Are these bowing myths holding you back from playing the violin beautifully?

Let’s reveal some strange stories that go around amongst violin players and even violin teachers

Violin Bowing Myth 1: Strict Bow Hold

Some people are really strict on how you should hold your bow. However, you’ll quickly notice that different soloists play with very different bow holds. What really matters is the bow movement: how your fingers move along with the straight line of the bow and do they interfere with the resonance of the bow or not.

A bow hold can look the same, but you can do it totally wrong and sabotage the resonance in your violin and bow.

Violin Bowing Myth 2: Play Everything Whole Bow

Oops, that’s such a bad habit! It’s terrible to listen to a violinist playing everything whole bow and it really gets in the way with expressing what you want to say with your music. Save bow to create a sound with core and use appropriate bow division for the piece your are playing.

Violin Bowing Myth 3: Bow Straight

Of course learning to bow straight is very good for your violin playing and makes you able to stay at the same sounding point on the string and create a regular sound. However at the extreme tip, certainly if you have short arms, it sometimes sounds better to smoothen your bow change by not bowing completely straight. In the video I demonstrate what I mean.

Violin Bowing Myth 4: to Pivot or Not to Pivot your Bow

Some violin players pivot the bow all the time and others never pivot their bow. When used consciously, pivoting the bow can help you bow with a regular sound and create beautiful dynamics.

Violin Bowing Myth 5: Good Bowing Technique and Creating a Beautiful Tone will come Naturally with a Lot of Practice

bow like a proNO! Bowing technique and tone creation are not a matter of ‘talent’ or ‘just practicing more’. They are learnable skills, but you need someone to tell you HOW to do it EXACTLY (not just demonstrate) and also how to PRACTICE it, so YOU can do it to.

That’s exactly what I teach in my online masterclass program ‘Bow like a pro’. Click here to check it out!