Art of the Bow with François Rabbath

The revolutionary DVD combining the highest levels of music pedagogy and performance, digital video, and biomechanic motion capture technology.


3-D Biomechanic Animation
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Selectable Camera Angles
& Instruction

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Live Performances and Interviews
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Among Francois Rabbath's many current projects is a DVD entitled "Art of the Bow". Working in conjunction with Professor Hans Sturm at Ball State University, Indiana, US, the project [video taped] Rabbath playing from four different angles. With a DVD's controls, viewers can slow down playback of these recordings to observe Rabbath's actions scene by scene.

Sturm and his team also used high speed motion capture tools to [analyze] the movement of Rabbath's bowing arm, employing the same technology used in video games and films such as the Matrix. In the University's Biomechanics Lab, the team attached a series of lighted points to Rabbath and used 200 frames-per-second high speed cameras to record his movements. As a result, the University has been able to show in depth the subtleties of seven different families of bow stroke using a series of computer generated animations. The work was devised as a joint project between the departments of Music Performance, Music Engineering, Biomechanics and the Human Performance Laboratory at Ball State.

After viewing a prototype of the project, Rabbath agreed to take part and completed his role in the work in early June 2004. By this stage, the project had amassed 8 hours of video footage, 35 biomechanical trials, 2.5 hours of interviews and live concert footage, plus a collection of still photographs.

- Patrick Neher
Double Bassist Magazine, Autumn 2004


Art of the Bow has been featured in these great magazines:
Produced and directed by Hans Sturm :: Art of the Bow is an Avant Bass Production
© 2005 Ball State University. All Rights Reserved.