Online Learning

Violin Basics: Setting the Bow Hand

In this video I show how to properly set the bow hand for the violin. The style of bow hand I teach is the Franco Belgian style. I provide instruction for parents to set their child's bow hand, and for older students to set it for themselves.

It is important to keep the bow vertical for absolute beginners. If the bow is leaning at an angle, the forces acting on the hand will lead to habits of tension. It is also important to not touch the bow hair, as the natural oils from your fingers will rub off on the hair and affect the sound.

We want to use the minimum amount of effort and strength necessary to keep the bow in our hand. This is why I try to avoid calling it the bow hold or the bow grip, as these words bring to mind the idea of tension. To stay relaxed all fingers should be curved, and the hand should be round.

Tuning Your Violin By Ear:
Beginner to Advanced Methods

Today I want to talk about tuning your violin. Tuning is not only essential to setting yourself up to play, but it also improves your ear. In a way you, tune your brain as you tune your instrument. I cover methods for the beginner student, as well as the more pro-level method by listening deeply to the the perfect fifth interval for the intermediate to advanced student. For beginners, I recommend using a reference pitch for each string,. After some practice you will begin to be able to gauge the pitch relationship between two adjacent strings, and dial in that perfect fifth using only one reference pitch. For more advanced students, You will learn to play a double stop, with one string being known to be in tune and the other the string you are tuning. Over time you will train your ear to hear the beating frequency, and by smoothing this out through adjusting the string’s pitch, you will finely tune your instrument.

I hope you find this video effective in improving your tuning ability! Reach out to me if you’d like to cover this and many other topics through private violin instruction.