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Teaching a Basic Cello Bow Hold

By Jamie Fiste, Professor of Cello at Central Michigan University
Teaching the cello bow hold to beginners has its own special challenges in comparison to the upper strings. The cello student must counteract gravity in a way not experienced by violinists, the cello bow is heavier, and the pinkie is not on top of the bow.  These three aspects alone result in a greater likelihood of the beginning cellist falling into what my teacher used to call the "steak knife grip" (over supination, holding the bow in the back of a hand like cutting steak). I sometimes jokingly call it 'Ponderosa Grip'.

This video explains in detail how to teach a beginner to hold the bow in a way that hopefully avoids undue complications using games such as the "String Trek Docking Method" (sounds effects please!) Don't forget the hydraulics!

This video and article does not cover the many action studies on this site related to the larger motions in the bow arm.  These, I believe, should be covered early in the training as well.  This article focuses more narrowly on teaching the cello bow hold.

Pencil or Straw
When first teaching a basic bow hold, I like to start with having the students hold a pencil or a straw as if it were a bow.  Because the pencil and straw are light they encourage a lighter touch as well.  This is especially true of the straw, which will fold in two if the thumb squeezes even slightly.  The advantage of using a pencil over the straw is it feels more like the stick of the bow.  Either is perfectly acceptable, in my opinion.

Neutral Position of Fingers
Before attempting to hold the pencil or straw, I like to establish a natural spacing of the fingers in the right hand to be used in the bow hold.  This can be found by having the students hold their hands in front of them and shaking out their hands and fingers while keeping them completely relaxed.  Whatever spacing happens between the fingers after shaking them out is the neutral/natural spacing for that particular student. Now have the student  bend the thumb so it is across from the 2nd finger.

The student is almost there!

String Trek Docking
Now take the pencil or straw, hold it a bit under the hand in front of you, repeat the previous step, and bring the hand from above like a space pod being pulled to the Starship Enterprise by a tractor beam for docking. Fun, eh? Sound effects please!  Great!

If your students don't know what Star Trek is, don't despair, just substitute Star Wars Docking of the Princess Leia or Luke Skywalker space pod on the Han Solo space ship with Chewie. Have fun with it!

The key is, once you shake out your hand and establish the neutral position of the fingers do NOT change the spacing as you bring in the hand to the pencil or straw.  

Be sure your thumb is bent and across from the 2nd finger.

Choking Up on the Bow
After practicing the String Trek Docking Method on the straw or pencil, it is a fairly straight forward transition to holding the cello bow but choked up on the stick. The bow feels basically like a slightly thicker pencil (or straw).  Some teachers have students choke up all the way to the balance point. Your choice can be based on what you see your students needing.

By choking up closer to or at the balance point, the bow feels far lighter and easier to manage for the beginner than holding it at the frog. It's also a much more straightforward process to transition from the straw or pencil to the stick than jumping right into holding at the frog. Because the tip of the bow feels much lighter, students are less likely to fall into 'steak knife grip' (broccoli grip' if you are a vegetarian!).

You can now repeat the String Trek Docking on the stick of the bow, choking up!  See, there is method to the madness!

Strengthening the Weak Fingers
This is where Luke Sky Walker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo fight the battle of the amoeba hand - a shapeless, formless bow hold!

While students are practicing their String Trek Docking and making their first sounds with the bow, you can work on strengthening the 'back of the hand': the weak third and fourth fingers. 

One great way to work on this is to take a sheet of paper and, only using the thumb, 3rd, and 4th fingers, crumple the paper up in a ball in the hand (no cheating!) - just thumb, 3 and 4!

You can also have students work up to writing the alphabet in the air with the tip of the bow only using the fingers; this one is quite challenging and will take a while to get.  But if you start small, only moving the tip around in different directions with just the fingers (no wrist or arm!), the dexterity will increase and you can add letters when you feel they are ready.

The Monkey or Tarzan Hang 
Sometimes students hold the bow with straight fingers that only make contact with the front of the bow.  The fingers, however, need to make contact on the top of the stick as well, especially the 1st and 2nd fingers.  To help this situation, students can practice the monkey or Tarzan hang (this has great sound effect potential too!).  The monkey hang is originally from Gerald Fischbach.

Hold the bow up in the air with your left hand like it's a tree branch, swing your right arm and hand and land on top of the stick as if you are hanging from the branch.

Add sounds effects! A good Tarzan call will do!

Moving Down to the Frog
Once the students' fingers become stronger and more used to holding the bow, you can begin to gradually move the right hand down to the frog of the bow.  Do it gradually - there's no rush or strict time line.

There are different schools of thought, but I like to place my thumb on the stick between the leather grip and frog.  I recommend pointing out the octagon on the stick at the frog.  I have the students place the thumb on the ledge between the bottom and side ledges of the octagon (see video).  The thumb nail typically faces the tip of the bow as that is the neutral position of the thumb for most people. 

I recommend continuing to practice Star Wars or String Trek Docking and strengthening the weak fingers.  

And that's what I got! I hope it is helpful.


Authored by Jamie Fiste, Professor of Cello at Central Michigan University.
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