Proper Violin Bow Arm Movement Prep Exercise for Violinists
Confused on proper violin bow arm movement? In this post, discover a simple exercise to get you crystal clear on proper violin bow arm movement. I call this exercise the magical genie.
Be sure to read How to Hold a Violin Bow Step by Step for Best Results before starting this exercise.
This violin bow arm movement prep exercise helps you actually bow correctly when you do bow on the violin.
Violin Bow Arm Movement Exercise
- Set up a proper bow hold and place the bow on your left shoulder with your right arm at a right angle. (Be sure to be wearing a sleeved shirt when you do this bow arm movement exercise because you don’t want the oil of your skin to get on the horsehair. Be sure that you’re horsehair is only touching your clothes and not your skin.)
- Check your bow hold that you have a bent thumb, middle and ring fingers are relaxed and can pet the frog. The index finger is also very relaxed and you have a nice curved pinky.
- Take your left hand put it on the bicep of your right arm. Both arms are now at right angles in front of you. This is why I call it magical genie because you look like a genie when you’re doing this.
- We are holding on to the right bicep with our left hand to be sure that it does not move as we bow. This right upper arm has to stay still. Bow down (pull the bow away from you) and then bow up (pushing the bow towards you.) Simply practice down and up bows on your shoulder while holding onto your right bicep. Once you are able to do this, you are ready for the next step.
- Apply rhythms to your magical genie. If you are familiar with the Twinkle rhythms, practice bowing Mississippi stop stop. Do about five of those. Feel really comfortable with that and then you could start doing the other rhythms, down titi up titi, ice-cream cone and the alligator alligator, however you want to call them with their with the names or the words that you put with them but that way you can practice your bow hold keeping the height of your elbow up and keeping your right upper arm still.
Have fun with your magical genie practicing that bow hold and bow arm movement without needing the violin!
Ready to learn violin with a step-by-step program? No more piecing together free info on the internet from some self-proclaimed internet famous violin teacher guru?
Within this 90-day program you will receive systematic video trainings and play-along videos covering violin hold, bow hold, first position playing, note reading, AND a super fun training of Bach for beginners. Packed full of education that will take you way beyond the 90 days.
BONUS COURSES: Music Literacy, How to Read Music, and more ($147). Because note-reading is an imperative part of the violin journey. This includes training videos on how to read music from the page, key signatures, dynamics, basic music theory, etc.
AND of course, all books from the Beginner Violin Bundle will be included which are: Rhythm Studies, Finger Adventures, Beginner Violin Scales, Scale Studies for Suzuki book 1, Notes on the violin, Bach Minuets Scales.
Learn violin in 90 days crash course bundle also includes my masterclass Mastering Fundamentals ($199) to help you set up your violin hold, bow hold, and how to practice intonation and muscle memory in first position using training videos and play-along videos with Finger Adventures.
Once enrolled you will be redirected to create a registration at the studio membership website if you haven’t already.
Happy Practicing
Trackbacks & Pingbacks
[…] Looking for direction on proper bow arm motion? Check out my proper bow arm motion blog post here. […]
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!