Posted on May 17, 2008 by Abigail McHugh in Contact Point - Bow Hold/Bow Arm

I have had great success in improving the consistency of my students’ contact point, by drawing a small target directly on the string at the point where I want them to keep their bow. Then I tell them to keep the mark covered up, because if I can’t see it that means the contact point is perfect. Sometimes I make a game out of it, where I get a point every time that I see the mark and they get a certain number of points if they can play the whole piece through without my seeing the mark once. I generally give the mark (drawn with a marker) a few seconds to dry on the string before playing, and also tell the students that writing on the instrument is a special privilege reserved only for teachers. Of course you would never want to do this on a valuable instrument or with any student who had recently changed their strings or gotten a bow re-hair.