How Much Muscle Power to Use in Violin or Viola Playing?

Written by Zlata Brouwer
Published: November 4, 2013 at 3:11 PM [UTC]

Do you have to be physically well trained to play the violin or viola?

Violin or viola playing (and especially violin) is learning to do less instead of to do more.

Lots of people tend to do more if the violin or viola is not doing what they want. This can work against them in many cases.

How can you play effortless? How much muscle power should you use?

Is this video useful to you? Please let me know in the comments!

Love,

Zlata

PS: Do you have questions for me on violin or viola playing? Post a comment below or send an e-mail to info@violinlounge.com

From Anne-Marie Proulx
Posted on November 5, 2013 at 1:50 PM

Hi Zlata, once again you're so right! In fact, nowadays it's very in style to be "beautiful" and "marketable" for soloists (thus many look quite athletic/sports people)

But if we just look at the masters of the past (which were just as good and some say batter than today. That's another debate...) they were not all health examples and the number who died of heart attacks or heart problems is pretty high! Yet, they played violin (even at middle age with health problems) as 20yo rockets. How can this be possible??? (lol) Perhpas for all the reasons you explained!

Cello and double bass are different but to play the violin, one really needs to use weight instead of strengh. Many teachers and books talk about that...

That's perhaps why when we become very angry, tense and frustrated at our playing, we actually start playing terrible! We really have to calm down and relax. Violin is no boxing round even though I feel some try to convey us this idea (i.e. very show off soloists on youtube, teachers who tell their student they should play more angry at x or y place...)

But the question is where does that weight come from? In my little experience from what I saw, read and experienced myself as a very slender person is that if there is any advantages to be very strong in violin playing, it's really that is provides an heavier bow arm which helps for equal and smooth tone as well as "big tone" when needed. But that weight could come from "fat", big bones or anything else too. Someone here told that his teacher made beginners play with their shoes in a platic bag hunged after their right arm. While that is quite funny, it might work, who knows!

Also, if one is very strong, one has a lot of chances to have big hands etc. to go with it. That is of a huge help for stretches, chords where you press two strings with 1 finger etc. and nice rounded vibratos.

So I really have to agree with you that muscle power isn't that important in violin but I think that strong people have nice "side effects" that can be very helpful for tham as violinists.

Nevertheless, for the people more on the weaker side (as me...), there still are amazing strategies to overcome (in a way) these challenges. (heavier bow, lower bridge, narrower neck etc.) It's not things that we think of as beginners but we can do so many things to adapt our violins to us if we are not a "natural" born violinist! In the non professional world, not many are perhaps... This is when all these stategies come in handy!

Nice blog,
Anne-Marie

From Zlata Brouwer
Posted on November 5, 2013 at 4:05 PM

Hi Anne-Marie,

Thanks for your response!

We all have different motoric skills and a different way of moving. Playing light and gentle can be very beautiful and playing strong and powerful can be very beautiful too.

It would be boring like hell if we would all have the same body and would all play exactly the same way, would it?

Everybody (amateur to pro) has his/her unique style of playing and everybody has strengths and weaknesses. The journey you make on your violin is to discover your own character and your own body and to express this (your uniqueness) on the violin. Then you are adding something of unique value, even though there are thousands (millions?) violinists in the world doing what they are good at.

From Anne-Marie Proulx
Posted on November 6, 2013 at 1:51 AM

Hi Zlata, I also agree with this!

Sorry if by "compensating" or "strategies" it sounded as if we should all play the same. I did not intended to say this but was rather talking about what can make the violin playing easier.
Maybe this is a whole other topic :)

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How Much Muscle Power to Use in Violin or Viola Playing?

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