Like writing with all of your fingers
on the pencil, with the tip pointing
out from that crevice made by your
thumb, down by your wrists, you
should be holding the bow.
Create a cradle with your knees so
that the box is not upright, you mustn’t
keep it upright, tilt it slightly to
the left but don’t squeeze so hard that
your toes become pidgeoned.
Pull and push without moving your
wrist, it’s all in your hands but nothing
is in your shoulders, but don’t forget
to keep pressure from base to end
unless you want to court stray cats.
Tap the strings with your tips but
never push down, this isn’t a guitar
and you aren’t checking for a pulse,
but sometimes push from the sides
and know numbers don’t matter.
One, two, three, four, back to two
but use three for this four, trust me,
it’s just how this is done, you know,
trust me to call out true and false
as I interpret the language.
Composed 03/26/14
Author’s Note: I attempted to learn the murin khuur, or horse-head fiddle, a for a couple weeks. Not having an actual instrument to practice on proved problematic, though, so I had to quit. Learning the basics of the instrument was fun enough, but they are very strict about many aspects of holding it. Tricky instrument to pick up for your first string lesson, I’d say.
Two Second Street 