Anyone who has just been to the Woodford concert will have been aware of my shaky bow arm. I don't know what to do about it. It doesn't do it at home - only in performance so I have nothing to work on. I never used to have this problem when I played violin in my youth... Has anyone got any ideas?

W

It's caused by nerves, willobie. I had one or two shaky bits too. It wasn't as bad as you thought and was compensated for by your musicality in performance.

I was in the audience this afternoon, and I really enjoyed your performance Willobie. I have had this problem whenever I have played violin solos, and I tend to find it's worst at the beginning of the performance, when I am most nervous! Once I get carried away by the music it's easier to forget that the audience is even there, and then things get easier.

Were you the person who asked me who to pay for the audience tickets?

Willobie - you couldn't tell your bowing was not as good as it usually is, I think you played very nicely . I suppose, the answer is just to do lots of performing I suppose! Well done anyway

One of those things I'm afraid. It's just plain nerves and they are sort of uncontrollable. Its easy to say you need to relax, but I know saying "Relax" to yourself makes not one jot of difference.

All I can suggest is to do more performing so it becomes less of a big deal (the more of these concerts I do the less nervous I feel, that's certain), and try to focus on something else than the audience, maybe imagine you are at home in your comfy practice place before you start to play.

Also it wasn't at all obvious to audience members. I really enjoyed your performance too.

I honestly didn't notice your shaky bow arm Willobie, and I enjoyed your performance as you have a really good viola tone, and I'm very impressed that you can perform from memory. I had a couple of shaky bow arm bits at Woodford yesterday which I wasn't expecting due to nerves (with me it is usually my legs that shake). It is something that most string players suffer from at some point.

I think it helps if you try to totally concentrate on the music, and the sound that you and your accompanist are producing. Once you are playing try not to think about the audience, or the difficult pieces in the music. If you can become totally engrossed in the music the audience become somehow not so important. This is much easier to say than to do as anything can break the concentration (people coughing, flash photographs or for me even just seeing someone watching me!). Also try not to compare your performance to anyone elses as it isn't a competition. Try to think more in terms of sharing your music with other people. This is something I have always found very hard, as I always feel inadequate when I hear other people play, and I always feel that by playing I am forcing people to listen to something that they don't really want to hear.

As others have said it gets better the more performing you do, as you realise that you can perform successfully, so you get less nervous. At the moment when I play in front of an audience I set myself achievable goals -my main aim is just to get through it without coming to a complete halt and without feeling like I have made a complete fool of myself. If I achieve anything other than that at the moment I regard it as a bonus.

Thanks for the positive comments... I was feeling really down last night because, although the piece was probably a bit too hard for me, I can play it SO much better than it went yesterday. The 'shaky bow' seems to be getting worse - it wasn't nearly so bad when I played at Egham. Perhaps next time I'll come up with a piece for open strings and 'trampoline bow'...

W

Don't beat yourself up, you sounded terrific. And the down's an anticlimax thing, we all get it afterwards.

Open strings and trampoline bow sounds just what I could do with, too. I had one little bouncy bow incident in the duet - but Suepea played magnificently so I hope it was covered a bit.

Do you visualise your perfect performance in the days running up to it? I find this really helps to play (more) how you want to on the day. You really have to be relaxed (before you go to bed is a good time) and then go through the performance in complete detail with EVERYTHING GOING PERFECTLY. Imagine how good your bow feels on the strings, how your left hand works perfectly etc etc and imagine how wonderful and confident you feel while you are playing and how everyone is enjoying it. I know some people don't have much faith in this type of thing but it has worked for me, and lets face it, you've got nothing to lose by trying!!! Happy performing!

It sounded really good to my non-string-educated ears, willobie. It's always interesting to see how few of the mistakes we perceive ourselves are noticed by even a musical audience like yesterday's.

I didn't have problems with my bow arm, not being a string player, but my flutter tonguing wouldn't flutter because my mouth was too dry.

I really enjoyed your playing Willobie . Please don't beat yourself up over the bits that you wish had gone better. I bet everyone of us who played could point out mistakes that we made - breathing in strange unplanned places for a start as far as I was concerned . The more opportunities you find to get up & play in front of the people the more able you will be to cope when you do get a shaky bow arm. Another time it might not happen at all but if it does you have to remind yourself that you can play despite it.
Sometimes when I play my flute in front of an audience (or an examiner ) my mouth dries up completely. It's really scary because I feel as though I'm not going to be able to get any notes out at all....I was lucky & it didn't happen yesterday, but when it does happen I tell myself that I can keep playing. I think the performer is far more critical of themselves than the audience is...

I thought the same - you draw a lovely sound from the instrument.


Absolutely!

Try not to worry that your bow arm might start to shake next time you play in public. If you start to focus on that aspect of your playing, it is likely to make you become more tense, which will make your bow arm more likely to shake.

There is a book called "Stage Fright" by Kato Havas. She specifically deals with the problems of violinists/viola players, including shaking bow arm and how to eliminate it. It is an interesting book to read. The author is based in Oxford and sometimes does workshops.

Sorry, only just noticed this. Yes, that was me! I was too shy to play this time - originally benjaminja and I had hoped to play a duet but then he inconveniently decided to go off and do a PGCE!