Monday, October 24, 2011

Violin hacker

All music teachers have little tricks we use to help our students develop certain areas of technique.  I thought I'd share two things I've been using recently with WonderGirl on the violin.  First, these:
These Dr. Scholls cushions are just perfect for violin teachers, and you can find the at any pharmacy or grocery store.  They are small, soft and have a light adhesive so we can stick them anywhere and they come off easily.  I use one for her left thumb here:


It gives her a tactile reminder of where to move her thumb and keeps it from creeping up over the fingerboard.


I also use it on her bow to keep her pinky in check:



The other thing I'm using lately is a Bow-Right:


It's guides her bow and helps her to notice the difference between using her elbow as opposed to her shoulder.  It's a handy thing to use, and it helps to have it there so I'm not constantly harping on her to use her elbow and I can focus on other things.

Do you have any tricks?

2 comments:

Desiree said...

I was just practing with Lizeth yesterday and I used the ribbon on her violin. I've noticed that she uses her shoulder and not just her elbow. Do you have any videos or visual ideas I have use to show her about the proper way to move the bow. Its especially hard since I don't play the violin myself.

Thanks!

Jane said...

That makes my tendonitis infused thumb hurt just looking at it. Is your thumb permanently bent?

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