At the recent AUSTA National Conference, I had the pleasure of sharing a presentation that explored the many insights I’ve gathered over the years on the art and technique of bowing. Throughout my journey as a violinist and violist, I’ve been fortunate to learn from inspiring mentors such as Kato Havas, Shinichi Suzuki, Fintan Murphy, Janet Mason—who first introduced me to Louis Kievman’s Playing the Viola Physically and Mentally—and Lois Shepheard. Each of these teachers has contributed to the way I understand and approach the bow.

One working title I considered for the session was The Heavy Weightless Bow, which gives you an idea of the possible paradox in bowing freely with excellent resonant tone projection. Kato Havas famously said “There is no bow”.

In the session, I shared ideas, techniques, and physical approaches that have helped me and my students bring ease and expression into our playing. For those who attended, I hope the discussion sparked some new ways of thinking about bowing—and for those who couldn’t be there, I look forward to continuing the conversation through future articles and workshops.

Balance and Relaxation

We must think about the whole body, from the feet up. Balanced posture, knees unlocked, the violin pointing approximately 45 degrees out to left, because too close to the centre of the body or too far out to the left will affect the angle of the right arm and bow on the string. If you or your student is experiencing some level of difficulty with bowing, always consider what is happening in the body and on the left side. Sometimes just focusing on the other side frees us up, and the side you’ve been working on can fix itself. Alexander Technique principles help develop good body use habits.

Equipment

This includes violin quality and setup, string quality and age, bow quality and bow hair condition. These of course all contribute to the sound, it’s not just about our technique.

Bowing is easy when your bow arm, shoulders and back are not tense

Your bow meets the strings easily. Bow fingers and thumb should be able to change their state (from soft to firm) and be able to adjust the balance of the fingers as you move through the stroke.

Kato Havas, in her book ‘Stage Fright’, describes solutions to bowing difficulties in the chapter ‘Fear of the trembling bowing arm’. Her solutions include “Eliminating finger-pressure by the balance of the thumb” and “Transferring bow-motivation of the strokes to the shoulder-socket”. We will practice some exercises to improve our bow hand balance.

I believe that we learn best by doing, not just by listening to the teacher. Therefore, there must be enough playing by the student, both in the lesson, and in home practice. In this session we will do some of the exercises but today we have limited time. Naturally, to develop resonant tone without strain, you and/or your student should work for longer on these exercises, that is more time on each exercise, and returning to an exercise as needed over a period of time.

Of course, resonance and tone colour are affected by many factors that we don’t have time to discuss in today’s presentation. These include bow speed, bow division, flat hair or bow tilt, and point of contact.

Commit to the note/sound. Follow through like a tennis player serving. Ralph Steadman always drew his cartoons in ink, he said “Go straight to the ink”, meaning don’t do a first draft in pencil. We must commit to our sound once started, while still having the ability to change it as needed.

Practical exercises

During the exercises, especially if recovering from injury/feeling pain, please check in with your body – how do your shoulders, arms, breathing, legs, etc. feel? Do not over-exert yourself. Stop if you feel pain.

Warmups/looseners away from the instrument

Knee bends. Arm swings. I prefer to swing one arm at a time, to focus more carefully on how each arm is moving, and to stop any lifting of the shoulder. These arm swings help loosen your ball-and-socket shoulder joint.

Breathe in, then exhale noisily, bending forward from hips as you exhale.

To test for and help release tension in the arm take a partner. One person takes the other’s hand and lifts their hand high in the air, supporting their hand from underneath. Ask permission to touch and allow the student to repeat with you as the subject. Before I lift the student’s arm, I may gently wobble it to help release tension. Then let their arm drop, without announcing when you’re going to drop it, hoping that they experience total relaxation and the power of gravity. It should drop down quickly, with weight, and rebound. We know that a sleeping child feels heavier to lift than a child who is awake and alert, and a relaxed arm should likewise feel heavy.

