What Mr. Cowling knew in 1907 could help your violin playing today.

September 2, 2011 at 9:00 PM

Some of you may remember a regimen of hand strengthening exercises for violinists [and other instrumentalists] entitled THE COWLING SYSTEM. I'm a guitarist and pianist who found out about it in the '70's [Actually it was being promoted rather heavily, so it was hard to miss.] I've latterly found out that it dates from the early 1900's!

"Back in the day", the System's promotion promised all sorts of astounding benefits to one's playing, so astounding that many discounted the 'hype' and passed it by.

They shouldn't have.

Notwithstanding all of that. It does turn out that the Cowling System - ALONG WITH ONE'S USUAL PRACTICE - can and does act as a "booster" to ones progress, in that it discovers and isolates hidden, and not-so-hidden faults or weaknesses in the tendons and muscles and remedies them surprisingly rapidly. It does NOT 'replace' practice, but it DOES allow one to practice longer and with greater effectiveness that merely driving oneself mad with scales and Hanons, etc. ad nauseum.

It's available in ebook and hardcopy form -- this link displays both.. have a look and let me know how you do with this..

http://www.make-music-better.com/handengthening-exercises-5.html

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