Want to know the right way to hold your violin?
• Place the violin on your left collar bone, and rest the left side of your jaw on the violin chin rest.
• Hold your violin parallel with the floor, angled slightly to the left of a straight forward position.
• Keep your wrist gently rounded and avoid resting your wrist against the neck of the violin.
• Maintain a curved, open space between your left thumb and index finger.
Relax your fingers, slightly turn your wrist to the left, and let your fingers gently curve over the top of the violin bow stick, with the pinky finger resting on the top of the bow stick.
The tip of your bent thumb should touch the frog contact point, and your middle finger is opposite from the thumb.
Rosin provides your bow hairs with friction. Without rosin, the bow will slide across the violin strings and produce a faint sound. Learn more at our page explaining Why do I need violin rosin?
Slightly tilt the wood of your violin bow towards the fingerboard and draw your violin bow in a straight line so the bow remains parallel to the bridge.
You can produce loud sounds with heavy bow pressure and by drawing the bow close to the bridge.
You can produce soft sounds with light bow pressure and by drawing the bow close to the fingerboard.
If you want to produce a great sound on your violin, focus on these three aspects of your bowing: 1) bow placement, 2) bow speed and 3) bow pressure.
While playing on different strings, keep the level of your arm and bow constant. Make sure your elbow is not drooping or clinging to the side of your body while playing.