuck in the ‘whole bow, big sound’ mentality, this approach appearing to be the default as we are encouraged to achieve a full, projecting sound. However, proper bow management is fundamental in this environment, where, in reality, bow distribution should be varied and controlled, and focused primarily on the blending of sound within a section, rather than its projection…

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