With a brief historical background and introduction to the violin bow grip, violinist Giora Schmidt breaks down the basics of the Franco-Belgian grip - functions of each finger, basic motion of the right arm, and practicing with a Sharpie!

Delve deeper with Schmidt in the exploration of the endless possibilities of color spanned from the three fundamentals of sound production! In this segment, Schmidt discusses the basics of sound production, exercises, practice points and a tip to play in soft dynamics without losing the core in the sound.

Collé is a fundamental stroke from which other elaborate strokes develop. It is the key to a spoken quality of sound, much like an actor with impeccable diction! Find out how to master this stroke with Schmidt with his suggested exercises and etude.

Detaché is the fundamental stroke for separate notes on the violin. In this segment, Schmidt shows the sequences of an exercise with a sharpie, a bow, and a metronome - or with open hands! Using Kreutzer etude as a tool, Schmidt further elaborates on the concept of bow geometry.

Schmidt breaks down the basic mechanism of the virtuosic flying-staccato with step by step exercises, practicing with Kreutzer etude, and tips on how to further enhance the stroke by incorporating the dynamic relationship of the body.

Schmidt introduces the two springy bow strokes that are sometimes mistakenly referred to as one and the same. With his fun analogies, Schmidt walks us through steps to practice that will help you become confident and comfortable with the bouncing bow. Essentially allowing the bow to do the work for you.

In this lesson, Schmidt talks about the importance of the flat-hair angle as it provides maximum density to the sound. With step by step exercises, Schmidt guides us to explore the range of motion and fine finger-control of the bow, utilizing the bow geometry and dynamic connections of the body mentioned in the previous lessons.

Contrary to the spoken quality of the Collé, legato is the singing quality of sound. This lesson is about how to coordinate the two hands and balance different parts of the right hand to create lyrical lines with the bow. Just like a signer, breathing is also a crucial element in violin playing! Schmidt shows us a few tips on how to coordinate the breaths with the bow.

Portato is a stroke that is a kind of legato with spoken quality. Schmidt discusses the expressive quality of the portato in many famed violinists, as well as in other musical genres. Through looking at concertos in which many artists utilize this bow stroke, Schmidt guides us to explore and develop our own sense of portato.

Schmidt discusses the extremes of sounding point and the applications in a variety of contexts for their sonic effect.

Using the Mendelssohn violin concerto as an example, Schmidt shares a few tips on how to achieve this bouncing and skipping stroke with ease.

Playing on the wood instead of the hair! Schmidt talks about a variety of repertoire that uses this stroke, and his two cents on how to adjust with the bow ever so slightly in different situations depending on the repertoire.