The Best Sport For Your Bow Arm

You’ve probably never thought about it. But if you’re athletically inclined, and looking for sport that best fits with violin playing; think tennis.

Well, that’s if you’re right-handed. If you’re of the left-handed persuasion, you’d better sit this one out. On the other hand, maybe curling…just kidding.

OK, let me make the case for why tennis is your bow arm’s best friend.

Numero uno, it uses the large muscles of the shoulder and arm. Too many violinists, through a common pitfall, have tight, constricted bow arms and over use the small muscles of the hand and wrist.

Tennis, if you watch a real player hitting from the baseline, requires large, sweeping motions. The forehand shots are up bows; backhands are down bows – we are, of course, talking about one-handed hitters.

Numero dos, good tennis ground strokes use very little wrist. If you needed a lot of wrist control to play the violin I would suggest you play ping-pong.

Most bow moves, however, are best accomplished with minimum wrist and finger movement. In fact, and this may blow your mind, Milstein even produced his spiccato with his upper arm. His wrist and fingers just acted as little shock absorbers.

Bottom line; even if you never pick up a tennis racket in your life, take a page out of the tennis pro’s playbook and get some real sweep into your bow arm. That kind of decisiveness will look good, FEEL good and sound great.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop