Where to put your Fingers
The first thing to think about when holding the violin bow is where to place your thumb. Beginners should position the right thumb curved on the bottom of the bow, just before the hair of the bow begins (the metal piece). This groove is designed for your thumb. If you don’t curve the thumb you will end up gripping the bow to hard. Curving the thumb takes pressure off the bow, and allows you to press more with your index finger.

Next you need to think about your little finger. Position your little finger gently on the top of the bow. It should be either near or directly on the screw (button) of the bow. Make sure you keep it on while playing. The last thing is to make sure your fingers are placed on the bow comfortably spaced.

How to Grip the Bow
This takes practice. Gripping the bow too hard will cause the bow to bounce. Your index finger is used to apply bow pressure. Pressing down with your other fingers will cause the bow to bounce. Try to keep your hand as relaxed as possible. If your hand is tense it will be harder to pull the bow over the string and make a better quality sound. So try to loosely put the fingers in place.

Thanks in part to musicians such as Nigel Kennedy and Vanessa Mae the violin has quickly become one of the most popular instruments of our time. There are more and more people who are interested in either  violin lessons for beginners or teaching themselves to play the violin. Anyone in this situation will be excited to learn a new skill and keen to buy their first instrument but at the same time there are a few things that they should be aware.

There are always a few important rules to stick to when buying a violin. Fortunately with a few helpful tips it will be much easier to be sure that you are making the right choice so you can feel confident when you start to teach yourself violin. The first consideration – and you may not have thought of this – is whether to rent or buy the instrument. This will obviously make a big difference to your initial layout. Unless you are 100% sure that you are going to enjoy playing and want to stick with it then renting is a good option to begin with and one that I would recommend you consider. On the other hand if there is a person who is really taking this seriously and who wants to make learning the violin a large part of their life then they are going to want to buy a violin and save themselves the cost of renting the instrument over and over again. Also, people can grow attached to an instrument when they start to learn how to play it so at least if you have bought it already it is actually yours to become attached to.

It is possible to get yourself a reasonably priced violin but don’t forget there are also strings and other accessories that need to be purchased. Buying the highest quality instrument is really important here or at least as high quality as you can afford. Violins can range in price from about $100 up to about $3.5 million which was the record price paid for a Stradivarius in 2006. Now obviously you don’t need to go that far but it is always worth it to buy a better quality instrument than a cheap one because it is going to sound better. Also violins improve with age as the wood matures so it could end up being an investment that increases in value. Make sure to visit a reputable music shop where they will give you some advice about what to buy. Once you know what type of instrument you are looking for you can then shop around on the internet for a good price. I picked my first violin up on ebay. The modern instruments tend to be much more reasonably priced than those that are older but whatever kind you buy it needs to be maintained properly in order to last and keep its value.

In recent years, Eric Lewis has broadened his performing as a chamber music artist, violin soloist, and conductor with the formation of several innovative ensembles such as Delphi, a duo with soprano Dr. Margaret Astrup (WCSU Faculty member); the Camerata Chamber Orchestra founded with Katherine Dorn Lewis and Dr. Kevin Isaacs (WCSU faculty member) he conducts and performs as violin soloist; and the acclaimed Prometheus Piano Quartet, which is a recording and touring chamber ensemble.
Mr. Lewis also maintains a busy teaching schedule wherever he travels training young violinists and professional ensembles for performing careers. He has a major commitment to bring great music into the lives of school children and has given so far, over a 1000 young people’s concerts especially for children.

[MSQ], with Eric Lewis as its first violinist, has become well known as a premier touring and recording ensemble to classical music lovers all over the world – North and South America, Europe, Russia, China, and Japan. He was U.S. cultural ambassador to the former Soviet Union during the Glosnost era of the 1980’s giving concerts and teaching with the MSQ in all of the states of the Soviet Union just before its dissolution in 1990. Critically acclaimed recordings of his performances with the MSQ are available on Musical Heritage Society, Centaur, Newport Classics, KOCH International, ESS.A.Y and SONY Classics. The quartet was recognized by TIME magazine for their traversal of the Shostakovich String Quartets as the “Best classical recordings of 1991”. Also during the period of the 1980’s he gave concerts to an international audience over a network of 150 radio stations from the Music Mountain Chamber Music Center in Falls Village, CT. He was the music director there from 1981-1989.
Professor Eric Lewis has been on the Western Connecticut State University music department faculty for thirty years. In 1978, pianist Howard Tuvelle, WCSU professor emeritus and Marian Anderson asked Eric Lewis to join them in the formation of the Charles Ives Center for the Performing Arts at WestConn. Ever since then he has been as director of chamber music and orchestral studies teaching string students, chamber music, classes in music history and theory, and conducting the WCSU Orchestra.