• There are two important prerequisites to our discussion about right hand/arm balance.

First, a clear understanding of the bow “hold”, or interface.  To balance effectively with the right arm, our bow hand must create a functional structure, using only the musculature necessary for stability and to efficiently transfer weight to the string.  If you have not done so, please refer to the section titled Bow Hold before continuing on this page.

In order to effectively utilize and leverage arm weight, we must be able to access it.  This does NOT mean that we always use all of the weight, but only that we understand the weight that is available and have the ability to access it in any degree at all times.  This group of videos is going to be about identifying and experiencing the arm weight that we have available to balance on our points of contact.  This first video helps to define arm weight and the experience of “suspension” of arm weight.

 

In this next video, you will observe the teacher helping a student to find arm weight and discover the concept of balance on the string.

 

In this video, the teacher and the student will trade places.  As the student role-plays teacher, she can experience the sensations that we are trying to discover from a receiving position.  This small exercise has helped many students find that elusive sensation of arm weight.

 

In this video, we discuss the sensation of re-balance at the frog as we adjust the arm height from string to string.

 

When we draw the bow on the string, there are two different actions in play that need to coordinate.

• The first is the action of balancing our weight on a continuously changing point of contact as we draw the bow.
• The second action is defining the plane on which the drawn bow occurs.

When these two independent actions are well understood, that can be combined in an infinite number of ways to define right arm balance on any point of the point on any string.

 

Next we are going to explore the concept of riding the bow plane, and the importance of engaging the torso as we balance on each plane.

 

VIDEO with student demonstrating planes and rebalance.