Bow Arm Movement & Direction | Violin Lessons

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Okay. Now, I would like to show you about bow direction, and bow arm movement.

In previous segments, we touched upon drawing the bow in open strings, and we said that it was very important to curl our fingers on the bow arm. And then we also said it was very important to stay in lane two, like this. But something else is very important, in order for the bow not to slide, you know, like this because that won't give you good sound.

The very important thing that you also have to think about, besides staying in lane two, is how your bow arm is moving down and how is it moving up. I like to think of it like this. When your bow is at the frog, you sort of make a little triangle with your arm, your body, and your instrument. And then when you pull the bow, and stop at the middle, you're making a square, four sides, right here. And then when you reach the tip, you are making a big triangle. So it's the small triangle to the square to the big triangle. And that will give you a beautiful straight bow as well as thinking about these other things. So here it is.

Okay. Those are the shapes of your arm that is important to know when you're doing bow direction. T

here's also something you need to think about, in terms of your elbow. Your elbow is going to pull back. And then, when you get to the middle, and then, it's going to pull forward, push forward when you get to the tip. When you go back to the middle on the up bow, your elbow is going to go back again. And then when you get to the frog, it's going to come forward.

All of these things work in conjunction with each other, but it is a good idea to practice all these step separately. And then you are comfortable with one, you can then add another, or do them all separately, and then sort of join them together. And this will help to get your beautiful sound.

And so that's my thoughts on bow division, and bow arm movement.