4. Tone

Identify together the different articulation techniques needed. In this case rather than having the articulation printed on each note, we can find the word staccato printed at the beginning of the cello part. Discuss the meaning of the stroke with your pupils and how we can best achieve it. How does it look when printed on top of the note?
Articulations to discover in this piece:
tone 1

  • Staccato
  • Hooked bowing

Revisit the rhythmical patterns you worked on before and apply the articulations. At this stage you can also introduce tonal quality by looking into the dynamics needed for this performance mp, mf, f, ff.

Try to combine the different articulations with this variety of dynamics. Discuss the three aspects of sound production that enable us to change dynamics and sound colour.

  1. Bow length - Depending on the length of bow we can increase and decrease sound volume.
  2. Contact point - Depending on how close we are to the bridge we can change the intensity of the sound accordingly.
  3. Weight into the string - how much weight we apply into the string with our bowing arm to shape the volume.