Violin Techniques - The Bow and The Bow Hand (Part 2)

Professor of Violin Julia Bushkova demonstrates and explains more of important parts of the Bow Hand technique:
"Paintbrush" 0:40
Exercise at the frog 1:40
Exercise in the middle of the bow 2:34
Myths and Misconceptions 4:48
www.bushkova.com
Julia Bushkova's Progressive Shifting Exercises method is for sale at www.arsentiykh...

[@peterspagnolo2505]

There is more ballet in her wrist and hand than there is in all of Pavlova, Nuryev and Barishnikov combined. THanks to the Maestra I have made myself an adult prodigy at 64. Thouhg i cant spell russian names yet, however i do pronounce Shradieck correctly! This lady is a treasure and a gift to all of us who wish to better ourselves. Thankyou for your time, gift and guidance M> Bushkova. Yiu are preforming a heavenly service. I cannot imagine a greater success than the life and family u have achieved. If i were Tchiakovsky, i would have written The Violinist before Swan Lake. Then again. he did not see your playing in motion. BAd timing i guess. :) Thankyou again. Think on it though, a ballet centered on a violinist! TUTU anyone??

[@raulrivasrodriguez8974]

Believe me, I have seen many many videos about violin and yours are one of the best. You have a gift, you explain really really well. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I send you a warm hug.

[@MohammedHajjar]

These are one of the best techniques I have heard. The way Julia describes how to hold the bow, the skin touch, in the previous video no one else has addressed that

[@kochamkotki_2024]

You are really good teacher and your tips are really useful❤️

[@Unixhelp4you]

Perfect explanation. i was hopeless until see your videos . i want to say thank you . I will follow all your video about violin

[@ViolinClassUSA]

You are welcome - I am glad they are helpful. Be sure to subscribe to keep informed

[@KRISHZII]

thank you so much for the wonderful insight

[@violynnkuo]

Fantastic video! Thank you for the wonderful information! I will incorporate this into my own teaching. 🙏

[@ViolinClassUSA]

Thank you for watching!

[@nettahue]

I'm so happy you're making these videos. Thank you!

[@jasminetunac442]

Thank you so much for making this video

[@sasikumar-zw7no]

Perfect class

[@groovellous1]

I am guilty of trying to teach the colle fingers for smooth bow change at the frog - and wondering why it didn't seem to work. Paintbrush for me from now on :-)

[@Laura-mz6ut]

Perfect. Thank you!

[@randlyons7278]

Ms. Bushkova hello I've been watching a KZbin video bite of Sherley Bassey performing "Gold Finger" with the London Chamber Orchestra and I see a lovely girl really digging into the G string during that phenomenal piece. Looks very much like you I think. I'm just curious. This would have been at the 2011 Brit Awards.

[@Travelwith-Saji]

Hello! You are so nice! But I can’t create such sound even from my violin though it is acoustic!

[@stephenselby4252]

I’m getting so frustrated with pencils and waterfalls. But I doubt whether my teacher will agree to let me drop them.

[@luismelgar5049]

Por que no hablo ingles :(

[@ViolinClassUSA]

Tal vez, ¿es hora de aprender inglés?

[@stephenfalk9412]

this is the most informative, clear explanation of this topic. thank you for doing it!

[@annapintusunshakable9439]

God bless you immensely, that's all I can say. You have freed me! I was struggling with the "grip" 😉 of my bow, my pinky locked all the time. Finally now I know how to hold the bow with a skin touch. Thank you thank you thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. Xx

[@nupsiwulst9946]

Dear Professor Bushkova, thank you so much for your great help! I struggled for quite some time to get smooth bow changes, and your explanation was the one that made the penny drop... I am so grateful. Playing the violin is so much more fun and feels actually easier now for me. Thank you from all of my heart! ❤️

[@declairelegenou]

5:37 This is what my son's teacher told him how to do, and it brings frustration since he cannot yet do the colle bow properly. Your video explanation makes 100% sense, especially after watching Part 1 (the loose-ness of the bow hold is something we are not taught to do). I secretly have been practicing this with him and surprisingly his teacher approved. Thank you, Professor Bushkova!!

[@sdm4186]

Thank you very much for making this video. I am a beginner and my teacher recently taught us the colle motion. I spent two weeks practising it on my etude and get comfortable with the movement. After that, I was initiating the bow movement with my fingers, exactly the way you said that is "very strange" towards the end of the video. Sadly, the next lesson she taught the smooth bow change and the motion of the two just basically opposite. I am glad that you clarify the difference before I practise the wrong way any longer.

[@patfiddles]

Very helpful- especially visualizing the bow movement as left to right instead of up and down. I had always thought of it as "dropping" the bow with gravity on the down bow and then "lifting" it back up against gravity on the up bow. I could never get a smooth sound or a consistently straight bowing. My arm weight distribution changed for each change in direction. Down bow was OK, but my up bow was "labored"- there was also inconsistency in bow speed between the two bowings that impacted the sound. Many thanks for your videos- you show us how to do things correctly, but more importantly you convey how things should "feel" when you do them.

