:: Art of the Bow with François Rabbath ::

If you would like to be contacted when the Art of the Left Hand with François Rabbath DVD is finally completed, please email me from the contact form on this page. As of the end of September much progress has been made on the Art of the Left Hand. Forty-five minutes of interviews and twelve live performances are completely finished. The lecture-demonstrations have been edited, but titles and transitions are left to be done. The biggest hurdle that currently remains is with the animation team. After nine months of work we were finally successful in overcoming the difficulties of getting the biomechanics data to export into the animation program. The animators have now competed the modeling of the three independent objects: François, the bass, and the bow. Now comes the tricky work of making the three objects work together and of refining the subtleties of François’ fingers. We are still not sure how realistic we will be able to make things look given the restrictions of the technology, but once we are able to complete a natural looking trial, then we believe things will go quickly. At this point we hope to have some 50 animated trials including 2 performances of unaccompanied movements of Bach. Please click on the thumbnails below to see images from the work in progress.

Michael Fanelli wrote an in-depth enthusiastic review of the Art of the Bow in the November, 2006 issue of the American String Teacher (Vl. 56, No. 4, pg. 112). He concludes:
“The Art of the Bow is one of the most important treatises and state-of-the-art instructional audiovisual tools we have available in 2006 both for the studio and classroom. The scholarship and pedagogical theories rank with the works of Galamian, Flesch, Dounis, and Rolland. One waits in anticipation for the Art of the Left Hand.”

Michael Fanelli contributed an article in the August, 2006 ASTA Journal reviewing the bass sessions at the 2006 ASTA National Conference entitled “Bass is Up to Date in Kansas City.” He writes:

Hans Sturm, Professor of Double Bass at Ball State University, began the conference bass sessions with a lecture/demonstration of the DVD “Art of the Bow with François Rabbath.” He presented a history of his collaboration with Mr. Rabbath and the Ball State University Biomechanics Lab, which resulted in this state-of-the-art audiovisual teaching DVD on Rabbath’s pedagogical approach to learning the intricacies of bowing. The session highlighted the instructional constructs and content in six sections on the three-and-a-half-hour DVD. Sturm explained the technical challenges Rabbath had to deal with - wearing a black bodysuit covered with two hundred points of light and not letting the constraints of material interfere with his playing by creating tension or movement limitations. This presentation provided a comprehensive overview to the creation of a revolutionary technological format.

The Strad, the most highly respected magazine for the string community since 1890, ran an announcement about the new Art of the Left Hand with François Rabbath DVD in the May, 2006 issue:

BASSIST GETS ANIMATED

Syrian-French bassist François Rabbath is using state-of-the-art electronics to preserve his fingering technique for the next generation.

Rabbath has just finished filming a DVD that includes a set of 3D animations which can be rotated interactively to allow aspiring bassists to study his movements in greater detail. The motion-capture technology used to create these animations is similar to that used in films such as Lord of the Rings, tracking his movements using reflective spheres mounted on his body joints. The DVD also includes six lecture-demonstrations by Rabbath on fingerings, as well as live performances.

Hans Sturm, Professor of Double Bass at Ball State University and founder of the project, said: ‘François is a guru for many people in the bass world and he is also really into technology. Last April (2005, ed.) we were able to complete the DVD of his bow arm and this year we are working on capturing his left hand using the latest biomechanics technology.’

This warm overview of his life and work features interviews with some of his closest collaborators and former students including Frank Proto, Paul Ellison, and Patrick Neher. Here is an excerpt:

So now Rabbath is up to the fourth volume in his own series of bass method books, and he is the subject of a DVD, The Art of the Bow, which Paul Ellison of Rice University calls “revolutionary.” It employs multiple camera angles, biomechanics, and the technology of motion-capture to dissect Rabbath’s strokes. “Only Tiger Woods in the sports world until now has been able to put this sort of ‘swing doctor’ thing together,” says Ellison. “It’s the most profound teaching tool I’ve seen.”

Straight From the Heart by James Reel

The Art of the Bow and the Art of the Left Hand projects have recently received attention from national news sources.

Christian Science Monitor

USA Today

François Rabbath received the Issac Stern International Lifetime Acheivement Award at the American String Teacher’s Association 2006 Conference in Kansas City. This award has only been given 9 times in the organizations 55 year history and Rabbath is the first bassist to be so honored. Others to have won this award include Rostropovich, Suzuki, and Milstein.

Inside a darkened studio at Ball State University here, world-renowned classical musician Francois Rabbath stands surrounded by infrared lights.

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The motion capture technology that brought to life characters in Shrek and Lord of The Rings is being used this week at Ball State University to record the talents of one of the world’s most recognized string bassists.

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Musical composers can leave their work behind as recordings or sheet music when they die, but instrumentalists have a harder time leaving behind an important part of their achievement — their technique.  The feverish Francois Rabbath, regarded by many critics as one of the world’s greatest virtuoso double bassists, is trying to pass on the details of his unusual way of playing his instrument.  Mr. Rabbath recently retired from the Paris Opera Orchestra and will turn 75 next month.

Thanks to Hans Sturm, an associate professor of music at Ball State University.  Ball State’s Biomechanics Laboratory is now working to document and preserve Mr. Rabbath’s bow strokes and fingering gymnastics.

As a 13-year-old is Syria, Mr. Rabbath swiped a yellowed method book for double bass from a decorative display in a tailor’s shop.  He taught himself to play and eventually made his way to Paris in the 1950s.  Mr. Rabbath’s unusual method — almost embracing the instrument rather than standing upright — startled traditionalists.

After just a few lessons he dropped out of the Paris Conservatory and honed his techniques, he says, by watching crabs’ spindly legs scurry over sand and trying to slide his fingers over the strings in a similar way.  In more than five decades of classical and jazz performances, he has helped popularize the double bass as a solo instrument.

Later this month, Mr. Rabbath will play in Ball State’s lab with more than two dozen tiny reflectors affixed to his left hand — and still more on his arms and shoulders.  Using strobe lights and cameras, technicians will create a video model that mimics the musician’s idosyncratic movements, down to the velocity and acceleration of his joints.

Mr. Strum, president-elect of the International Society of Bassists, came up with the idea while reading about a video-game simulation of Tiger Wood’s sweet stroke.  “My thought was, Wow, if they can do this for a golf swing, why can’t we do it for the motion of the bow?” he says.  Ball State’s first interactive DVD with Mr. Rabbath, Art of the Bow, came out last May and has since netted $30,000 in sales.  The second will be ready by the end of the year.

When pupils see the recording, “they understand the movement and they begin to do it,” says Mr. Rabbath.

Published in “The Chronicle of Higher Education - February 24, 2006