Straight bowing in violin
Teachers in music advise practicing violin with straight bowings. Is it really possible?
When you watch the great players of the last century, they kept the bow straight so that while playing at the tip of the bow, the right-hand moves away from the body.
In this century, most advanced players do not in fact bow straight!
By straight bowing, the principle is to keep your contact point of the bow and string at the same point at all parts of the full bow.
Methods to ensure straight bowing of the right arm are as follows:
1. Mirror practice - commonest method.
2. Commercial appliances on the violin to keep bowing between a narrow area through which the bow is forced to be straight. w.
3. Looking at the distance between the bridge and trying to keep the bow parallel to it.
4. Looking at the bridge with the left eye from a height above and angled from the left, the view is not parallel. So I nowadays watch the contact point at practice keeping it constant.
5. Another way is to ensure the arm ( above the elbow) does not move for the lower half of the bow; the elbow opens up like a pocket knife ( at the elbow joint) for the upper half of the bow.
6. Hand pronation is useful while at the tip of the bow to keep it straight (good tone too)
7. Practicing leaning against a wall is sometimes useful (to prevent excessive backward movement of the arm).
I feel that absolute straight bowing is not always possible. A bit of rounding happens at the tip.
By straight bowing, the principle is to keep your contact point of the bow and string at the same point at all parts of the full bow.
Methods to ensure straight bowing of the right arm are as follows:
1. Mirror practice - commonest method.
There are 2 components to it. A long mirror with an end-on frontal view of the player shows the right elbow to the string. This helps to keep the alignment of the bow to the string being played on.
The side profile view on the mirror is the one that really shows the straight bowing of the right arm. But this is difficult to see in the mirror when one is playing from the notes. Long slow bowing, possibly scales may help in this profile view of the right arm.
2. Commercial appliances on the violin to keep bowing between a narrow area through which the bow is forced to be straight. w.
3. Looking at the distance between the bridge and trying to keep the bow parallel to it.
4. Looking at the bridge with the left eye from a height above and angled from the left, the view is not parallel. So I nowadays watch the contact point at practice keeping it constant.
5. Another way is to ensure the arm ( above the elbow) does not move for the lower half of the bow; the elbow opens up like a pocket knife ( at the elbow joint) for the upper half of the bow.
6. Hand pronation is useful while at the tip of the bow to keep it straight (good tone too)
7. Practicing leaning against a wall is sometimes useful (to prevent excessive backward movement of the arm).
HAPPY STRAIGHT BOWING!
