VIOLIN TECHNIQUE/VIOLA TECHNIQUE: Bow to Bow Arm

November 19, 2009 at 8:29 PM

“When you wrote "the arm is lower when higher" what did you mean?" R.M.

"BUT, relative to the imaginary line coming perpendicular off the side of the bow and projecting over and beyond the upper right arm, the arm is lower when higher—a dichotomy, of sorts. With the flat hair this perpendicular line barely clears over the arm." Drew — a quote from a November '08 blog “WEIGHT / WRIST”

Lower when higher:

"The arm is lower when higher" refers to the relationship of the right arm to the bow and floor.

The imaginary line is perpendicular to the side of the bow. With the flat hair, the right arm is closer to the imaginary line, whereas with tilted hair the line ascends proportionally more then the right arm. Thereby the arm is now further from the imaginary line—lower from the line even though it has also been raised a bit higher from the floor when rolling to the far side of the hair.

FLAT HAIR

Imaginary line:

The imaginary line that is perpendicular from the bow runs parallel to the floor when using a truly flat hair contact to the string—not pressed flat, but rather actually flat (100%) hair on the string (bow stick is vertically perpendicular to hair—no tilt). The imaginary line barely crosses over the upper right arm—some may prefer this imaginary line to pass through their arm, and that is fine. When the arm rises above the line, there is a loss of natural balance. The angles that allow for ease of weight applied to the bow are less advantageous and therefore the bow arm and hand will stress more easily causing undue tension through the joints and affecting the tonal results.

Thumb with flat hair:

With use of flat hair the thumb should not touch the hair since the bow is amazingly stable on its own—the right thumb is casually bent, as when the arm is simply hanging by our side while standing or walking with nothing in the hand.

SIDE HAIR

Imaginary line:

When playing variously on the side of the bow hair the imaginary line ascends dramatically above the upper right arm. This imaginary line remains perpendicular to the bow at all times, therefore it is now diagonal to the floor based on the angle of bow hair tilt.

Thumb with tilted hair:

To accomplish tilting the bow away from us, so that the stick is on the far side of the hair, roll the bow with the thumb and fingers. This will bring the bow hair and thumb nail in contact with each other, offering total stability to the bow—no need to squeeze so that the bow doesn't flip or slip.

When bringing the thumb in contact with the hair do not drop the wrist down. The thumb and fingers simply bend a bit more with the fingers feeling the sense of holding the far side of the bow a little bit extra. The exception to this is that the rolling of the bow will cause the 4th finger/pinky to be a bit more in contact with the 1st near-side facet of the stick down from the top facet—a good thing.

Important—Do not bend the right thumb sharply (90º) as this creates enormous tension. Try bending the right thumb 90º without the bow and you will immediately feel the tension referred to. Note how this tension travels immediately into the wrist and also across the hand and knuckles into the 4th finger/pinky.

Ease

Put the violin down, hold the tip of the bow in the left hand with the bow totally on its side while your right hand fingers cradle the bow and frog, draped and curled around to the floor side. Remove the right thumb, getting a feel for the ease and light weight of the bow in the fingers.

Hope this helps…

Take care and God bless,

Drew

Author of

"Violin Technique, the Manual"

"Viola Technique, the Manual"

”These two volumes offer a comprehensive practice methodology that addresses the full gamut of fundamental technical issues on the violin and viola;…these books certainly chart a course towards the acquisition of an in-depth technical understanding…whether used to build one from scratch or to hone individual aspects.”— the Strad, London, September 2008 www.thestrad.com

From Elinor Estepa
Posted on November 19, 2009 at 10:45 PM

This gets better and clearer!

Thnak's!

From Drew Lecher
Posted on November 22, 2009 at 2:51 PM

Delighted it helps, Elinor:-)

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