Controllers of the Right

Improving your bowing

We understand controllers — computer mouse, keyboard, remote controls, steering wheels, clutch and stickshift, rudders, video game controllers — gadgets that we have to coordinate in order to get something done. Those who are good at typing, computing, driving, video games, know how to efficiently use those controllers to get the desired results.

It’s kind of like that with playing the fiddle. We have controllers on our right arm and hand, and controllers on our left arm and hand. For the moment let’s talk about the controllers on the right.

In upcoming posts, we’ll go over some simple physical exercises to help your right hand and arm find good positions for itself with minimal effort. If any of the verbal descriptions below are confusing, look for the additional explanations and videos that will be posted here down the road.

You can think of each joint of the arm as a controller operating independently to carry out its job. Let’s start with the hand.

The primary controllers on our right hand are the forefinger/pointer and the pinky/little finger. The pinky is less important; it serves as a counterweight when playing close to the frog. If you can allow it to bend, it will allow your knuckles to remain close to the bowstick; a straight pinky pushes the rest of the fingers away from the stick, which yields less leverage and requires extra work.

The tip of the pinky is the only fingertip which should touch the bow. This allows it to counter the weight of the bow when needed. Most of the time, the pinky is unnecessary, and some fiddlers actually keep it lifted, though it’s more relaxed if you can let it sit on the stick, and can also provide extra stability for your bow. The reason we don’t want any other fingertips to touch the stick of the bow is because they are programmed to pick things up, by opposing the fingertip and the thumb. Any effort put into picking up the bow while playing is a waste — it’s like trying to lift the bow while also trying to push it down onto the string. We really want the strings to hold the bow up, not the hand. Can you imagine riding a bike while grabbing the handlebars daintily between fingertips and thumb instead of with your whole hand? You’d last two minutes. Any time we use a tool, we use the hand or palm for strength, not the fingertips. The same is true when bowing.

The forefinger is the most important controller of the bow. It is in charge of pressure and tone. It’s senses conditions on the string like your hands on the steering wheel of a car sense whether the road is icy or not, whether you’re in control or not. The forefinger can tell if pressure, sound, and momentum are working. It operates most efficiently from the base knuckle (closest to the hand), and doesn’t need any help from the rest of the hand or arm. Upper arm and chest muscles are too bulky to handle the agility of bowing.

A comment here about “body mapping.” Oftentimes, we don’t stop to understand the motion and positions our fingers (and other parts of our body!) are actually using. When the thumb-tip is supporting the bow from underneath, the forefinger will contact the bow on its side, not on the flat of the finger or on the fingertip. The strongest leverage for the side of the forefinger is at or near the first knuckle (one away from the base knuckle). It’s not helpful to let the forefinger contact the bow too close to the fingertip — the tip of the finger may be strong for pushing buttons straight on, it’s very weak when pushing on its side.

The forefinger’s job is to add or remove bow pressure on the string. Its focus is downward, toward the string. Keeping the fingertip away from the stick allows the forefinger to stick with its job more efficiently. Aiming for efficient “controllers” means getting the desired results more easily without getting tired when you play.

Our total sound is determined by the ratio of pressure vs speed. While the pressure is handled by the forefinger, speed is controlled one joint farther up the arm, in the wrist. The wrist leads the bow, pushing downbows away from you and pulling upbows toward you (sorry, French speakers, who refer to a downbow with the verb “tirer” — physically it really should be “pousser”!). The rest of the arm follows the lead of the wrist.

The wrist also keeps your bow straight. This is a natural action, as when you draw a straight line on a big piece of paper. Your wrist adjusts, allowing your fingers to push and pull that pencil down the paper and back up again. If the wrist is stiff, you won’t get a straight line on paper, and the same is true when drawing a bow across the strings.

The right wrist is like the handle of a paintbrush, while the fingers are like the bristles. The handle leads the way and the fingers follow, painting the rosin on smoothly for a good sound. Bowing with stiff fingers is like painting with a dried-out paintbrush. You might get away with some good color/sound in the middle of the stroke, but the edges will look/sound very rough. A good sound is produced when the ratio of bowspeed (controlled by the wrist) is matched by the right pressure (controlled by the forefinger). Experiment and notice the sound and feel of these controllers.

The next joint is the elbow. It’s “job” is to do virtually nothing! If the elbow takes on the notion of trying to draw the bow for you, it will stiffen up, work hard, and the result will be a sawing motion — the downbows will be pulled, just as you would if you were pulling on a rope or sawing a board. It makes for a rough and insensitive sound because the change of direction can’t be done smoothly; the “bristles” of our “paintbrush” are dried out. If the wrist is stiff, the bow moves in an arc originating at the elbow; if the elbow is stiff, the bow moves in even more of an arc, originating from the shoulder. This wastes a lot of energy, using big muscles in upper arm and chest. It also doesn’t sound good — when the bow moves in an arc instead of straight, the change of bow direction results in a slipping & scratching sound. Coax your wrist into doing the work of leading the bow, pushing the bow away from you for the downbow, and pulling it back up for the upbow. Let the elbow relax and serve as a loose hinge.

The next joint, the shoulder, allows the arm to lift or drop, helping you choose which string you’re playing on. With tiny adjustments, the shoulder can also choose the location of contact between bow and string between the bridge and fingerboard. Place the bow on the bridge, and then over the fingerboard, and go back and forth, taking note of the physical motion in your arm that traces back to the shoulder. Now place the bow halfway between bridge and fingerboard, and take a mental picture of how that feels as you try it in different parts of the bow. This is the feeling you want to hang onto. If your bow is next to the bridge, it needs less speed and more pressure to avoid a wispy and whistly sound. If the bow is close to the fingerboard, the string can’t take much pressure without scratching, so you’ll need to lighten up and maybe speed up the bow.

Did you know your arm has one more joint above the shoulder? Yup. It is located where your collarbone meets the sternum, at the base of your neck. This joint allows the shoulder to hunch up or drop down. The key thing to remember about this joint is: Don’t use it! There is never a reason to hunch the shoulder when playing the violin. Always relax this joint at the collarbone and keep your shoulder down in a relaxed position.

We are not always aware of how our body actually functions. Usually we let it do what comes “naturally,” but misunderstanding how the joints work can get in our way. If you hold a long stick it can seem natural to pull on it, as you would on a rope in a tug-of-war — but this is not a useful motion when playing with a violin bow. Pushing the bow away from you, as you would when pushing open a door, is also a natural motion, and is much more efficient for playing a downbow. So latching onto the first motion that seems to come “naturally” doesn’t always pan out.

Think through the independent jobs of the controllers of your right arm. It’ll sink into your awareness and help you play more efficiently, with better control and less fatigue.