The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #72276   Message #1281502
Posted By: GUEST,Sarah
26-Sep-04 - 12:57 PM
Thread Name: Fiddling Tips?
Subject: RE: Fiddling Tips?
The trick to good fluid bowing is a flexible wrist, not held with any tension. A good practice device is to play in front of a full length mirror and watch your wrist movement there - if it is stiff you won't be able to move the bow fast and fluidly.

Also, invest in a good shoulder rest. If your fiddle touches your upturned wrist when you are playing, then it will eventually cut off the circulation in your fingering arm. A shoulder rest prevents this from happening. Also, don't rest the scroll on your knee when you are sitting and playing - I did all these things until I found out better!

Finding a tune you like is good advice. See if you can get one that you can play with one of the other strings as a drone (flatten the bow across both - called double stopping)as it will help you to keep in tune as you go.

And don't keep a cat in the room as you practice - they don't like it even when you are proficient...

Enjoy it.

Cheers
Sarah