Playing an instrument is just like dancing or doing any other kind of sports, which involves the whole body. The way how you stand, how you breath, how you swing during your playing… they all matter.
It’s a common
phenomenon that people always treat their instrument as ‘an instrument’. While
what I find very useful is to treat it as a part of my body – the right hand as
my vocal cord, the left hand as my breathe. Though logically it’s very easy to
understand, not many people can really feel that during practice. The problem
may give raise because of the lack of vocal training or experiences.
I’m lucky to
have quite a lot vocal experience in my earlier education. What I find useful
is that I really relate the two by physically feel the vibration from my vocal
cord when I’m thinking about my intonation and I happens to work many times.
It’s the
same for the bow. My teacher taught me to breath in when up bow, and breath out
when down bow.(*Of course it’s for practice’s sake. Ultimately one should to
relate breathing with phrasing.) This helps me to relate my airflow with the
bow, in terms of speed and depth (bow weight).