Why the bow hold is SO important

I spend a lot of time talking about the bow, fixing bow holds, adjusting bow holds, changing bow holds, nagging about bow holds, nagging about bow placement, nagging about the bow arm...

Here's why: The bow creates our sound.

Think about that for a second.

The bow, how we pull it across the string, how we hold it, dramatically impacts our sound. If something is malfunctioning in the bow arm or hand, that problem is going to impact the sound we produce. More often than not, it severely limits the possibilities of sound we can create on the cello. Most importantly, it impacts the quality of tone we can produce.

We play the cello. Why does everyone love the cello? Because it SOUNDS amazing. It sounds rich, dark, chocolate-y, deep, mellow, soothing...I can go on and on and I'm sure you can supply many adjectives as well.

We want to sound like this:

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To ignore the bow is to ignore the possibilities of sound we can create. Typically, we get caught up in what the left hand has to do. That's understandable - there's a lot going on sometimes. Fingers are moving, the hand is shifting, later vibrato is integrated, etc. But the left hand is not unlike typing. Sure, there's a greater margin for error and you have to make sure you get your finger in the correct spot to produce the correct pitch, but in reality, it isn't that difficult to get the hang of. Even 3 year olds can do this. :)

What is much more complicated is the bow. First off, the posture itself is tricky. We spend many weeks, sometimes months teaching the bow hold. In addition, the bow hold is comprised of many skills that need to be taught in incremental steps. I cannot simply hand a bow to a child and expect them to be able to hold it perfectly. The basic posture, the 'bow bunny', needs to be developed, which, for a little one with new motor skills, is a challenge. Then, we need to take this bow bunny and place it on an object, usually a straw at first, and ask for the posture to be static yet flexible. That's hard! I'm looking for the posture to be consistent yet the hand to be soft and flexible, not firm and tense. Placing the bow in the hand even when the posture has been practiced hundreds of times on the straw is challenging - now there are specific places for each finger to go. Oh and the thumb! It's so uncomfortable!

The thumb is such a challenge for anyone because the joint always wants to collapse. But we need the thumb to be curved. This promotes relaxation in the hand. This isn't to say the thumb is ALWAYS and forever curved - it's not. But in the beginning we want to promote a soft and relaxed hand. A straight thumb will not do this. In fact, a straight thumb will likely only cause tension and later pain with playing for long periods of time. I know this from personal experience. It's not fun. In addition, there are a number of muscles and muscles groups in just the thumb: opponens pollicis, abductor pollicis brevis and flexor pollicis brevis. This is only the thumb. But all of these muscles need to be soft, relaxed and flexible.

The bow hold itself is a complicated posture and has many more facets than the left hand. But I've only discussed the hand. Other components to achieving a great bow hold posture include the arm, elbow hinge, shoulder and shoulder girdle, trapezius, latissimus and other back muscles. There are other mechanics at play here that aren't just limited to the right hand. Overall body posture impacts the bow and by extension, the sound.

Whoa.

Then, once we place the bow on the string, there are a number of other variables that impact the sound. You've heard these before:

• Playing close to or on the fingerboard creates a not so desirable sound, that fuzzy, shallow sound. 
• Playing too close to the bridge creates a scratchy sound. 
• Too much weight, crunchy. 
• Too little, again shallow. 
• Crooked bow or a bow that doesn't stay in the same spot on the string, inconsistent tone. 

Every little imprecise motion yields a less than ideal sound.

Here's a fact that's a little difficult to digest. You can get a good sound on the instrument even when you hold the bow in your fist. You can play Twinkle and sound great with that baseball bat grip. However, that 'bow hold' (if you will) won't last very long. There will be many sounds, techniques and skills that will be unavailable because of the bow hold. That's why I am so annoying,  fussy and particular about the bow hold from the beginning. Sure, you can get a great sound with a terrible bow hold. But that bow hold won't allow you to get a great spiccato bow stroke or even a truly beautiful legato stoke. Even staccato won't sound as ringy and clear.

I am setting up your child for the long haul. I very rarely approach a skill with limited foresight. Though it's frustrating that I insist on this particular posture from the very beginning, just think about it from the perspective of reviewing previously learned skills and scaffolding of skills. If I waited until students reached the point in the Suzuki books where they absolutely needed an 'adult' bow hold, we'd be dealing not only with a fairly complicated set of skills for the left hand, but also with rehabilitating the bow hold completely and developing a new repertoire of skills related to the bow. It's just too much. 

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Though I've just explained many of the complicated aspects of the bow, I want to reassure you that it's not that difficult. It's not that bad. And addressing sound and bow issues is really simply to fix. Here's how.

Focus.

Simply focus on the bow. So many bow or sound problems are the result of simply ignoring the bow.

Give it some attention!

Just by drawing the attention to the bow by watching the bow hairs touch the string, we bring focus and attention to the bow and by extension, the sound we produce. I am always amazed at how easily so many bow problems are fixed just by watching the bow. I don't even have to say, 'keep the bow off the fingerboard and in the good sounding spot'. Just watching the bow, more likely than not, addresses the sound problems.

However, here's the catch. You can't just watch the bow a few times and magically all the bow problems go away. Watching the bow a few times doesn't fix the learned skill of playing on the fingerboard. Tackling sound problems requires focusing on the bow repeatedly and consistently. The reason why the bow slides onto the fingerboard isn't because we haven't learned to keep it off the fingerboard. It's because we weren't paying enough attention to it frequently and consistently enough to keep it off the fingerboard. So it became a learned skill. Sure, it will stay away once attention is drawn to it. But once our attention is pulled elsewhere, the bow slides right back up. Consistent attention is required and then becomes a deeply learned skill because we've repeatedly executed that skill in a variety of different contexts, i.e. pieces. Repetition fosters consistency.

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If I talk about the bow a lot, it's because it's important. The bow, and how we hold the bow, determines the quality of sound that comes out of the instrument. It's true that the left hand does have a significant impact. If the fingers aren't holding the string down all the way then we get a not great, squeaky sound. But the bow is in charge of the majority of the sound and determines the quality of sound that comes out of the instrument. Because of that, it needs some attention. A lot of attention, actually. It often comes second because we are overwhelmed with what the left hand has to do. But in reality, it doesn't matter what the left hand is capable of. If we cannot produce a beautiful sound, the left hand ability is almost meaningless and pointless.

So give your bow some love and undivided attention. It will pay you back with that beautiful, luscious and rich cello sound we all love.