When you see a rest, the music might rest, but you cannot.
When you see a rest, you immediately have to make four decisions:
- BOW DIRECTION – Is the next note going to be up-bow or down-bow?
- LIFT? – Will you need to lift the bow?
- WHERE? – Where in the bow should you lift to?
- WHAT? – What are you contributing to the music when you start playing again?
Click on each to see a more detailed explanation.
BOW DIRECTION
The next note after a rest doesn’t always follow the last note you played. In fact, many times it doesn’t, so you have to check. But how do you decide?
Well, follow this one general rule – down-bows should be on strong beats as much as possible. There will be exceptions, but this will be true at least 90% of the time.
TO LIFT OR NOT TO LIFT
To decide whether or not you need to lift the bow, there are two general scenarios to consider:
If the last note you played and the first note after the rest are in the same bow direction, then you will need to lift the bow.
If playing the passage without lifting the bow gets you stuck in a part of the bow you don’t want to be, then you will want to lift the bow and place it elsewhere. This often happens when the notes result in an uneven bowing pattern.
WHERE TO PLACE THE BOW
Place the bow at the point where it puts you in the ideal place for playing the next passage. That means you first have to decide where in the bow the next passage works best.
WHAT ARE YOU CONTRIBUTING?
If you are playing an accompaniment part, decide what your notes are contributing to the overall piece and how you should play them. For example:
- Should you come in softly because you are accompanying the melody?
- Should you come in louder because you have the main melody?
- Should you come in equally to the melody because you have a counter-melody?
- Also think about how your articulation will contribute to the effectiveness of the passage.
- Etc.
Life Lesson
When you take a rest, do you often find yourself unable to get going again? Do you find yourself procrastinating? Do you find that you let half the day go by without getting what you intended done?
Well, BEFORE you take your next rest, apply these 4 Rules for Rests:
- How long is your rest going to be? Be realistic. Then set an alarm and stick to it.
- What are you going to do for your rest? Be intentional. Try not to do something that is going to have you unable to get started again.
- What are you going to do after your rest? Have a clear purpose.
- How are you going to motivate yourself to do it? Give yourself some extra motivation to ensure you get going again.