Tennis Elbow and Your Bow Arm

Yesterday I said today’s newsletter would have something special in it. It concerns an adventure I took myself on some years back. But I’m going to wait ‘til next week to tell the story. The telling requires a bit more time than I’ve got today, and there is another question I’d like to address.

Got an email from a fellow experiencing tendonitis in his elbow. He felt that it might preclude him from using quite as much forearm in his playing than I recommend. Apparently he’s got very long arms, and I gather he’s of a slender build.

Now, a few things came to mind when I read his email. First, some of us are more prone to this kind of injury than others. Tall, slender folks have longer, more stretched tendons.

Additionally, reflexes tend to be slower in taller people simply due to the greater distance nerve impulses have to travel. This makes the coordination of quick, complex movements slightly more of a challenge.

So what all this amounts to is that it’s even more important for tall, slender players to have absolutely pure mechanics AND an active mind while playing.

Muscling through a passage or a piece of music, as I’ve seen many a player do, is not an option. Nor is getting behind mentally.

But before I go further let me tell you about my tennis experience.

When I played tennis I flirted with tendonitis quite often. Never developed a full-blown case, thank God, but the possibility always seemed there.

As a result I had to development my sense of anticipation to a high degree – I got myself into position to hit each ball as early as possible. By doing this I had plenty of time to take the racket back, relax, and breathe through my hit.

Now, the real enemy of the tendons is something that both tennis and violin playing share.

And believe it or not, it’s Vibration.

Not the vibrations of pure, consonant sound, mind you, but the shock wave type vibrations that travel through the racket when you miss-hit a ball, and through a violin bow when you change direction ineficiently.

Doing theses creates chaotic vibrations through racket and bow. In sound these are known as Clang tones.

These kind of discordant vibration is highly irritable to ears And tendons.

So, let me cut right to the chase.

My recommendation to my friend is to breathe more, count more, and definitely to get in touch with the Horizontal flow of the bow.

I feel All of these are key to keeping chaotic vibration to a minimum.

Where the rubber meets the road as far as the violin is concerned is really with the off string strokes. Strokes where the bow has a vertical travel as well as a horizontal travel.

If you’re having timing and or tension issues in these strokes, watch ouch!

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Now if you want my take on how to put together a bow arm you can take up any one of my courses and it’ll put a lot of instruction and demonstration at your disposal. Today I’ll leave you with a link for the intermediate player.