10 Violin Bow Exercises

Efficient and effortless violin bowing technique is vital for producing a beautiful sound. Each one of the fingers on the bow hand has its own unique role; the index finger is in charge of the sound in the upper half, the middle finger and thumb are in charge of balance, the ring finger gives the sound power and grace, and the pinky is in charge of the sound in the lower half. On top of these, all of the fingers and the wrist must be soft and flexible. In order to develop this bow technique, bow exercises are often extremely helpful. Below, you find a list of 10 of my favorites.

The first 2 are aimed at helping with pinky strength.

1. Pinky Push Ups
   Start with the bow hair placed on the left shoulder (no, this won’t hurt your bow hair!) Lift the bow up by pressing down with the pinky, and then gently place the bow back on the shoulder, feeling resistance in the pinky the entire time.

2. In and Outs
   Place the bow horizontally in front of the body. Straighten the pinky out and allow the tip of the bow to come towards you. Curl the pinky back in and allow the tip of the bow to come away from you. In order for this exercise to work properly, the pinky must be placed slightly on the inside corner of the bow rather than directly on top of the bow.

The next 5 exercises are aimed at helping with finger flexibility.

3. Paintbrush
Place the bow hair on the left shoulder and support the bow with the left hand. With the right hand,
make a loose shape of the bow hold and brush it up and down the stick, allowing the wrist to be
flexible as well.

4. Spider
Hold the bow vertically in front of the body and crawl the fingers up and down the stick. The thumb
and fingers must move separately.

5. In and Outs
Place the bow vertically in front of the body, holding it with your normal bow hold. Straighten your
fingers out and then curl them back in, being sure not to also move the wrist.

6. Circle in and outs
Repeat the same steps as in the previous exercise except this time move the fingers in a circular
motion. This can also be done with the bow in a horizontal position.

7. Collee
Collee is a bow stroke that is not often found in repertoire; instead, it is primarily used as an exercise
in finger flexibility. Collee is done entirely with the fingers; the wrist and arm should be completely
still. To perform collee, place your bow at the frog. Straighten your fingers out to perform a down
bow and allow the bow hair to come off the string. Place the bow back on the string, curl your fingers
in to perform an up bow, again allowing the bow hair to come off the string.

The next exercise is for wrist flexibility.

8. Wrist Flick
Perform a down bow on an open string using about 3/4 of the bow. For the remaining 1/4, move the
bow by just straightening out the wrist. Next, perform an up bow using about 3/4 of the bow. For the
remaining 1/4, move the bow by just lifting up the wrist.

The last two exercises are for bow control. Bow control

9. Son File
Start with the bow at the frog, and move it as slowly as possible towards the tip. You may not hear a
solid sound, and you may find your hand shaking along the way. That means the exercise is working!

10. Son File with dynamic contrast
This is the same as the previous exercise, except as you perform a down bow, make a crescendo, and
as you perform an up bow, make a decrescendo. You can also try it the opposite (and harder!) way:
decrescendo on the down bow and crescendo on the up bow.

Pick 2-3 of these exercises targeting aspects of your bow technique you’d like to improve and add them to your warm up routine. You’ll see a difference in no time!

Do you have a favorite bow exercise that I didn’t list here? Leave a comment and share it with me!