I`m haveing trouble keeping the bow straight. It seems akward
when i try to keep it straight. If i just relax my arm and bow it just slides to the side.

Any tips?

thx

i used to watch myself play in front of a mirror for the start of my practice everyday. then i used to see if i could keep the bow straight without looking. it also helps with posture n keeping the bow off the bridge as well. hope this helps because it helped me loads

Hi

When my children first started their lessons, their teacher told them to put a short plastic straw into the F-holes (secured by blu-tack) everytime when they practised. The straw really stopped their bow going side-way. When they removed the straw a month later, their bow movement and position obviously improved. Besides, playing in front of a mirror is a very effective method to correct any mistakes.

Ask your teacher for advice is another way to resolve the problem. Good luck

Thanks for the replies.
I do play in front of the mirror and try as hard as i can to keep the bow straight. But no matter how hard i try most of the time is slides sideways or the bow turns and is not parallel to the bridge.

COuld you please explain more about how the straws were placed in the F-Holes. This method could be effective.

Also my teacher told my that when bowing near the frog i should adjust my wrist so it bends in close to a 80 degree angle so the bow is straight. This feels very awkward, does everyone else play like this?

Thanks

ALso jsut to be more clear I can keep the bow between the bridge and the fingerboard buut cannot keep the bow parallel and straight bowing up and down.

As someone said above, play in front of a mirror. It really helped me improve in a number of ways in my playing, especially since half the time I didn`t even realize that I was doing something wrong.

Hi Bonzi

Find a soft drink straw (get a thin one) and cut it to about 4 inches long. Insert it into the tip of the f hole (the side closer to the ground). Part of the straw (about 1 and a half inches) will now go inside the violin but the rest will sit upright outside the hole. Now use a little bit of blu-tack to adhere the straw to the surface of the hole to make it stable.

Because a straw is erect in the tip of the f- hole, it will block the bow from sliding away but only guide it moving up and down straight across the strings.

I hope this little trick can help.

Bonzi,
I also use a mirror almost everytime I practice for just a while. Improvement is slow but steady. You asked about bending the wrists. The idea is to lead with the wrist, not your fingers. In other words as you bow up, your wrist should approach your nose and your fingers will be lagging behind. You`ll also find you have to move you upper arm as you approach the bow, but then it should be stationary afer you get almost halfway on the down bow.

I hate it when my bow slides, happened a little bit during my grade, but I played well.

What I do when it really gets bad is just play 1 simple note for a while, keeping the bow from sliding. D or A is best. For me anyway, don`t know why. Then string some togather, more and more notes every time. When you`re sure you`re doing well, play the piece you were attempting.

I spent half a week just doing that. Forgot to actually Play the music. But it was really improved as I could play without the bow sliding.

hi these tips are great but doesn`t work for me =(
i tried the mirror tip but doesn`t seem to help and i really want to try the straw tip but i play the electric violin and i don`t have f holes. my violin is shapped weird also

any suggestions ?

thanks

The straws, or something similar, would propbably help by "forcing" you to bow straight, but I think it is important for older students to also understand intellectually how to bow straight.

Forcing isn`t a good word, I know that they are just there to guide your bow, so that you learn how to use your arm and wrist muscles properly to draw a straight bow. It can just help if you know in your head what you`re doing as well.

The arm and wrist move in contrary circles. The arm draws the bow across the strings. Try moving the bow, keeping your wrist in a completely straight line with your arm. It definitely does not move parallel to the bridge. It is your wrist that keeps the bow straight, conteracting this crooked movement.

Here are two exercises you can do to help your straight bowing:

1. Bow shapes.
First, set your bow on the string, at the middle of your bow. Check that it is parallel to the bridge. Start with the A string. There should be an equal distance from the bridge to your bow on the E and D strings on either side of it. If you are exactly in the middle of your bow, the bow, the violin, your lower arm and your upper arm will make a square shape.

Now bow to the tip of your bow. Is it still parallel to the bridge? At this point your bow, arm, and violin will make a large traingle shape. Move back to the middle.

Move the bow to the frog. This involves more wrist action, so lead with your wrist and listen to your teacher! Your elbow also moves in and up. Your lower arm, upper arm and violin form a small triangle at the frog.

Go back to the middle. Your elbow moves away and down, and then your wrist moves, leading your hand.

Practice going from shape to shape, checking if the bow is still straight at each one. Move the bow slowly, trying to keep it at the exact same angle and distance from the bridge at all times.


2. The Aeroplane Game
This is for practicing whole bows. Start at the frog. Pretend that your bow is an aeroplane that has to go all the way down the runway (to the tip of the bow) to take off. If it doesn`t stay straight it will crash. Bow all the way to the tip, lift the bow in a big circle and touch down again at the frog. Practice this four or five times. Your bow should keep moving from when you start at the frog untill it touches down again at the same place.

The wind switches directions and your must start at the tip and go to the frog. Practice four-five times.

Now there is a storm so bad that your plane can`t take off at all. Just go back and forth on the runway (no lifting off).


*mirror practice is also a great idea. Practice in a position where you can clearly see your bow arm and if your bow is parallel to the bridge. I usually stand sideways when watching my bowing, so that my bow moves straight towards the mirror.

Keep trying, and I hope these things are usefull to you!

Wonderful explaination and ideas, Alexandra.. and everyone!
If it helps you to "see" it... this web page may be helpful:
http://tinyurl.com/5lkrp
While you watch... picture yourself doing the same things that the student in the video do. They practice it a bit without your instrument... then finally with the instrument. A lot of the direction and position things are teaching our arms and fingers what they need to do.
(There is another page on the web where there are video examples.. but I couldn`t find it. Will keep looking. The above seems to be a very good one though.)
Keep at it!
Katie
www.folkfiddle.com