Violin Lesson #11; Straight Bowing Techniques pt. 1

[scoot5940]

thank you! I do tend to lose it over the bridge or down the neck if I don't keep focused. will practice with techique. Felt with time would be automatic.But got some good advice here ty

[AtticusStount]

Before I start, I think these lessons are great. Now my problem: I did "get" the straight bowing thing, but have reverted to wonky bowing. How does this happen?

[cpman0012]

Great video I play the viola at my school and we are learning the bow straight

[pianomonica]

You are a gifted educator and explain things so beautifully .I am having my 12 year old son watch your videos, in an attempt to make the sounds he produces with his violin resemble something even just a little bit closer to music. If it works, you will be my hero for life. :)

[ricaard]

I love the eraser analogy! Thank you, Todd!

[aiayumi]

when i bow, the bow keeps on sliding instead of staying in one spot....is there a way to fix it?

[maryam0psy]

love u ... you make so much sense when u explain simple stuff...i love that

[TheAwesomeRecords]

Professor V-

I seem to be having trouble getting noise to come out of my instrument when i up-bow (i think thats what its called), it works fine when i bow down and i am keeping consistant pressure and angles and such, any thoughts?

[Hakkology]

Hello Prof. Ehle.

I'm learning violin new and i just got myself a teacher. What we did at first was to use all the bow at first, play a full note which is very difficult for my wrist and i'm still having difficulty with it. But now that i watched your videos, i know exactly how the motion has to be, thanks so much for it . Still i have difficulty with using the bow smoothly, making scratchy sounds but i think i'm getting it slowly :).

[Yokkasi]

Hola :) soy de Chile y aunque no entiendo muy bien el ingles pero tan solo con ver los videos puedo aprender mucho y mejorar en la tecnica :) millones de gracias

Dios le bendiga

[darius195]

I watched this video yesterday and already I have greatly improved. Thank you!

[violin50ish]

Mr. Ehle,

Thank you so much for your insightful and significant vids regarding playing the vioiln. After 6 months of private lessons, my teacher just informed me that i was bowing incorrectly. Why the heck did he not tell me this within the first month? After watcing your straight bow technic, I am beginning to correct the my bowing arm. Serioulsy, thank you. Makes sense now.

[methinksits]

you are so cool!thank you so much!!!

[Shelldall]

thank you, you are a really great teacher.

shelley

[NikitoZ1989]

P.S. to the 1) pulling the bow harder doesn't seem to be a solution of the trembling problem((((

[NikitoZ1989]

Hello, professor. Thank you for you videos again. I have several problems while playing:

1) when i'm bowing from the tip to the frog (up bowing), my bow goes well, but when bowing from the frog to the tip (even from the middle to the tip), bow starts trembling, like trying to jump on the string. I just can't get the physics of it, so I don't know how to solve the problem.

2) when playing at the frog, should I take the weight of the bow not to let it push the string too hard?

Please, Help

[mic4ever]

great teacher!

[RickTheViolinist]

Very good video I would recommend memorizing a small piece and playing it in front of a mirror while you watch in the mirror how straight your bow is. As with all things, this merely takes practice before your arm will do it automatically. Also, very rarely will it look straight from your point of view so having someone help you is good too.

[MILOnJALO]

My teacher says i have pretty bowing what is that supossed to mean ( i never really had a problem with my bowing) im just not in between the bridge and the finger board but yep thats the onlly problem i have :D

[anthonius19]

Dear Professor V,

How can I prevent my right hand from shaking when bowing? This is always my problem especially when bowing the E string :(

[99DannyMann99]

relax and do wrist excercises :) before playing

[verthius]

Dear Prof V,

my bowing is straight however, my teacher said that my bow is like a snake..

meaning, dat when changing up and down bow,

the bow placement on the string is different..

however, the bow position is straight. :(

[curzmg]

Should it feel as though I am locking my bow in a straight position (though still relaxed) or should it feel as though the bow is floating on the strings and I am just guiding it? I mean should it feel fairly tight on the strings or should I completely relax? Do I use the natural pressure of my hand and bow's weight or should I actually apply pressure from the bow to the strings? xXx

[Grobanite122549]

TY! This is my problem!

[PapalJazzExtras]

cool thanks so much!!!!!

[t0mred]

Many Thanks.

[amoradif]

You are a grate man professor V.

[20BlueJay09]

Hi Prof. Ehle, thanks for all the videos you uploaded. I'm trying to learn violin by myself since I have to access to a violin teacher. I hope I'm doing everything correctly.