With the instrument and/or bow

• Repeated down-bows on open strings. I prefer to start on the 2^nd string (A for violin, D for viola), then use any string you like. Make the retake action large and rounded. Can you land without crunchy noises and follow through easily? This gets easier with practice. Also do repeated up-bows in the same manner, which is more challenging.
• Demonstrate a soft or firm bow hand. To demonstrate that you cannot always see whether the condition of the bow hand is soft or firm.  Hold the bow vertically in the air, while the other person tries to pull it out from your hand. Your hand is either loose, so it moves out and in easily, or your hand is firm, and the bow is not released. Visually this should look the same. This is an excellent demonstration for us all to learn that the condition of muscles is not always visible. It is experienced internally.
• Spider crawl up and down the bow stick, (sometimes called crab crawl).
• The unmodified bow (violinbowtechnique.com, by Fintan Murphy). Hold the bow by the screw just with one finger and the thumb. Can you play an open string note? What does it sound like? When you reintroduce your bowhold, does the sound stay the same or change? How does it change? If the sound is more resonant when holding the bow just by the screw, then there is most likely some tension in the bow fingers or thumb that inhibits resonance.
• Play with different finger combinations on bow.   This way of developing balanced right-hand fingers and thumb was frequently taught by Shinichi Suzuki. Play a simple phrase with different finger combinations. Aim for whole bows, smooth bow changes, and ringing tone. Today we’re playing 2-8ve arpeggios, which are good for using all strings, but it can be anything simple, just one note is fine. 1 and 4. 2 and 4. 3 and 4. 1 and 2. 1 and 3. 2 and 3. 2 and 4. 2,3 and 4. Also play with just one finger and the thumb. This becomes challenging with certain finger combinations, but it does have huge benefits in developing balance between all bow fingers. If overdone it could make your thumb contact point a bit sore, so don’t overdo it. I’ve given all possible various combinations to give you the idea but just pick a couple at a time in each practice. Try playing a section of your current piece like this.
• Lift and tap the 1st finger. To prevent the index finger stiffening and squeezing, which reduces resonance. For example, stop every few notes, lift and tap 1^st finger a few times, play a few notes without the 1^st finger on the bow, lift and tap, replace 1^st finger, etc. violinbowtechnique.com, Fintan Murphy; “Tap Finger & Bow”
• Parlando (pulsing, portato), Louis Kievman, ‘Practising the Viola (Violin), Physically-Mentally’. Start with simple bow divisions, like 3s, 4s, 6s, then Kievman’s final one that accelerates to semiquavers at the end of the stroke.  In Kievman’s words: “This bowing will develop a large, beautiful singing tone. It also tests the amount of pressure which can be applied to the bow without breaking the sound.” I have found this to be true.  Suzuki uses this technique too. In the Suzuki violin and viola books, this begins to be developed in Vol.2 in the exercises for ‘Minuet in G’ by Beethoven. It’s also in Suzuki’s ‘Tonalization’ book. Kievman has more suggestions for rhythm changes, which I find very helpful too.  The beginning of each note within the slur is sometimes marked as an accent, or a line (portato), but it is not exactly an accent but something more rounded. The goal Is to have continuation of the resonance in the little breaks between each note, not to stop abruptly between notes, rather keeping moving. Dip in and out of the string and let arm weight be involved.
• 60-second bow-stroke. Then you can test your wonderful resonant tone in the famous 60-second bow exercise. Have the metronome on beat = 60 and see what number you can reach in one bow-stroke, without breaking the sound.  This exercise needs a flexible bow change, and the ability to gradually change the balance of the bowhand/arm during the stroke. It’s also a great way to get back into playing after a holiday break.

I have focussed on the balance of the bow hand, and relaxation in the bow arm and body, to develop resonance and control in all parts of the bow, and at all bow speeds.

We don’t necessarily want every note to be hugely resonant, so phrasing, taste, musical styles and the room acoustic should also be considered. And of course, you also need an aural image of the desired sound in your head.

Resources

• Kato Havas, ‘Stage Fright Its Causes and Cures’, Bosworth, 1973 Ch.III/3 “The Fear of the Trembling Bowing Arm”
• Louis Kievman, ‘Playing the Viola/Violin, Physically-Mentally’, 1967,1969, Kelton Publications. https://store.animato.com.au/learn-all-grades/studies/violin-studies/kievman-for-violin/ https://store.animato.com.au/learn-all-grades/studies/viola-studies/kievman-for-viola/
• Fintan Murphy, ‘Violin Bow Technique’ and ‘Violin Left Hand’ website, published by Twofold Media https://violinbowtechnique.com/
• Shinichi Suzuki, ‘Tonalization’, 1985, Alfred Music p.31 “Exercises for Change of Bow Weight on the String

Frances career path has been irregular, due to her many interests and periods of overseas travel in between her arts, education and music studies at the University of Melbourne and the Victorian College of the Arts. Her violin and viola teachers included Robert Pikler, Marco van Pagee and Lois Shepheard. She is an advanced accredited Suzuki violin and viola teacher. Frances played freelance viola with Orchestra Victoria (1986 to 2000) and was in the string trio Trio Istar which played original arrangements by John Nisbet. She moved to Castlemaine in 2011, taught violin and viola at Castlemaine Secondary College (2012 to 2017) and now teaches students of all ages in her private studio. In 2014 Frances co-founded the Castlemaine Chamber Players string ensemble to develop playing opportunities for professional string players in the Central Victorian region. She plays viola in the Bendigo Symphony Orchestra. Frances was an experienced Australian Music Examinations Board string examiner, retiring in 2024.

Simon Veitch and Frances formed Twofold Media to produce and publish videos of violin/viola technique by Robert Wakely and Fintan Murphy. This partnership with Fintan is now in its 25th year, and they are working on a new title ‘Kreutzer Etudes’.

Frances can be contacted at frances@twofold.com.au