Becoming a section principal is exciting until your first set of parts shows up and you realize forty colleagues are about to judge every bowing you mark. I have led sections for a decade and I still remember how nerve-wracking the first set was. Here is the playbook I wish someone had handed me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before you mark a single bowing, study the full score for at least an hour per major work. Know what the winds are doing, where the climax actually lives, and where the conductor is likely to push or pull tempo. Bowings exist to serve phrasing, and phrasing comes from the score, not the part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If a respected orchestra has recorded the piece, find their bowings if you can. Many sections share parts informally. If you are doing Brahms 4, the Vienna and Berlin traditions are well-documented, and starting from a proven set of bowings saves you both time and political capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First: phrasing wins over comfort. If a slur serves the line, mark it even if the bow management is harder. Second: the downbeat of the bar should usually be a down-bow on accented passages \u2014 this is not a rule, it is a default the section will expect. Third: section unity matters more than individual preference. A slightly awkward bowing played together sounds better than a perfect bowing played twelve different ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Email your assistant principal and at least two trusted section members with PDF markups before rehearsal. Ask for honest feedback. Adjusting bowings privately is fine; adjusting them publicly in rehearsal costs the section twenty minutes and costs you trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone will hate one of your bowings. That is guaranteed. The right response is never defensive. Listen, try their version once in rehearsal, and if it works better, change it on the spot and thank them publicly. Sections respect principals who put music above ego, every time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Walk in calm, prepared, and friendly. Make eye contact with the back of the section, not just your stand partner. Smile when you give a cue. The technical bowings are forty percent of the job. The other sixty percent is being the person your section wants to follow into a concert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Join 31,000+ string players leveling up their orchestral career.<\/p>\nGet the Free Guide<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Ethan Kim is the founder of Orchestra Kingdom<\/a>, helping string players win auditions and move up in their sections. Follow him on Instagram<\/a>, TikTok<\/a>, and YouTube<\/a> for daily tips.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A diplomatic, practical guide for new principal players on marking bowings, communicating with stand partners, and earning section trust week one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-section-leadership"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.orchestrakingdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.orchestrakingdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.orchestrakingdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.orchestrakingdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.orchestrakingdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=323"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.orchestrakingdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":353,"href":"https:\/\/blog.orchestrakingdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323\/revisions\/353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.orchestrakingdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.orchestrakingdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.orchestrakingdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}