Not sure if anyone who's a beginner has experienced this ,but, on Monday I added the metronome to my daily lessons for the first time on 2 other beginner violin syllabi that I study out of (Mel Bay and one other online) and it brought out "the worst" in me. My bowing & intonation went totally haywire (and I practice my "long bow" every day!). Step 1: Learn the form (piece). Step 2: concentrate on bowlng. Looks like it's going to be the Bowing DoJo class for me this summer.Thank God it's available! Just as a side note if the founding fathers and pioneers of this country who studied violin as a hobby (Thomas Jefferson,Davy Crockett, et al) had access to this online method they'd have been elated (totally geeked). I don't think that's hyperbole either.

Today I'm sharing the intro video, where we dig into why bowing can feel a tad frustrating at times. It's common to have unwanted bow bounce and string noise, even for violinists who have been playing for years. I certainly did! The short version: As adult learners we are excited to spend time learning notes, songs, and finger patterns. This isn't a bad thing and is also important of course. But the bow is where your sound always lives. If your tone feels inconsistent, scratchy, shaky, or harder to control than you'd like, it's often because bowing hasn't been trained as a separate skill. This week I'll be posting the white belt exercises here in Skool so everyone can start building a stronger bow arm. Please watch the intro video below and let me know: What's your biggest bowing challenge right now? 👇 Or if bowing is already easy for you? Tell us your secrets! 👇 First training video drops here tomorrow! Best, Jenny P.S. If you'd like to transform through the entire Summer Bowing Dojo with us, new members can join Jenny's Daily Lessons at 50% off their first month through June 30 with code DOJO50. Sign up today, try it out, cancel anytime :) https://www.jennyoconnor.com/programs/ Drop the program questions you have below and the other members or I will answer. 👇

This is how we calibrate the "bowing machine" aka your body for good mechanics. You may be familiar with the 7 Point Body Check if you've done any foundations stuff with me. Here is an updated version for when you want to practice sitting down.

Let's talk about perhaps the #1 most underrated violin skill: Not making a sound when you don't want to.

The bow hold is the place where the whole analogy of driving a car vs working on the machine really lines up. If the wheels are on sideways it's gonna be tough to drive straight no matter how good of a driver you are. Similarly there are angles of the hand to the bow that make it possible and easy to bow straight. (Aka achieve perpendicularity!) It's not about correctness just for correctness sake. The actual goal is to discover the most relaxed effective hold for your unique hand.