How’s your bow hold? It’s a simple question, but the answer isn’t always so clear. This week’s warm-up can help you answer that question. Better yet, it’s the gateway to some advanced off-the-string bowing techniques such as spicatto, ricochet, and sautillé. To top it off, the bow rebound takes just a couple of minutes, but it pays dividends throughout your entire practice session.
A couple of weeks ago, someone told me there were some problems with my bow hold. It was someone I respect quite a lot, so it really got me kind of upset. And it was true, when I checked the mirror or a video, my hand didn’t look like that textbook perfect picture bow hold.
So I spent the next week trying to fix things, trying to match that perfect model. And the result: it got me nowhere. Except needlessly frustrated.
You see, after a week of stressing out about it, I started looking more closely at other violinists bow holds, including some of the best in the world. And what I found, is what I already knew deep down inside.
There is no perfect bow hold. We are human beings, our bodies and hands can be vastly different. And beyond that, your bow hold can be situational: different music requires different things from your bow and your hand.
So the bottom line; there are some general guidelines, but bottom line: there is no one size fits all perfect bow hold. You only need to think about one simple question: is my bow hold serving me well?
And yes, there are some bow holds that won’t work for anyone. If you’re new to the violin, or even you’re an old pro, chances are you can benefit by optimizing some aspect of your bow hold.
This week’s warmup, the bow rebound actually works in two ways. First the bow gives you feedback about how your bow hold is working. Then, it enables you to make adjustments in real time so that you can.
Also, this warm-up gives you a great jump start on the spicatto or bouncing bow stroke, if you’re new to that.
Bow Rebound Warm-up Instructions:
- Establish a metronome beat of 70 ppm
- Set up a baseline bow rebound, with the most relaxed hand you can achieve, still controlling the bounce. Simply drop your bow 1 time per metronome click. Let the bow’s natural spring action create a rebound. Find the springiest part of your bow to make this work.
- Ask yourself: does this feel even and effortless? If not, check for a round, relaxed thumb and naturally spaced fingers in your hand.
Is your pinky in soft contact with the stick, going along for the ride? Is the bow contacting the string at the exact same place each time it rebounds? If not check that your index finger is gently contacting the stick, to offer that micro control. - Now we’re going to double up, bouncing two times per metronome click. No force is needed, just adjust the height of your bounce until you’re exactly 2x per beat, checking your thumb, fingers, index finger and pinky as above.
- Now 3x per click, 4x or 6x until you reach your absolute maximum speed of relaxed control and accuracy.
- Whatever maximum count you’ve reached, make a note of that. Now we simply going to drop and drag at your maximum count.
- It’s a tiny little down bow, and again we’re not forcing the bounce, just using the natural rebound action
- Once you’re comfortable with the down bow, you can also experiment with the up bow version. Have fun. Be relaxed and keep an eye on the even-ness and accuracy of contact point.
- Do this routine for a couple of minutes every time you warm up, and you’ll really learn how to find the perfect balance between control and relaxation in your bow hand. You can do the A string on Monday, D string Tuesday, and so forth, or if you have more time, do all four strings.