This is a fascinating and neglected topic! For keeping a straight bow using proprioception, I picked up a useful tip from the wonderful cello teacher Margaret Rowell. When the bow is straight, there is a very particular feeling in the bow-hand that the hair is stable on the string. Rowell visualised it as the hair being Velcroed to the string. It's easier to feel than to describe! When I have this sense, the bow is straight. I find that this applies 100%. I don't have to think explicitly about the intricate details of bow-arm mechanics - I just have to focus on retaining that feeling and the body finds the way automatically. You can extend this type of proprioceptive visualisation to most elements of technique. Basically, you get a sense of what it feels like when you are playing well. You give that feeling a simple visualisation you can use to remind yourself of that feeling. Then you simply experiment till that feeling is achieved and sustained. Gradually, the body finds its way to that feeling more and more often till it becomes automatic.
I am very pleased to follow this channel and I am grateful to Prof Bushkova for sharing these valuable insights. Coincidentally, keeping a straight bow (when not looking) is one of the issues I have and admittedly I haven't been investing enough on improving it. But it really affetcs many other aspects of playing. Plus, it really looks "bad" from an aesthetic PoV . I remember in the last Live Q&A -- which I also recommend people to watch -- someone was asking what proprioception is. So clearly there is the need to talk about this subject. Thank you very much!
Literally explain this exact thing to my students all the time in terms of creating the feeling in the body being the key to good intonation and the importance of practicing intonation with the eyes closed. I didn't know about the added benefits of touch, though, and need to learn more about it. I'll try the idea with "air playing" to see how my students are doing with the bow. Too many of them struggle with this (as do I, still, in my own way). Thank you for the video!
Hello Dear Great Julia . I follow yours lessons with infinite passion and enjoinment . Thank you so much immensely. I hope One day have you guest here in Perugia . I play violin by my hears I love very much the violin
Dynamite interview! Thank you. And it chimes with some things I've noticed, too. So - let's all try looking/not-looking, etc. And don't try to learn something too hard, too quickly! (I actually learned conducting by doing a lot of work with closed eyes (instead of with a mirror) because I reasoned that when you conduct for real, you can't look at our hands, only the orchestra! And I realised that my proprioception was not good. So I think it can be learned.)
I added another important one a couple of years back, transception, perception of the intangible, in this case true empathy, extending through 3rd sector medicine into the numinous.
Proprioception not only helps in keeping the bow straight. It can help train basically every motion. I'm learning the vibrato (from your 17 minute video :)) and I'm trying to replicate the knocking motion on the violin with my eyes closed. And it helps to make sure that the motion is exactly a relaxed knocking motion.
I wish you would do a video with a back or shoulder physical therapist specialist or something for that region of the body. I am an adult beginner (3.5 yr player) and I am having left shoulder (behind the back blade) and back in this area pain severely. The pain has always been there, but it's getting worse to where I am now unable to lift things in my day to day life. In fact, I can't play this week because of it. I notice my muscle will burn back there if I play around the 1 hr mark or beyond. I have tried different height shoulder rests, but to no avail. I am considering a very expensive Dolfinos shoulder rest system hoping that it will train me to get rid of any tension in my back and shoulder. I'm not sure what is causing the tension because I do not have tense hands. The tension is coming from back there under the shoulder blade, but I do not know why I'm doing it.
consider learning to play with no support at all (neither chin rest nor shoulder rest) as it was usual in the baroque era, while keeping a perfectly straight back and watching in front of you, the violin being on the side. This solved all my back problems while playing. Initially, the left hand technique will appear way more difficult, especially shifting, but it is learnable. A baroque violin teacher could teach you this position, even if you don't want to switch to baroque violin in general.
We must have rather strong back muscles. It is not enough to look for the right shoulder support if the back muscles do not function properly. In addition, learning to play without the shoulder support - at least in a very rudimentary way - may help to address the issue of static contraction. Static contraction is the worst problem leading to pain.
