Lots of people develop a spiccato that is too jumpy. The bow is in the air most of the times and you don’t really hear a bow stroke. You hear a bounce and perhaps a scratch instead of a bow stroke.

Put down spiccato is not an official bowing technique, but a way to practice spiccato that is more close to the string and sounds more like a bow stroke.

This is how to learn put down spiccato: You start from a normal detaché bow stroke and after a while you lift your bow at every bow change. In this spiccato exercise you don’t start from the air, but you start with ‘normal’ bowing. Don’t execute this too fast.

Try to develop a spiccato that contains a bow stroke with a full sound. In this way you can vary more with your spiccato. You can make it very fast or very slow. You can make the sound thin or fat or everything in between.

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Love,

Zlata

PS: Do you have questions or struggles on violin or viola playing? Post a comment below or send an e-mail to info@violinlounge.com and I might dedicate a Violin Lounge TV episode to answering your question!