Customer Reviews

Bow-Right for 3/4 - 4/4 Violin

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A few weeks ago, I purchased a product called the "Bow Right for Violin." As both a private and public string teacher, I have always been frustrated trying to get my students to play with a straight bow stroke that is parallel to the bridge. I have been pleasantly surprised by this product. It basically attaches to the sides of the violin (or smaller sized viola) and creates a lane that students have to bow within. For some of my students, we do a few warm-ups with it on and for other students, I have them use it for the entire lesson. Many of my students have commented that it really helps them feel what their arm should be doing on long bow strokes. I love this product and plan to use it in the fall for students in my orchestra class who are struggling.

For a child who just can't seem to get the hingeing motion on the arm and wrist correct for tone production on longer bowings, this is just the thing. If you read "How Muscles Learn" you will find that repetitive correct motion works the same way for your large and small muscles as rote memorization does for your brain. It becomes part of your unconscious toolkit, and you can move on to bigger and better things.

My daughter is 8 yrs. old and she is learning the violin. She is doing wonderful with the Bow Right as it helps her stay in the area without sliding in the wrong area of the violin. Thanks to the other people who put in a review, as I wouldn't have bought it for my daughter. Excellant tool! Katie Dion's mom

The bow right is very nice to help you learn a correct movement of the bow. Getting the bow between the fingerboard and bridge was difficult for me at first but I learned it in time. It is actually something hard for a beginner like me which is something I though would be easy. The clicking you hear when you try to bow as the bow touches the bow right is annoying but at least you know you aren't bowing straight with a long bow. It is really simple to use and put on your violin and using it is even simpler. The bow right seems like it would be good for younger students as well. I don't teach or anything but a beginner like me is benefiting so odds are another would too.

I know there are plenty of violin purist who would be against this b/c I use to think like one. Though there is nothing wrong with being a purist but not everyone can pick up on things as easy as others. I have a three year old with autism and hope someday to get her learning the violin and so I know this would be a help for her as well. The problem with me not having a teacher is correction but items like this will help the self teaching process. The violin is already difficult enough for me to learn being twenty six years old with two kids but items like this are always welcome to me. This will work for some people and not for others and I am glad this one will help me.

The Bow-Right is a very useful tool. I've been playing the guitar for 15+ years and have just started learning the violin. My left hand feels right at home due to my extensive experience on the guitar but my bow hand is a different story.

My goal at this point is keeping my bow straight. I tried looking in the mirror but I just don't like it and I can't read music while doing it. The bow right really works well and it forces you to bow straight. This would be a 5 star item but it could damage your finish if you're not careful when putting it on. The plastic that attaches to the violin has no padding. Once it's on it's fairly safe but I wish the manufacturer would address this issue but until they do I came up with my own easy fix. Below is what I did.

The fix:
Get some thick double sided tape. Only remove one side of the tape backing and stick it on the inside part of Bow-Right (the side that rests on the violin). Make sure you don't remove the backing from the other side of the tape- you don't want the tape to stick on the violin. The tape makes for a great cushion since it's soft and thick and it won't fall off the bow right. You still need to be careful but this helps a lot and only takes a minute to do.

This device is a REAL help for those learning the violin/fiddle late in life. I also had my 9-year-old niece try it, and despite what another reviewer suggested, it's great for younger fdddlers, too, as long as they're using the right size of fiddle.

The fittings where the bow-right attaches to the violin are hard plastic (not rubberized like I thought), which seems like it could scratch my violin pretty easily. I'm an adult learner, and thought that this might be able to help me learn to bow straight, but after trying it once, I'm really not comfortable putting it back on my violin. If you don't bow correctly, it's easy to smack into this and move it around a bit.

If you have a cheaper violin that you're not worried about scratching, you might want to give this a try, but it was a waste of money for me.

I ordered this product to help me correct some poor bowing techniques. I am really amazed at the progress since I started using it to practice. The delivery was exceptional, it was here on the second day after I placed the order.
I would recommend this product for any beginning violinist to help develop correct bowing techniques from the beginning.

I love the product. I had just a little trouble figuring out how you put it on since the picture they have is not very detailed.
It took them Friday from noon til' the following Monday at 3 pm. Very satisfied with the prompt service.

The device is easily hooked over the instrument's purfling - from which it will remove chunks when one tries to remove it after use. My mistake was in putting it on a somewhat valuable instrument, which was permanently marred, despite my great care in the process. (Yes, it guides the bow reliably.) USE THIS DEVICE ONLY ON A BEGINNER'S OR AN ALREADY CHIPPED VIOLIN!