FORM For practice purposes, it is useful to divide Song of the Wind into the following four segments:

1) Up the Scale

2) Hopping Three & Bow Circles

3) Down the Scale, Up the Chord

4) Down the Scale​

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AURAL SKILLS Song of the Wind uses familiar up/down the scale/chord patterns as we used in Twinkle and Lightly Row, but with many instances of repeated notes that require the student to rely on a confident internal reference of the song.

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BOW ARM Song of the Wind introduces the bow circle technique (also referred to as a "lift" or a "retake"), which is used when we are required to play two consecutive downbows from the bottom of the bow. Essentially, the bow circle is an upbow through the air. 

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Bow circles have three distinct phases;

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1) Playing the old note

Every bow circle begins with the release of the old note

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2) Lifting and circling the bow through the air

Essentially combining the horizontal in-and-out bowing motion with the vertical motion from "Up Like a Rocket"

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3) Landing the bow on the string again

With careful attention that the shoulder fully releases upon landing; a "helicopter landing" rather than a "drawbridge landing".

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LEFT HAND Song of the Wind introduces the hopping finger, a technique for playing the same finger on successive strings. When moving the finger between two strings, students should be careful to keep their hand and wrist completely still, isolating the motion to the finger joint itself. The finger should land on the same portion of the finger pad (the inside corner) on both strings.