15 Responses
Posted: January 18, 2013
Last Comment: January 25, 2013

Good to know, Lily. 

TOLynn, nice practice technique! Where the bow around  like Captain Hook's hook.

Daniel,

Here is a bit more info that may help with the bow bouncing. Let me know if it helps or confuses.

HI Daniel,  all seems to be well with your bow. I'll be shooting a video this week that I hope will help.  Stay tuned...

Here is the video of my bow as you requested beth. Thank you all for all of your tips and suggestions!

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for posting video! It's always so informative to see what's going on. Just a few quick things before I have to leave for a gig. I will address your bow arm in more depth with a video on Tuesday, but it looks like your bow may either be too tight or warped. I couldn't  get a good enough look, but your bow may be contributing to the bounce. Would you mind making another short video showing me your bow from different angles, tightened exactly as you are used to tightening it?  When you play, the bow hair is too tilted. You can almost hear the stick. I'm not sure if it's you, or if there is too much tension on the bow hair from being over tightened such that the hair flips to it's side. You don't look to have too much tension in your bow hand and arm. I have some suggestions, but I'd like to make a video because there is something about the shoulder I'd like to demo. 

Hi, Daniel, & welcome!

I tried to watch your video, but youtube tells me it is currently unavailable. Did you maybe make it private, instead of unlisted?

In any case, welcome, & happy playing!

(& about bounce -- maybe this will help, maybe not. If you actually "hold" the bow -- that's to say, hold it up, it will bounce. Let your arm and hand relax, and gently guide the bow, and the bounce will stop. Works for me, anyway ;-D)

I took this video a few days ago. any comments are welcome. the two things that glare at me are my bow hold and intonation.

Daniel, if after all this wonderful advise, you still are having trouble, please post a video. Sometimes the issue is very obvious. And if it isn't we'll keep troubleshooting. My favorite thing to do is to solve a particularly troublesome problem in hopes that I think of something I haven't yet thought of.

More bow speed.

Welcome aboard !..If you mean 'bounce' as in hopping up and down--try a twist or two more on the hair tension, I find if the hair will touch the stick by putting a little pressure on it ...one finger pressure like you're pressing on a cake...it may be too soft......if you mean ''sliding''along, might need a little more rosin......or straighten bow to cross string at closer to 90*...bows can slip down string if at an angle, because arm isn't aiming at right-angles to strings...??.....the muscle tension is real too....So , relax, and schedule a show for july 4th !!!!

Hi Daniel.  Yes.......,welcome to VL and the world of the violin...it's fun.  One thing that I found when I was first starting out playing long, slow bows on the G string was that I did not have my right elbow up hi enough with the level of the string being played on.  When your elbow is hanging down it can add extra weight to the bow and the stroke and that extra weight can cause the bow to bounce.  I have had it explained to me early on that the strings on are different planes and that the shoulder joint needs to make the moves so that the right arm, from the elbow to the fingers is on a straight line and therefore  is on the correct plane with the string...I hope that makes sense.  So for example, when your bowing on the E string your arm is more down by your side, but when your playing on the G string your whole right arm needs to be elevated. The rt.  forearm, wrist and hand for the bow hold need to be in a straight line level to each other ...the elbow needs to be level in line with this as well....no drooping  :>)
When the bow is moving slowing with too much pressure...the bow can have a tendency to bounce. Stay tuned. Diane in SoCal

Thank you. This was incredibly helpful. My only issue with this is that my hands are very calloused and as a result i feel that some of the natural adhesion has been lost. After some extensive practice with this I will let you know if it is just in my head. Thank you again.

Check out this VIDEO
In my case, bow bounce has always been due to tension.  It has taken forever but I've finally gotten to the point that if it starts to happen, rather than trying to gain more control, I try to feel where I might have tension, and relax.