Fun Bow Control Practice

Most people think that the more bow you use, the better you sound. Sometimes that's true, but often it causes more problems than it solves for young players. Eager students often use too much bow, and this can lead to coordination issues between the two hands and which results in sloppy playing.

 There are many tricks and practice techniques that we can use to help slow things down, but one of my favorites is the bow swap. As you can see in this picture of Jordan, he is playing his normal quarter size violin with a 1/32 size bow! He had a lot of fun going through many of his Suzuki songs, and with so much less bow to work with, he was forced to slow his bow speed way down. This slower bow speed allows for much greater bow control, which allows for cleaner coordination between the hands. Plus, it's a lot of fun! If you are having bow control issues, give this practice technique a shot!