Orion and Your Right Hand

Several days ago, whilst still in LA, my little family and I spent an evening at the home of a remarkable musician/song-writer/producer. Now, as if playing five or six instruments weren’t enough, Chris recently decided it was time to tackle the violin as well.

In the course of the evening our violins came out and I had a look at what he was doing. His bow-hold, and upper arm were working quite nicely.

What needed serious attention, however, is what connects the constellation of Orion to one’s bow arm, at least in my mind.

As he drew the bow up and down there was a glaring problem. His wrist joint was almost frozen; not a particularly good thing if you care to use the entire length of the bow without it weaving across the strings like a snake on steroids.

So what I said to him is what I say to everyone viewing month 1 of ‘Beginners Circle.’ That is, ‘imagine three points; one on your hand just below the wrist joint, one on the first knuckle of your index finger, and one on the second knuckle of your index finger’ – just below where the bow stick crosses the finger.

Then I said, ‘I think of them like they were the 3 stars that make up Orion’s belt.’

Now, as soon as I said that I thought to myself, ‘He’s going to think THAT a strange comment.’ Yet I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Chris said, ‘Great, now I’ve got stars in my hand. What a cool thing.’

You see I find poetic metaphors like this one to be most useful in my practice. If I’ve got stars traveling through space in my bow arm I imagine they add a little radiance to the tone I’m making.

In short, such images inspire me to take what could be a rather pedantic concept magnify it to where it does more than just straighten out a bow stroke.

Now some folks might find such thinking burdensome or unnecessary. They may only want to understand what to do with those 3 points.

Something you just might care to know as well.

What is done with those stars, or points, is to draw them through the entire length of the bow stroke without them changing their orientation relative to the bow stick – using the middle of the bow as the point of reference.

If one does this the wrist will flex forward and backward the way it should, staying within the two dimensional plane of movement for each string.

Now, if this kind of basic instruction is what you’ve been missing – and a little poetic imagination appeals to you – then I think you an excellent candidate for my instructional DVD course called the Beginners Circle.

All the best, Clayton Haslop

P.S. One or two more things. We are never talking a ‘death grip’ on the bow. Nor are we talking about making a religion out of what I just talked about. We’re talking, rather, about relaxing and allowing the bow to travel from stem to stern in the most efficient manner possible. With all the arm joints flexing to accommodate a stable bow hold in the right hand.