Week 5:

Holding the Bow & Quarter Notes

Holding the bow is one of the most challenging parts of playing a stringed instrument. Many teachers hold off on teaching the bow until January or February just because of the difficult nature of the bow. We choose to wait to learn "real songs" until we can properly play with a good bow hold, because playing with the bow is the sound our students really want to hear. The trade-off is we spend a couple extra weeks playing just open strings. Below, review first how to hold your bow and the bow hold exercises. Then, Mr. Williams will show you how to practice Pg. 15 in your String Basics Book.

Preparing a Bow

Violin & Viola Bow Hold & Exercises

`Cello Bow Hold & Exercises

Bass Bow Hold & Exercises

SB Pg. 15 - Quarter Notes

Preparing a Bow

Mr. Williams talks about how to tighten your bow and apply rosining to your horsehair. Make sure you do not touch your horsehair to prevent ruining your horsehair with the oil on your skin.

Violin & Viola Bow Hold & Exercises

Thumb on the Tip

Place your thumb tip in front of the frog. Keep your thumb curved.

First on the Grip

Lean the first finger over, touching the side of your knuckle to the middle of the bow grip.

Middle on the Frog

Place the pad of your middle 2 fingers over the stick and rest them in the middle of the frog.

Pinky on the Log

Place your pinky tip on the end of the stick (not the screw). Keep your pinky curved.

Put it all together

Mr. Williams walks you through the 4 step process seen above.

Bow Exercises

Practice these 4 bow exercises every day for the first 8 weeks of playing with your bow. They help your muscles to develop and strengthen to make this awkward feeling bow hold more natural and fluent.

Windshield Wipers
Elevator
Spider Crawl
Pinky Push-ups

`Cello Bow Hold & Exercises

Thumb on the Tip

Place your thumb tip in front of the frog. Keep your thumb curved.

Connect the Dots

Connect the ring finger dot to the thumb dot. The dot's won't actually touch since the bow stick is in the way, but they should be in line with each other.

Flop the Fingers

Flop the remaining fingers over the bow stick. The fingers should rest on the bow lines on the first, middle, and pinky fingers.

Turn the Bow Up

Once you've created your bow hold, turn the bow stick, tip up to reduce the bow weight on your pinky, preventing the pinky from failing. When you do this, check that your thumb is also still curved.

Put it All Together

Mr. Williams shows you how to put together the 4 above steps to create your `cello bow hold.

Bow Exercises (`Cello)

Practice these 3 bow exercises every day for the first 8 weeks of playing with your bow. They help your muscles to develop and strengthen to make this awkward feeling bow hold more natural and fluent.

Half Windshield Wiper
Elevator
The Lasso

Bass Bow Hold & Exercises

Professor Sharp shows you how to hold the German Bow Hold and several warmup exercises to get comfortable holding your bow.

SB Pg. 15 - Quarter Notes

In this video we look at how to practice bowing on your instrument, first starting on each open string. Once we get the motion down, we move over to reading music.

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