I stopped playing violin age 14. The lockdown does crazy things to people - at age 57 I picked it up again and have had some zoom lessons! My teacher despairs of my bowhold!! Going to practice your method and surprise my teacher at the weekend! Thank you!
OMG! I have tears in my eyes because this is the first time I truly understand how to hold my bow. Thank you so much! I'm sure this is going to make a huge difference in how I learn to play.
The only video I found that I can understand how to hold the bow! I loved when he said if you feel like you are going to drop the bow that is right lol that’s exactly what I was thinking at that moment and sometimes we need to hear the more basic things to understand something so sophisticated and beautiful
Thank you so much for this video! I have watched many bow hold videos and even been taught in person but I have never gotten it quite right until watching your video. It made an immediate difference to my sound quality!
@@melizmatea I think that's fantastic; good for you! It's a tough instrument, but stick to it - there is definitely a feeling of accomplishment when you see yourself progress. 😁
Oh thank you so much. I have a pinky finger that has been broken badly in the past, and this video showed me how to place it on the bow with minimal pain. I appreciate this a lot.
Hey Kennedy! I used to be a somewhat avid violin player starting at around 4 and through college... Half a decade later and I've unfortunately stopped playing nearly the amount I used to. Picking it back up and realized immediately my bow hold likely wasn't correct - thanks for your fantastic video!
I've been struggling a lot to fix my bow hold and I've watched so many tutorials on youtube yet none worked on me but this one did actually work!! Thank you so much!
I believed all of the videos I've seen so far where wrong because when I held it that way there was pressure on my pinky when holding the bow parallel to the floor. You're the only one who explains that this is correct and that the violin takes off this pressure when you actually use your bow. Thank you so much!!
I'm already a flautist but I decided I wanted to learn the violin (on my own until I find a teacher!). I've looked at many other videos but yours is very clear and helpful! Thanks a lot for your help!
Thank you so much. I took lessons 20 years ago, but abandoned the violin because I'm an idiot. My instructor showed me how to properly hold the bow but didn't explain _why_ to hold it that way, and so it was always a challenge for me. Nor did she give me bow exercises, which makes a big difference in muscle memory. I'm ready to try again, now that I'm semi-retired. Yeah, I'm old, but who cares. The violin is such a lovely instrument and brings joy to play it, no matter the age. 🎻♥
Thanks so much for the kind words and it's true, that sometimes you just need to hear the right thing. Of course, it helps to be older and wiser as well. I wish I could hear my old teachers again. It'd probably make a lot more sense. Happy Practicing!!
Thank you for your video! I never noticed that the bow is has flat sides like a pencil. Now it makes more sense to let the pinkie rest there. Correct bow hold is starting to set in. Also saying its a guide and not a hold made me more relaxed and not having a death grip.....😊 Best tutorial!!
Thank you, I've been playing the violin at a more advanced level and I just couldn't progress further. That's when I learned my bow hold, violin placement, and my left hand placement were all wrong. Feels horrible to restart from the beginning, teacher's in school never go into this
@@banjosforbreakfast6086 how about try to low your wrist a bit , sometimes wrist too high cause the pinky automatically straight and keep all the middle finger ring finger and pinky together no space , only leave space for index finger . Thumb and middle finger create a nice round circle. Please let me know if that helps
Thank you so much! I tried for years to keep my pinky bent, but as soon as the weight of the bow was leveraging aginst it the middle joint would just flatten out. It took less than a week with these exercises to fix my bow hold
Wwooowwww thanksss llooooottttttttttttttt I've been watching tons of yt vids on how to hold the bow, and none of them helped, but yoooouuuu,,,, YYOOUU'RRREEE MMMEEE SAAAVVIIOOUUURRR. Almost gave up on playing the violin, until i saw ur vid Edit: just corrected some spellings
Thanks so much for showing how to hold the bow right . Today I got so exhausted how to correct my students from bad bow hold they learned from previous teacher , their thumbs and pinky just go straight, they couldn’t bend 😢, it’s been couple weeks they are still going back to their bad habit bow hold , I even tried to let them hold the pencil for the easier effects , hopefully when I show them your video they will find a better way to fix their mistakes. Thanks again 😊
If you place the very tip of your pinky on the flat portion of the hexagonal shape of the bow, this will help a lot until you start to relax your pinky more. Some people use pinky helpers on their bow as well. Here is a link to one that is on Amazon but there are several types. I hope this helps! www.amazon.com/Blue-Set-StringsTM-Teaching-Accessory/dp/B002QAWNDE/ref=asc_df_B002QAWNDE/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312155612850&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=103950110954785208&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031533&hvtargid=pla-425974895693&psc=1
I’ve been learning for 2 weeks now. I almost give up since i can’t hold it properly at all. Thank you for this, i thought im just the only one who can’t hold it properly
Wow thank you so much! I nearly cried (nearly!) . You have made this so straightforward with your 3 steps! And your rationale behind bent thumb and bent pinkie. Thank you!
