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Technique: Thoughts on bowing

2 May 2025

Charles Castleman - (c) Virginie Nguyen

Charles Castleman explores a range of approaches to teaching bowing techniques

I had a number of violin teachers and coaches, who were all really excellent. Between them they were responsible for a lot of the good things that happened to me in my playing career, yet none of them ever said a word to me about bow distribution. Indeed, it is my impression that the Russians don’t tend to think about it at all. I watched David Oistrakh many times and noticed that he played whole bows on every note, creating whatever colours he wanted by playing louder or softer, or with different bow speeds…

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