I am not an orchestral player but I play arco most of the time. I have never really felt 100% comfortable with my posture playing french, standing or sitting. I decide to try 2 things that I hadn't, a bent endpin and a german bow, standing. I made the endpin myself, it was easy, 16mm steel tube bent at 44 degrees, I just went with that angle as it seems to be what people are saying around this forum. I bought a second hand pernambuco German bow off ebay and had it rehaired.
I wish I tried this a long time ago, the balance of the bass and the focus of my arms working together has really come into play and I feel very comfortable, for the first time i have really been able to nail things with my right arm.
The weight just seems to be focused better for me with the German bow. I feel as though a lot of issues i have been trying to over come have been solved. For one, I prefer to stand but have been using a stool because my hand health was number 1 and I couldn't find a balance that didn't put weight on my thumb when standing, the bent endpin has fixed this. Secondly, after practicing like this for a little while I have found that slight soreness I had in my right top fore arm has gone. I think this was due to me not being able to get the weight correctly on the string with a french bow and now playing in what seems to be a much more comfortable posture wise is kind of like the exercise I needed to do, to stretch those muscles (I know it sounds weird) and the tightness has gone. And as a bonus, If this works out I don't need to carry a stool to gigs anymore.
Anyway, just thought I'd share this as this for me feels like a nice step forward and my playing has opened up, and I really feel in sync. It's always been my right hand that didn't keep up with my left hand and I think I've solved that.
Or am I being just a bit too zen?
I wish I tried this a long time ago, the balance of the bass and the focus of my arms working together has really come into play and I feel very comfortable, for the first time i have really been able to nail things with my right arm.
The weight just seems to be focused better for me with the German bow. I feel as though a lot of issues i have been trying to over come have been solved. For one, I prefer to stand but have been using a stool because my hand health was number 1 and I couldn't find a balance that didn't put weight on my thumb when standing, the bent endpin has fixed this. Secondly, after practicing like this for a little while I have found that slight soreness I had in my right top fore arm has gone. I think this was due to me not being able to get the weight correctly on the string with a french bow and now playing in what seems to be a much more comfortable posture wise is kind of like the exercise I needed to do, to stretch those muscles (I know it sounds weird) and the tightness has gone. And as a bonus, If this works out I don't need to carry a stool to gigs anymore.
Anyway, just thought I'd share this as this for me feels like a nice step forward and my playing has opened up, and I really feel in sync. It's always been my right hand that didn't keep up with my left hand and I think I've solved that.
Or am I being just a bit too zen?
