Variation 26 is a march with many challenges for our bow division and control of ricochet.
In bar 4, we need to move from the frog to the middle to the point of the bow while phrasing off the musical line.
For the ricochet at the point of the bow use an active forearm stroke while opening the elbow hinge and also some ‘in and out’ bowing action. This will help keep a straight enough bow which will in turn help to control the evenness and clarity of the ricochet.
If we try and play ricochet stroke with too crooked a bow stroke then there is too much change of string resistance (the string is tauter near the bridge and looser as you approach the fingerboard) and the ricochet becomes uneven.
The up bows in bars 9-16 pose an interesting challenge as we need to play four notes off the string with a change in rhythm, followed by one note legato, all in the same bow.
Again freedom in the elbow joint and upper arm is important to maintain control. Think about the height of the spiccato strokes, and how to place the legato note on the string without bouncing.