Paper tube for bow practise

October 15, 2011 at 03:18 PM ·

My teacher had me do that recently.  Not sure if it could hurt your bow but rather than use my old cheap bow or his good bow he got out his old bow with hardly any hair so it might hurt the hair on yours.

Julie

October 16, 2011 at 01:41 PM ·

I may not be visualizing this completely, but I'm not getting the point of this exercise. Why not just practice normally, using a practice mute if necessary?

October 16, 2011 at 05:04 PM ·

Bow hair can always be replaced so if you' re really into the idea of this kind of practicing - know that you'll be getting a re-hair when you need it.

I've done this same exercise myself but with my mind. I would imagine a pvc pipe the length of the bow and practice as if the bow were in the tube.

Another silent exercise I do with students requires 2 people. If you can figure out how to do it on your own...   What I do is hold the bow so that it's on the A string at the tip. One of my hands is holding the bow at the tip and the other hand holds the bow at the frog. The student then puts a cloth on the stick of the bow and drapes their fingers (no thumb) over the cloth and stick. Then the student "shines" the bow stick with the cloth while I'm holding it straight so that they can feel the path their arm has to go to play with a straight bow.

Learning to play with a straight bow is important and for many people can be problematic. Oftentimes when I'm helping someone with this I'll actually ignore the bow and check out the angle of the violin on the shoulder. A straight bow can be achieved a lot easier if the violin angle isn't too far out to the left.

Happy Practicing (in your office during lunch!)

Smiles! Diane