Fingering and bowing in violinists: a motor control approach
Mario Wiesendanger, Andreas P. Baader, Oleg V. Kazennikov · 2006
Abstract Playing the violin requires exceptional skills in bowing and fingering and execution implies an exquisite temporal and ordinal precision of finger and bow movements, together with a fine-grained force control. This chapter assesses the timing of inter-limb coordination during playing of a simple tune on the violin. It examines bow-fingering synchronization and investigates the forces that control tonal intensity as well as quick changes in intensity for accentuations of the melody. It concludes with the suggestion that even relatively simple musical sequences can reveal interesting principles of motor control, especially about inter-limb coordination and the kinetics of bowing.