Anyway, when bowing normally (say, just mp or mf not forte), do you have to put pressure on the bow or I just need to place the bow on top of the string?

Thanks!

[professorV]

Hi BlueJay, You do have to add "weight". If you look in my Playlists you will find four videos on tone production. Perhaps they will help you with this. TE

[20BlueJay09]

Thanks!

I'll do that.

It's just my 2nd day learning violin, by the way, but I already previewed your videos before while waiting for my violin.

Your videos are really really helpful!

Wish me luck, prof. V!

[kslnet]

Thank you! Great techniques, and I never heard the part about the back of the arm coming forward at the end of a down bow. Makes perfect sense.  I'm off to try it!

[junghyekwon]

professor thank you !

[lurrvepurple]

Damn, you're so good....I'm able to play the violin correctly now! Unlike to my previous Instructor!

[hforbess]

thanks. it helped me alot.

[yoyo8708]

wow! this explained everything, i m bowing staright now! ( s

[sudhep]

Professor, how is the sound if there is no chinrest?

Thank you.

[tnshii]

ohh! very good the lesson, realy i don't unterstand the english very well, but, i understand you! so thank you!!!!!!!

[killergirls]

Todd, you are a very good teacher.You use a simple approach to get the message across. keep up the good work sir!

[CandyTheKitty]

Wow, this has been quite helpful. Thank you for explaining a few things to me :)

[ARocker101]

This been really help, I use mirror sometime, see how my movment are.

[unitednerdsbeproud]

This is a major problem for me... this has really helped!!! Thank you so much!!!

[medatou]

You really have taught me a lot on the straight bows. I have had a crooked bow since I started violin until now, when you taught me how to keep it straight.

[protakarran]

i..i love it...this great , love..i want watch your other videos..i love you.

[BatesLine]

Wow! I love your videos on violin technique. Richard Fuchs was my teacher through high school and part of college BEFORE he left Fayetteville, AR. What a GREAT teacher - and inspiration. Now I have an 11 year old on his 2nd year of violin. It is great to have the videos teaching particular techniques. Great bonus in 1 month before concerts. THANK YOU. Straight bows and tone will keep us busy for a while. mmclassics

[professorV]

Hi, great to hear from another Fuchs student!

[brian777999]

My centre mounted chinrests arrived yesterday; Berber, flat Flesch, Zitsman and the Schulze-Priska. I have found that they alter the tone of the violins compared to the side mounted chinrests. Have you found this ? The violins sound quite different with centre mounted chinrests....not worse, just different.

[professorV]

Yes, they all do that! Try playing with no chinrest at all and your violin will also sound different.

[brian777999]

What sort of chin rest are you using on your violin ? Is that the centre mounted Zitsman ? I am thinking of getting one of those.

That is interesting about the suzuki follow through ; I am going to try that myself.

[professorV]

Brian, It's a Flesch model with the "hump". You can also buy the model without the hump.  TE

[anupamsircar]

Wow!!! It's such a great contribution you are making to learning and to mankind. I hope you will live long and be there for students like us even when you are 90!!!

Thanks for making a difference.

[jackeddemon]

u just own3d my orchstra teacher that has been teaching me for 7 years.

[Freakyboydude]

Sir my name is soharab n ur lessons are a great help for me!! i cant find any violin teacher near me so can i learn violin on my own as i have a strong desire to do so!! although i kno the basics of violin but i dont have much command on various techniques!!

[tbm25]

Professor, wold you show us how you do it playing the G string? I cant find to bow it right... :( Guess i have small arms.

[professorV]

Hi tbm25, If you really do have short arms you have a few of options: get a center-mounted chinrest (it makes it easier to reach the tip), change your bow hold by contacting the stick at the middle knuckle of the 1st finger (easier on the wrist at the tip - try it), letting the bow curve a little to the right at the tip (banana-shaped bowing!) or just not using the last few inches when on the G.

[professorV]

Also, make sure your violin is not too far to the left. Try keeping it over the left foot.

[professorV]

In the above, I said a center-mounted chinrest. The cup needs to be in the center, not just the clamps. The Carl Flesch model (with or without the hump) is this style.

[rcashlar]

Really helpful Todd! Thank you! I took up violin recently and I'm in grad school so I can only afford my Russion violin professor every other week and I can't always remember what she told me about different things. This helps trigger what she taught me so I can practice correctly until next lesson.

[professorV]

Hi rcashlar, Nice to hear from you. You should take a tape recorder to your lessons, it really helps. If you can't do that, try writing everything down as soon as you get home. I did that in grad school and have a written record of all my lessons. It really helped me (still does). Good luck to you! TE