[@bandaraelliyadda2174]

I have a problem when playing on G string ,when bowing the G string the sound is lot scratchy and also it's uncomfortable for the hand ,the wrist is in front of my forehead ,I feel that's so unnatural 🤔,also when I low the arm angle it's touching D string 🤔🙁 also ,Thank you so much for this !!! ❤️💐

[@tyronefisher5723]

I like You.......... You're very inspirational and informative.......... Nice........ I have learned ..

[@minkymandy6065]

You are right, Colle 'finger bowing' is the opposite finger movement of smooth bow changes & is very confusing! The way I cope is to think of colle as a separate finger bowing technique that is the reverse of smooth bowing.

[@letrasimperfectas]

I would like to know more about the Russian school of violin.

[@ViolinClassUSA]

I will try to make a short video on what I think about the Russian school of violin, soon. Thank you for your comment

[@letrasimperfectas]

Violinclass Your videos have been very helpful, I send you a big hug from Colombia, thank you for your work, I would like very much to be your student!

[@soundatlas2206]

merci pour votre explication !

[@mollyhuang3638]

I had found many video in KZbin, but some are not professional. Your's is the best I've seen. Thank you!

[@bancholita6678]

wow, the part on collé was illumininating!

[@PitchesLoveVibrato]

I used to do the paintbrush motion as well and it felt very natural. My teacher kept building up more and more details to refine it, and one of them was the collé motion. In her opinion a quite large portion of the lower half should be reserved for just the finger motion. I have been stuck for months trying to do this, so many lessons and practice hours spent on this but it feels like my tone only got worse lately. I will try, just this time, to ignore her advice and go back to the paintbrush stroke you showed that worked for me.

[@ViolinClassUSA]

The collé for bow changes @frog may work for some people in a very few cases. If it doesn't work, do not do it

[@jonteske4267]

Would like to see your approach to "true" staccato bowing and how to develop. it. Artificial Harmonics and left hand pizz are among my weaknesses.

[@erikhn9331]

Lucky your students, professor! 👍

[@deveshgupta8655]

I regret how much time I've spent trying to replicate that colle motion and I STILL don't shift bows smoothly all the time

[@ViolinClassUSA]

Yes. Collé does not help bow changes; it is a bowing for a different purpose.

[@klarazbozinkova3083]

Very very much understandable, good choice of words and names! Thanks! I cannot wait to see the changes of a sound myself.

[@yiutoob2910]

This is very helpful. Thank you so much. Question: When I was taking lessons my teacher told me to drag the bow away from you. For example, when you do the down/right bow , you drag the bottom of the bow away from you, then for up/left, the top point of the bow away from you. She was saying that although it could feel like you would be bowing in angles, it actually helps you bow straight and parallel to the bridge. Do you think that's a valid lesson?

[@groovellous1]

Yes, check yourself side-on in the mirror while doing what she says, and see how it helps you bow straight.

[@ViolinClassUSA]

Yes, at first it feels like we bow "in angles" - while the bow, in fact, goes straight.

[@alexkuamoo3874]

Thank you for this series!!

[@raymondtingting6364]

TQ so much maestra

[@skdp1894]

Thank you so much 3:33

[@ssp5324]

Thank you so much.

[@alexandrebernat1405]

Teacher Julia, i have a doubt: is it normal to have the bow bouncing in the strings as i do the "paintbrush" motion? I'm a begginer, 1 week practicing. Thank you! @violinClass

[@alexandrebernat1405]

I think i figured it out, but accept help even so -> i believe my elbow was too low to make the changes, so it made them more "abrupt", if i can put it that way. Makes sense? Elevating the elbow helped

[@ViolinClassUSA]

I am glad that you came to the answer yourself! Good for you.

[@nickyork8901]

Dear Professor Bushkova, I came here wanting to work on my bow technique and thinking I needed to learn colle - and got a most helpful explanation of why it is nothing to do with smooth bow changes! Thank you, this was very clear and helpful to me. Are there things which colle does help with, in your view?

[@ViolinClassUSA]

Thank you for your comment. What is trained with collé (if done properly) is used for the UP-BOW bowing that is used in the Refrain of the third movement of Mendelssohn's violin concerto... A portion of collé can be used in slow spiccato. (like the start of Mozart's No. 4 concerto, I mvmt). But neither of those is a "pure" collé (as being taught by scores of western violinists)

[@nickyork8901]

@@ViolinClassUSA Thank you!

[@solid_amouri307]

World class lessons posted for all of us. Thank you so much

[@abelbispodossantos2476]

Vou treinar.

