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Product Review: Master Your Violin Bow Hold With Bow Hold Buddies

December 22, 2022

Product Review: Master Your Violin Bow Hold With Bow Hold Buddies

Are you struggling with your violin bow hold? While it’s one of the most important aspects of your technique, it can be a challenge for new violin players. Here, violin teacher Naomi Cherie S. reviews Bow Hold Buddies, a product designed to improve your violin bow hold..

If you’re a beginner or you’re having trouble with your violin bow hold, I recommend checking out a product I recently heard about called Bow Hold Buddies.

proper violin bow hold is essential to your foundation as a budding player. Holding the bow in a very specific, time-tested way will impact the quality of the tone you produce.

The proper violin bow hold can also be one of the hardest feats for a beginner to accomplish, as it requires a very specific set of muscles and hand positioning.

With practice and exercise, students can usually pick it up within a few months, but some students, especially young children, have a harder time than others.

Why is Violin Bow Hold Important?

A good bow hold is essential for playing the violin correctly. A few tips and benefits for how to hold a violin bow:

  • The proper bow hold violin will evenly distribute the weight of the bow and prevent it from slipping out of your hand. 
  • Good bow hold will help you to produce a clear, consistent sound when you play. 
  • For beginners, it can be helpful to use a strap or grip to maintain the correct position.
  • With practice, you will develop the muscle memory needed to hold the bow correctly without any assistance. 
  • Taking the time to learn proper bow technique will pay off in the long run, resulting in more enjoyable and rewarding practice sessions.

So, if you’re looking to improve your Violin playing, make sure you focus on getting a good bow hold!

Want to learn more about how to properly hold a violin bow? Get started with holding the violin bow by watching this helpful video (and be sure to ask your violin teacher for tips, too):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjDOS8nUnEU 

How Many Violin Bow Holds Are There?

There are many different ways to hold a violin bow, and each position has its own advantages and disadvantages. 

For example, the French bow hold is often thought to produce the best tone, but it can be difficult to maintain for extended periods of time. The German bow hold is more comfortable for many players, but it can make it difficult to execute certain techniques. The overhand bow hold is sometimes used by beginners, but it can be hard to control the bow with this grip. 

Ultimately, there is no right or wrong way to hold a violin bow, and it is up to each player to experiment with different positions until they find one that works best for them.

Which Violin Bow Hold is Best?

Of the different holds used when playing the violin, which is the best? Survey says… there is no one definitive answer. It depends on the player’s preference, style of music, and type of bow. 

The player must first decide what feel they are going for when holding the bow. A light touch? A strong grip? Then they must match that to the style of music. If you are playing loud and fast pieces, you will need a firmer grip so the bow doesn’t slip. If you are playing slow and soft pieces, you can afford to have a lighter touch. Lastly, if you are using an unusually shaped or size bow, that may dictate which hold you use. 

Ultimately, it is up to the player to find what works best for them through trial and error. They may even find that using different holds for different pieces results in the best sound overall. 

So try them all out and see which one gives you the best results. You may be surprised at what you discover.


Bow Hold Buddies

Enter Bow Hold Buddies, a unique device that fits on your bow and guides your hand into place for the perfect violin bow hold. Ruth Brons created Bow Hold Buddies to help her beginner violin students.

“My beginners love getting off to a quick start and I  value optimizing lesson time,” Brons says. “Because I do not have to correct the bow hold multiple times in each lesson, which is both time consuming and frustrating, students are able to move through and master those first couple of method books so much more quickly and easily.”

I got the chance to test the Bow Hold Buddies product myself, and I even tried it out with some of my students. Read on to see the results!


The Results

Installation

The Bow Hold Buddies device is fairly easy to install and use.

I was a little unsure at first when reading the pictogram on the instructions, so I definitely recommend watching the short video where the creator explains exactly how to use the product.

Bow Hold Buddies are lightweight, smart, and cute. They come in animal shapes including a frog, a fish, and an elephant, which makes them perfect for kids and adults, and the adjustable design can adapt to any hand size.

How it Works

violin bow hold

While there are several exercises you can do to improve your violin bow hold, this device eliminates confusion and shows you exactly where to place your fingers.

Since it covers most of the areas where your fingers shouldn’t be, your fingers will easily to slip into place in the right spots!

As one of my adult students said, “Now I can see everything I was doing wrong before. It’s almost as if you can’t put your fingers in the wrong spots.”

See Also: Violin Bow Hold for Beginners


How to Properly Hold a Violin Bow: Practice and Give it Time!

All in all, I’d recommend this product to anyone who’s just starting out, but like any DIY or commercial violin training device, only as a temporary tool.

Bow Hold Buddies are kind of like training wheels on a bike: they will help you get started, but you shouldn’t use them forever.

Having even the slightest bit of extra weight on the bow can reduce your control and overall tone quality. Therefore, while I highly recommend this product, I suggest you use it until your hand adjusts and you can keep your violin bow hold in place without struggling.

I’d also suggest alternating between playing with the device and playing without it. For instance, try practicing with the Bow Hold Buddies for 20 minutes, then take them off and see how you do.

When you practice on your own, watch closely, and take note of how your muscle memory is working and improving a little bit each time you practice.

For even more ways to improve your violin bow hold, try these exercises!

Props to Things4Strings for their creativity and ingenuity on this product! I definitely haven’t seen anything else like it. Make sure to check out the other useful tools for cello and violin at Things4Strings.

If you’re struggling with your violin bow hold, make sure to ask your violin teacher for help! 

Post Author: Naomi Cherie S.
Naomi teaches violin in Austin, TX. She is a classically trained violinist with over 20 years of experience and a diverse musical background. Learn more about Naomi Cherie S. here.

Image courtesy joeannenah

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