HI, i haven't been around a while, uni work and stuff rather bogging me down, but i could really use some help with this.
I need to work on using my wrist and bowing from the elbow rather then the shoulder. My teacher's already given me some ideas, such as playing drones, putting a book under my arms, standing in doorways etc. things like that. I was just wondering if anyone has any other good tips for loosening up the wrist and playing less from the shoulder.
I have been struggling with my wrist lately as well. The best suggestion for me has been something that I think I read here recently. The right elbow should not move back and forth while you are bowing. It's OK for it to move up and down as you switch strings -- but for each string, there is a single position in which the right elbow should remain stationary. If you fix the right elbow in one place, then the only other degrees of freedom are your wrist and your grip. Assuming you have a reasonable grip on the bow, the wrist is all that remains.
I have found that as long as I keep my elbow stationary and maintain a good grip on the bow, that my wrist will "naturally" do the right thing if I allow it to loosen up. Although I find that I have to remain particularly vigilant about keeping my elbow stationary and also make sure I don't tense up my right shoulder.
Hope this helps. It's not a profound revelation or anything, but I don't have a teacher so I end up figuring out these things on my own, sometimes taking far too long to do so.
In 25+ years of teaching this stuff, I haven't been able to improve on the advice most Suzuki violin teachers use to help their students get a limber bow hand.
On down bows, bend your fingers so the knuckles make a little "range of mountains." On up bows, let the fingers drop and flatten out.
Nothing forced about either movement--stay relaxed and almost limp. The beauty of this is that your wrist will follow naturally, flexing up on up bows, and bending down on down bows. Play long, verfy slow bow strokes making mountains and letting them fall over and over till it starts to feel "normal." Watching in a mirror can help, but it's the *feel* is what you're really after.
For Irish music, us fiddlers tend to use a lot of fairly short bow strokes, so it also helps to practice the mountains/flattening motion in the middle of your bow, using just a couple of inches of hair for each stroke. Again, start slow.
A fluid bow motion is more about the fingers flexing than the wrist--you'll occasionally see fiddlers with overly wet-noodle wrists, and the extraneous motion isn't helping them any.
On the other hand, some fine fiddlers play with a fairly locked wrist (Mairead Mahoanaigh comes to mind). But I get tired just watching them play.
wrist action and the fiddle.
wrist action and the fiddle.
HI, i haven't been around a while, uni work and stuff rather bogging me down, but i could really use some help with this.
I need to work on using my wrist and bowing from the elbow rather then the shoulder. My teacher's already given me some ideas, such as playing drones, putting a book under my arms, standing in doorways etc. things like that. I was just wondering if anyone has any other good tips for loosening up the wrist and playing less from the shoulder.
Any help very much apprieciated.
Thanks.
# Posted on May 21st 2007 by velvet
Re: wrist action and the fiddle.
Play in front of a mirror.
Oh, and the doorway one is really good.
# Posted on May 21st 2007 by reenactor
Re: wrist action and the fiddle.
What is the door way one what do ye do
# Posted on May 21st 2007 by Irish Mandolin
Re: wrist action and the fiddle.
I have been struggling with my wrist lately as well. The best suggestion for me has been something that I think I read here recently. The right elbow should not move back and forth while you are bowing. It's OK for it to move up and down as you switch strings -- but for each string, there is a single position in which the right elbow should remain stationary. If you fix the right elbow in one place, then the only other degrees of freedom are your wrist and your grip. Assuming you have a reasonable grip on the bow, the wrist is all that remains.
I have found that as long as I keep my elbow stationary and maintain a good grip on the bow, that my wrist will "naturally" do the right thing if I allow it to loosen up. Although I find that I have to remain particularly vigilant about keeping my elbow stationary and also make sure I don't tense up my right shoulder.
Hope this helps. It's not a profound revelation or anything, but I don't have a teacher so I end up figuring out these things on my own, sometimes taking far too long to do so.
# Posted on May 21st 2007 by crazy_fingerz
Re: wrist action and the fiddle.
In 25+ years of teaching this stuff, I haven't been able to improve on the advice most Suzuki violin teachers use to help their students get a limber bow hand.
On down bows, bend your fingers so the knuckles make a little "range of mountains." On up bows, let the fingers drop and flatten out.
Nothing forced about either movement--stay relaxed and almost limp. The beauty of this is that your wrist will follow naturally, flexing up on up bows, and bending down on down bows. Play long, verfy slow bow strokes making mountains and letting them fall over and over till it starts to feel "normal." Watching in a mirror can help, but it's the *feel* is what you're really after.
For Irish music, us fiddlers tend to use a lot of fairly short bow strokes, so it also helps to practice the mountains/flattening motion in the middle of your bow, using just a couple of inches of hair for each stroke. Again, start slow.
A fluid bow motion is more about the fingers flexing than the wrist--you'll occasionally see fiddlers with overly wet-noodle wrists, and the extraneous motion isn't helping them any.
On the other hand, some fine fiddlers play with a fairly locked wrist (Mairead Mahoanaigh comes to mind). But I get tired just watching them play.
# Posted on May 21st 2007 by Will CPT