I really should’ve seen this video sooner cause i can’t help but straitening my thumb and if I bend my thumb then my pinky straightens so I’m glad that this video explains everything about why it’s happening and I wish I seen it before taking lessons
Thank you so much for posting this brilliant video! It is the best information and practical tuition regarding how to properly learn to hold the violin bow that I have ever heard or seen! I am returning to learning after having learnt to grade 5 as a child. I was never given this information especially regarding the bowing arm “being a guide”! Thank you again!
I'm so glad I watched this video before 'learning' the violin and making bad habits early! This made a world of different. Sadly I almost -always- wear wrist braces because of bad carpel tunnel so my hands/wrist are very weak and it's hard to hold the bow this way. I hope they get stronger from playing.
Thanks for the compliment! We got a bunch more videos as well. Just go to the Kennedy violins channel and search our videos you'll probably find what you're looking. If you don't, just let me know specifically what your question is and maybe I could do a video on it.
Excellent lesson ❤ Thank you! I’m getting my violin soon, and will start out as a beginner. This is the best explanation of how to hold the bow that I have seen so far! ❤
4:02 "every way in which you hold the bow is practically 100 percent counterintuitive" Indeed, everything about playing the violin is practically 100% counterintuitive! I can't imagine anyone being 100 percent self-taught at violin and becoming any good or having anything close to proper technique! And even with proper instruction it's still very challenging.
Thank you so much for your teaching, I totally agree with you, my daughter spent past 1 year 100 times more effort to change her bad habit of bow hold - which led to her tense shoulder and tense wrist and freeze body ...presently my son of 6 years old is freshly working hard on the bow hold after each lesson with his teacher . His hand is much better with bent thumb and bent pinky but still very tense and sharpy sometimes... Then while frustrating, last night I asked him to hold the bold with 3 fingers (thumb, index and middle as 3 leaders of the bow hold) first for some seconds and then add on the ring and pinky finger, it's much more relaxed and curved and round (but when his them index and middle fingers appear to be lazily not holding the bow...the pinky and ring finger will back to tense again...so keep reminding him - let the three fingers be responsible leaders in the process).. I hope I am helping him in some way .... Also, please may we ask for your good tips on relax the arm weight while exercising the bow? I myself play piano, I understand how the arm weight can all fall onto that finger tip pressing the piano note...Is that playing violin is the same? Relaxing your arm weight while moving the bow up and down and fall all the weight onto the point of string the bow is playing ... but how to help a small child to understand this arm relax concept and how to find the supporting point of all the weight. and What kind of exercise to help them to have the muscle memory. Do you sugget small children like my son to go straigh into playing a piece of the first pages or practice bow moving with no violin? Thank you in advance for your help. Many thanks, mum of two children.
Hello Enyu, thanks for the comment and it sounds like you are a very committed parent! Having a relaxed bow arm is an art and can take many years to perfect. Why a person has a tense arm can be for many reasons, so it's not really possible for me to diagnose here but as a general rule, tension often starts with large muscle groups and is passed down to other muscle groups. If his arm is tense, the biggest culprit is probably his shoulder. It is important that he never raises it while playing. If you see him "shrug" his shoulder while playing certain bowings, you will be able to see the tension start and then it's passed down to the forearm and eventually wrist and fingers. Practicing simple long bow strokes while keeping the shoulder down, will often help!
@@KennedyViolins Thank you for your prompt reply and have taken down your suggestions and will put into practice! All the best to your teaching!! Thank you again :)
Thank you so much for this video. My teacher always told us to tuck our thumbs in the little U shaped part of the frog and I had the tendency to bend my thumb backwards and my other fingers always slid up. It will be a hard habit to break!
Very professional. Informative. On point with any unnecessary ramblings and playing so common in tutorial videos Will be saving for future veiw for getting back to basics Keep up great work THANKS THUMPER
I stopped playing violin because my teacher was never giving me encouraging words always told me I'm bad and was always fat shaming me and 7 year old me was done with it. I looked at my violin one day and picked it up and I found this video very helpful because I'm taking lessons later this week and I wanted to be ahead and start early before class starts.
About a week ago, my class got to try out instruments to band or orchestra. I learned how to hold a bow, but I forgot. But the girl teaching me said "If you have a good grip, you can swing it around like this." Next year I'm gonna be in middle school! Yay
Could you please do this video again showing proper holding of the bow in the left hand? I am basically having to teach myself again after relearning much of lost motor skills, so I’m gonna start singing again. Many thanks for reading!
