Guide To Archery

Bow Drop

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How do you hold the cello bow hold? I have so much trouble?

I just picked up the cello and I can never seem to hold the Bow Right. I know that your thumb has to go half way in that hole thing and then your middle finger is opposite and also with the other fingers,it is wrapped around but I can never seem to hold my last finger on the thing like it keeps on dropping

This is one of the trickiest parts of teaching cello in my opinion. Just realize this. Your hand will NOT look like your teacher's hand. Each is made differently and therefore spacing and bow hold will be slightly different.

I like to teach bowhold like this: pretend your dipping your hand into a bucket of water and bring your hand up, letting it hang so the water drips off the ends of your fingers. Study how your fingers are spaced and how your hand is shaped. This is how your fingers shoulder be spaced on the bow!

Then place the bow on the D or G strings and hold it with your Left Hand so that your Right Hand does no work. I would then drape the fingers just as they are, "dripping water" over the bow to see where they lie. Try to line up the first finger with the leather. That is your natural hand spacing on the bow. Remember how curved your thumb is from dipping it in the water? That's how curved it should remain. We want the thumb to have flexibility to straighten and bend when drawing the bow. I would then bring the thumb to where the end of the frog meets the bow without altering the curve of the thumb.

When you practice, redo this process every few minutes. Its the only way to really make sure it becomes ingrained. I dislike the processes that tell you to make loops with your fingers because it creates immediate tension and way too much curvature in the thumb in my opinion. As cellists we have to learn how to transfer a lot of pressure and weight from our back and arms to the string and its important the hand is a flexible relaxed conductor of that.

Good luck! If I can I'll try to put some pictures up of my bowhand for you.

~Lisa

Edit: In response to Del, the pinkie is vital while playing at the frog! It is the counterbalance for the natural weight of the bow. You should actually try to play wtihout it at the frog and watch as it tilts out of your grasp....! Yes, the pinkie is an important little finger.

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How do you hold the cello bow hold? I have so much trouble?

I just picked up the cello and I can never seem to hold the bow right. I know that your thumb has to go half way in that hole thing and then your middle finger is opposite and also with the other fingers,it is wrapped around but I can never seem to hold my last finger on the thing like it keeps on dropping

This is one of the trickiest parts of teaching cello in my opinion. Just realize this. Your hand will NOT look like your teacher's hand. Each is made differently and therefore spacing and bow hold will be slightly different.

I like to teach bowhold like this: pretend your dipping your hand into a bucket of water and bring your hand up, letting it hang so the water drips off the ends of your fingers. Study how your fingers are spaced and how your hand is shaped. This is how your fingers shoulder be spaced on the bow!

Then place the bow on the D or G strings and hold it with your left hand so that your right hand does no work. I would then drape the fingers just as they are, "dripping water" over the bow to see where they lie. Try to line up the first finger with the leather. That is your natural hand spacing on the bow. Remember how curved your thumb is from dipping it in the water? That's how curved it should remain. We want the thumb to have flexibility to straighten and bend when drawing the bow. I would then bring the thumb to where the end of the frog meets the bow without altering the curve of the thumb.

When you practice, redo this process every few minutes. Its the only way to really make sure it becomes ingrained. I dislike the processes that tell you to make loops with your fingers because it creates immediate tension and way too much curvature in the thumb in my opinion. As cellists we have to learn how to transfer a lot of pressure and weight from our back and arms to the string and its important the hand is a flexible relaxed conductor of that.

Good luck! If I can I'll try to put some pictures up of my bowhand for you.

~Lisa

Edit: In response to Del, the pinkie is vital while playing at the frog! It is the counterbalance for the natural weight of the bow. You should actually try to play wtihout it at the frog and watch as it tilts out of your grasp....! Yes, the pinkie is an important little finger.

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