[@keithfletcher6702]

THANK YOU for your excellent videos. My teacher was Russian School (conservatory in Kiev back in the day) and he taught me what you are showing now. I completely agree about Cole -- unnatural movements and for questionable gain.

[@ViolinClassUSA]

You're very welcome! (You meant 'collé', I presume?)

[@lashambyinnu650]

thanks you

[@李湛元]

If you would reverse the order of colé (into down bow - fingers go up, up bow - finger straight), wouldn't that be the bow change you are teaching, Professor? Thank you.

[@ViolinClassUSA]

No. During the correct bow changes, the fingers do not work at all. The movement comes from the wrist, not from the fingers. The fingers are inert and relaxed. They move in a reciprocal way after the wrist. In the collé, they are actively moving by the themselves, not connected to the wrist. Thank you for your question.

[@李湛元]

@@ViolinClassUSA Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience! Warm regards!

[@李湛元]

@@ViolinClassUSA Dear Professor Bushkova, is it necessary to tilt the bow? How much hair should contact the string? From my observarion, you have your bow tilted.

[@JazzBear]

Excellent video!!!

[@fei4659]

Highly appreciation from Taiwan this video is so helpful to correct my left hand pose💕👍lots of thanks again xiexie

[@untonsured]

Make more videos please

[@marinanishimoto4316]

very helpful, thank you!

[@lisazheng7141]

Excellent lessons.

[@octaviosmorandini]

Thanks Mrss. Bushkova! You're Very generous for sharing!

[@frankborder]

Bushkova is a master!

[@barbarat6341]

Wow. I'm a beginner player and my wrist comes up and down naturally, and I was wondering how do my fingers should move and merge with those movements (like some teachers say). Thanks for the explanation!

[@uhoh007]

You just saved me from colle, which I was about to start. Thank you.

[@joshcarsi]

Pure gold!

[@markcobb6561]

love the way she teaches

[@elviraarambula2102]

Thank you, dear Professor Bushkova, for the great and priceless tips! I am learning a lot from you and following your advice when working with my students! 🎻💖

[@ViolinClassUSA]

You are very welcome. Glad to you with us.

[@geraintparfitt1078]

Excellent videos. However i noticed that one of your Professor's was Shebalin.. violist.. do your right hand techniques also apply for viola right hand...thankyou

[@ViolinClassUSA]

The RH techniques I describe/use apply equally to violin and viola. Professor Shebalin was my teacher in the Quartet Class at the Moscow Conservatory (he did not teach me any technique; only music)

[@franklinperaltacarmelino8711]

Es lo que estaba buscando. Y estaba haciéndolo completamente al revés. Es más natural de la forma como lo explicó. Gracias maestra.

[@ViolinClassUSA]

You are very welcome!

[@EraDanceMusic]

Thank you for your advised which I incorporated in my practice (after many years playing without a teacher I got many bad habits) however every time when I try to play with my relaxed fingers at the frog, my bows starts shaking and I have no idea how to fix it.

[@ViolinClassUSA]

That means that something is not working properly. Unfortunately, without seeing what exactly you are doing, I cannot help with your problem

[@gregfinejazz]

Спасибо Вам большое! Мало того что Ваш показ точен и ясен , он ещё и красив!❤

[@ViolinClassUSA]

Спасибо!

[@andresortiz6706]

Thank you a lot for these videos. They're pure quality.

[@ViolinClassUSA]

Glad that they are helpful!

[@maelula6893]

your videos are immensely helpful and they have sparked lots of eureka moments for a self-taught begginer like me. at first i picked up the colle excercise and the results were that it didn't work. i am truly grateful for your sharing and cannot thank you enough. i also want to ask you two questions about the thump. the first one is: is this a right bow change when our thump becomes straight when we bow down and curls when we bow up or it must always curl. The second is: can our thump touch the hair because when i tilt the bow on the frog, it is very difficult to avoid thump touching the hair and i also find it helpful because it helps balance the bow on its angle; but at the same time i feel this contact very uncomfortable.

[@ViolinClassUSA]

Hello and thanks for your questions about the RH thumb. Yes, if you tilt the bow, the thumb would touch the hair. It is normal. The thumb should be slightly curling when changing to the the down-bow. It may get straight(er) when going up-bow. In other words, follow the thumb in the 'paint-brush' motion (without the bow)

[@maelula6893]

Thank you very much, Professor.

[@reginaldolamonato7193]

Assisto todos os seus vídeos mas deveria ser traduzido no idioma português ou espanhol

[@ViolinClassUSA]

"I attend all your videos, but they should be translated into Portuguese or Spanish" - I agree with you! One of my former students is making Spanish subtitles for some videos. We will see how many he can do.

[@rbtchang]

all your videos are very helpful for me, thank you professor!

[@ViolinClassUSA]

thank you!

[@rockhard2654]

you know, i feel like kinda a creep for mentioning this ,but you are one amazingly beautiful woman