Does your bow shake or bounce when you play the violin?
One of my online lessons students recorded video of himself so that I could comment on his bow hold. Watch the videos if you want and then read my critique. If your bow shakes or bounces, my critique can help you, too.
My Critique
Istvan, I am so proud of you! You have BEAUTIFUL TECHNIQUE. Great bow hand, posture, left hand…..wow! I am truly impressed. You even have a little colle’ motion going on. Great job!
How to Stop Shaking Bow
I truly believe that 95 percent of the shaking bow is caused by two things: Your sounding point (highway) and your crooked bow. Your bow goes slightly crooked on your downbow stroke, making what I call “Bananas,” where your bow hand traces in the shape of a “banana” on the down bow, instead of a nice straight line.
To avoid doing “bananas” on your downbow stroke, you need to reach out FRONT just slightly, and ESPECIALLY when you get closer to the tip. That is where the banana really happens. I’m sure you have practiced in a mirror, but continue to watch in the mirror. Watch as you get to the tip. Your bow goes crooked.
BUT, if you reach out front, you need to also do something else to balance out that motion. You need to pull in on the bow with your INDEX finger, and push out slightly with your pinky. (mostly the index finger….but the index and pinky work together in opposition to each other) Pulling in with your index finger on the DOWNBOW stroke will help keep your bow straight, but it will also keep your bow from going off the highway. In general, you could bring your bow closer to the bridge to start with, but also fight to KEEP it there.
The last thing you need to do while getting rid of that bow jumping, is to gently PRONATE your bow hand about five percent more than you are now doing. You are doing a great job, I just want five percent more of the pronation, adding a little bit more bow weight.
I’m pretty sure this will get rid of that little bounce. Your problem isn’t NEARLY as bad as mine was! If these three things don’t get rid of the problem, don’t worry. I have other tricks you can use.
Summarizing:
1) Straighten your downbow stroke by reaching your bow hand more out FRONT, especially as you get to the tip. (use a mirror alot)
2) Pull in slightly with your index finger on the downbow. (also push with pinky) BUT DO NOT START TO WRAP index finger around the bow.
3) Add five percent more bow weight by “pronating” your hand gently.
The big P word
Dear Lora,
My daughter has a new violin teacher, an elderly man who has been saying Pronate and a sustained sound.
Basically I think my daughter’s sound is not sustained when she bows towards the tip of the bow and this teacher’s ears are all pricked up to pick it up.
He teaches pronation (as I understand, bending of the wrist when you down bow towards the tip), and you also pronate by releasing the pinky.
Do you bow with a released pinky when you bow towards the tip of the bow?
It’s so difficult for my daughter and we are in despair. She finds it hard to release her pinky, having gone through 2 Suzuki books by playing with all fingers on the bow.
Add to this, she sometimes gets carried away in a song and forgets to pronate (bend wrist) and end up doing a “banana” ( as I read in one of your post) where the bow goes in a curve towards the fingerboard.
The teacher gave her some bowing exercises to release her pinky but her pinky just sticks for dear life to the bow. I researched and read that not every violinist releases their pinky, perhaps those with small hands find it helpful. Well, the thing is my daughter does have a shorter pinky like me, so I am willing to be a sport and ask my daughter to try out what the teacher preaches.
I will be thankful for whatever advice you have for us.
Lots of happiness to you
Cheers
Linda
Hi Lora
I think that in violin bowing, as long as you can avoid drawing a “banana” bow, you would have achieved the main objective.
It’s of no point to try and release your pinky if the little hand can’t have a good grip on the bow as a result.
I want to tell you something funny. One day, in a fit of frustration, my very temperamental daughter decided to play some long bow exercises with her body bent over forwards, head towards the ground. I can’t remember why she did that. But funnily, after drawing some bows, she recovered from her frustration and began to practise again. Strangely, she was able to bow very “straight” all through a quite long song, not a crooked banana bow.
I think I once searched the internet for some tips on straight bowing and believe I read some comments that experimenting to bow with the body bent over forwards can help you discover about straight bowing or what your arm is doing.
I didn’t remember more about the comment but my daughter’s moment of madness certainly helped her discover a little more about her bow, her arm or something.
I guess my bottom line is that sometimes we should let our kids “fool” or let off steam around and discover some things. I have certainly stood and watch in bewilderment at what my kid was up to for a couple of times and we then later realised something new and useful..
Sadly we are not your student yet for a couple of reasons. We really want to.
I really like your passion, enthusiasm, and your wonderful way of speaking soooo clearly beyond doubts.
Thank you so much
That is amazing. It’s like she had an instinct for finding a release, and in pressing the release button, her brain figured it out!
I think the bending forward you read about online was possibly a way to overcome the bouncy bow? Maybe it was also for pulling a straight bow, obviously, it triggered something in your daughter!
Yes, let her fool around and explore! You sound like you are a GREAT practice partner!
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