Bow yoga (or BOGA) and a Baroque violin master class led by Rachel Podger in Conservatory Central 25.
BOGA came about as a response to the needs of students who were finding it challenging to produce a good sound on gut strings. Especially those who were new to playing on gut, or who needed more flexibility in their bowing arm, wrist, and fingers in order to express musical gestures.
Over the years Rachel Podger gradually came up with various exercises that she thought might help and developed a range of these (and they keep changing and developing). There is yogic breathing involved (string players tend to forget to breathe, or at least don’t tend to use the breath in a conscious way which will benefit sound production like a singer or wind player might), and a large focus is on connecting arm, wrist, and finger movements to the breath. Doing this can make a huge difference to the depth of sound produced, especially when exploring the depth of that sound by “going into the string.” This is easier to do with gut strings than wound strings since gut strings are porous and malleable and ‘give.’ Lots of BOGA exercises help develop an awareness of this depth, different sound shapes, rhythms, gestures, and so on. All of this is in aid of facilitating a fluency in expression—which is in essence what music is all about—by developing a vocabulary of bow strokes and bow shapes that can be applied in pieces of music, but also give you the ability to translate a musical idea into sound with your speaking tool—the bow.
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Conservatory visitors are asked to enter the complex through either Bibbins Hall’s east entrance (off College Place) or the Conservatory Lounge’s west entrance (off S. Professor St., adjacent to the Conservatory Pond). All other entrances will be closed to the public. Restrooms available in Bibbins Hall.
