Bowing Epiphany

June 26, 2007 at 4:24 AM

Isn't it funny how sometimes it takes unconventional means to make a huge leap in technique? This has happened with my bowing recently. It may also have something to do with focusing only on this one aspect of my playing, and putting "playing pieces" aside for awhile.

My first focus was on my bow arm, especially after having that pain in the arm a few weeks ago that didn't want to go away. So, I decided to put my whole focus on bowing for a day. Set-up, look in the mirror, adjust. Put the bow down, set-up and again, less adjusting. Put the bow down again, set-up - no adjusting! Great, now play the first four notes of a C major scale, stop, look at bow hold, adjust, etc etc etc.

After an hour or so of doing this, it started feeling more natural. It was amazing how much more control I had of the bow and what I could make that bow do! A whole new realm of dynamics opened up, the sound much more clear and crisp. Wow! All of that in just re-arranging 5 fingers! Who would have thunk?

From Yixi Zhang
Posted on June 26, 2007 at 5:07 AM

I'm going to try this the comming weekend. Thanks for sharing your discovery!

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on June 27, 2007 at 3:11 AM

As a violin teacher, I'm constantly impressed that you can make a very big difference in how you sound by very small changes in your fingers, hand, wrist, etc. It's about very, very fine motor control. In many cases, there are manual patterns used in playing violin which are not used in any aspect of everyday life. This is why the violin is technically a difficult instrument to play. As a teacher, my challenge is to find that very small adjustment of the body that makes such a big difference in the violin's sound or the ease of playing.

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Bowing Epiphany

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