Scan 15
21882.a.10 – How to hold a violin and bow / C. H. Mitchell., 1882
8 lines. Read by computer on 24 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1shoulder. To diminish constraint, and to further take from the left hand the work of merely supporting the instrument are, of course, very desirable objects; but the employment of the means now under consideration will, except in special cases of physical conformation, be found to involve more trouble and inconvenience than will be compensated for by the acquired advantage.
3And now as to the inclination of the violin. It is evident that this point may be considered as to three directions: the pupil must know how high the scroll must be, what inclination the body of the violin must have towards the right side of the player, and how far the scroll must be brought in front of the body or carried to the left. "Spohr's School" is silent with regard to the first and third of these directions, but as to one of them, and indeed as to the second direction, upon which he does speak, instruction, as will presently be seen, is almost unnecessary.
5The student will bear in mind that as yet he does not know the situation of the scroll with regard to height. Let that be the first point. It is a careless, lazy habit to rest the left elbow against the body and towards the left side of it. The practice too would be prejudicial. As we increase the distance of the elbow from the body we raise the scroll. Where is it to stop? That the strings of the violin should be horizontal is a rule which has the weight of high authority, yet it will be found that such a position renders undue elevation of the shoulder, or a pad underneath the violin and between it and the shoulder, absolutely indispensable. Moreover, for the strings to lie horizontal the body of the violin must point slightly upwards—a direction which seems extreme. That there is no absolute necessity for the strings to lie horizontal to render a good grip of them by the bow possible is proved by the fact that the strings of a violoncello lie well towards the perpendicular. On the whole, therefore, it is submitted that the strings should lie not quite horizontally, but descend with a slight incline from the bridge to the nut. The position is, in fact, to some extent regulated by the build of the player in the region of the shoulder. Subject to the absolute necessity of depressing the head and elevating the shoulder in some measure, varying with the build, the violin may sit with tolerable comfort.
7The student now has the position of the scroll fixed as to
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