Julie Remold

I've been playing the cello for a little less than a year and I have problems with pains in my right hand. Sometimes I sit down to play and the pain starts immediately, my wrist feels tired right away. Sometimes it happens after a while and the pain seems to originate from the pinkie. I've had problems with RSI's as a frequent computer user before and the problem feels similar so I have been treating it the same way I wear a wrist brace at night sometimes and I stop playing as soon as the pain starts. The problem is, I would like to practice for longer than I really can right now without pain. Here is my question. Am I holding the bow wrong or is this normal beginners? Do I need to build muscles or work on my hand position?

I had this problem with my first bow as well, it was also an inexpensive wooden bow. I read about the Glasser bows here and sent away for both the Glasser composite and carbon fiber bows by mail order (they let you try it out for a while). I did several blind tests between the two new bows and my old wood one and found that I had better control (particularly over bouncing) with the Glasser bows with the carbon fiber one being the best of the three. It was really great to try them out at home for a week before deciding though, I really have a better idea of the differences between bows by having several to play for a while. : My first bow was a student type brazilwood bow, which was really bouncy. I later got a Glasser composite (not the Glasser Fiberglass!) bow that sells for about $90 from mail-order places. That bow is far less bouncy, and stays on track much better than my cheap wood bow. Now that I have more experience, I can play OK with the wood bow, but I still have that bouncing problem on occasion. You may want to try out other bows, either at a shop or other people's bows, to see if that makes much of a difference. : : What is it about my bow stroke that causes the bow to bounce on the string? : : I've only been playing for a couple of weeks but this is a particularly annoying problem that I occasionally have with my long bow strokes. Any suggestions?