@kennedyviolins can you please make a video on everything vibrato? How to do it , best way to practice, how to hold the instrument while you vibrato so it doesn't feel like your gonna loose your hold on the neck or the violin doesn't feel like it's gonna fall off your shoulder. Thanks in advance ☺
I am left handed. Super newbie in learning violin. My hand also stiff. Wish me luck learning how to hold the bow 😂 Far way to go, not yet into notes and fingers position. Really hope that I can make it!
Oh wow I just got my violin from you guys. Got I different for someone else and would never stay in tune. But yours is very nice especially for a beginner like me. Stays in tune very good. But just stumbled upon this video haha. Still got a lot to learn but I think I’m picking it up haha
"If you hold the screw by the left hand" Me: wait.... left hand¿ wait, Is that why the neck rest is so uncomfortable¿ Edit: after 3 seconds I try to hold the violin with my right hand.... It wasnt pretty..... So therefore....... I hadth come to the conclusion... That 1) I'm hungry and i need some snickers 2) this is a right hand violin, if that exists anyways 3)my hands have scoliosis
I just rec'd my Kennedy violin which I got thru amazon and was delighted to see it was made in USA. When I was shopping for it online I couldn't find any indication as to where it was made. These guys should really broadcast that their instruments are made here. Anyway, regarding this video I have struggled with how to hold the bow and one of the reasons is the tutorials I find on RU-vid seem to be at odds with what I see when I observe professional violinists: Joe (or Joel) Kennedy in the above video says the pinky and the thumb should be bent but when I'm observing violinists they all seem to just let the pinky rest on the screw, with maybe a slight curve to it ( I can never get a good look at the thumb, so I don't know what's happening with that digit)
Okay so I had lessons for 1 year in 2016 but had to stop. I came back to playing the violin on my own this year (it’s been a bit more than a month now) and I noticed my right hand position was incorrect. I do remember my teacher taught me just like you did but now I can’t make my first finger stay on the first crease, it keeps sliding to the second one. Any tips?
Every hand is going to be different, so it won't be exactly like mine. However, this is a common challenge for many people. It's called overpronation. Generally, if you focus on making sure that your pinky is bent, this will automatically rebalance your hand so there was less emphasis on your index finger. If you practice placing your hand on the bow properly and then do the windshield wiper exercises, you will be able to feel the balance shift between your pinky and your index, and this will re-orientate how you expect your hand to feel on the bow. Ultimately, it's just a matter of practice and repetition to reprogram your mind. Hope this helps!
Hey, I’m practicing right now and I can control it better, but the bow is very bouncy, specially in the middle, and my wrist (on the outer side to be more specific) hurts after playing for just a few minutes. I don’t really remember if this happened when I took lessons, is it normal? It didn’t happen with my old bowhold
@@CerealForMe it's tension. You have to practice long bow strokes from the frog to the tip to learn to relax your pinky and your wrist etc. It just takes time but focus on relaxing your muscles; not only in your hand but you forearm, bicep shoulder, elbow as well. 😀
Kennedy Violins okay, thank you! I’m only doing half bows for now because that’s how my teacher used to teach me. When I finish my method I’ll begin full bows and fourth finger. But I’ll keep practicing and soon I should get used to it. Thank you so much for answering. I’m thinking of finding a new teacher but I’m not sure that’s possible because of my schedule. I have university classes every weekday during afternoon and night, not sure I’d be able to find someone who’d be willing to give me lessons in the morning, and I live in a small town
Thank you for this video. The bow hold has been my Achilles heel for so long. However, one of the key things I've never heard addressed in the countless videos I've watched about how to properly hold the bow is how does the size of a person's hand or the length of their fingers impact how an individual holds the bow. Can you address this please?
As a general rule, the shorter your fingers, the less they will wrap around the bow. This will be most obvious towards the pinky portion of your hand. Your pinky may not bend as much as a person with larger hands but flexibility is still very important! Also, your thumb may bend a bit less as well but it's also very important for it to be relaxed and not straight.
@@KennedyViolins Thank you so much for responding to my question. I actually put away the violin I bought to learn how to play, because I just couldn't get my hand/fingers to copy the examples I saw on how to hold the bow. However, I decided not to give up, and your video was the first I saw this time around. It helped me so much. Also, a video by A V Daniel helped my to accept my limitations and to find a bow hold which worked for me. I would like to say thank you again for your simple but important lesson on how to hold the bow, because without it, I think I would not be as far along in my second attempt at learning how to play the violin.
