Posted on May 29, 2008 by Nina Laurel in Bow Distribution - Bow Hold/Bow Arm
I stress the importance of bow distribution a lot in Suzuki Book 1, because I want my students to establish good habits in that area from the very beginning. To help them remember the appropriate bow distributions, I usually have them sing the songs with the words long and short, so for example the lyrics at the beginning of Lightly Row would be “Short-Short-Long, Short-Short-Long, S-S-S-S-S-S-L.” Then I usually have them trace the bowing on the stick with their left hands while they sing. (The child should hold the bow, but support it either on his/her lap or the teacher can help. Then place the pointer finger of the left hand on top of the stick close to the frog, and while singing the Short-Long lyrics, move the pointer finger along the stick to show how much bow is going to be used.)