Need help on fixing a baaaad violin habit?

Question

I have been playing violin for five years, and I am a freshman at my high school. Recently I realized a problem, or bad habit of mine.

My bow moves from the bridge to the fingerboard when I play, and my old teacher was too incompetent to bother to f****ing point it out to me. My new teacher (as of a few days ago) told me right off the bat. I am furious with myself, and as I've had many questions on violinplaying solved here, I thought I would ask again.
So if you have any tips on how to fix this problem, please let me know.

Answer 1

try memorizing the things you practice so instead of looking at the notes you can watch the bow and make sure it is playing in the right place. You can also watch to make sure you are bowing straight this way. When I started college , I had a problem not bowing straight and looking in the mirror didn't help, but watching the bridge area as I bowed helped greatly. If you practice this way eventually you will overcome the problem. So you don't have to constantly watch.

Answer 2

You can do one of two things - either set your alarm early and force yourself to stay busy all day and stay up - then you'll be tired at an earlier time. Or if you can't do that, try staying up all night and all day the next day. It's hard to do and you'll feel like you're running a marathon but you'll be ready to go to bed at an earlier time. Then, make sure that your alarm is set for an early time again the next day. The key is to keep busy during the day even if you feel really tired. Clean or do anything that's going to take your mind off of sleep. Also, if you're in the habit of watching a certain program on t.v. or doing some activity like Nintendo or something like that until the late hours of the morning, try and stay away from that activity to break the habit. If it's a t.v. program that you like to watch, try taping it instead and watch it the next morning. I know people like to be night owls and everything but if you're sleeping away most of the day, that can become a rut and get depressing. So it is good to turn your hours around anyway whether you're preparing for back to school or not. Good luck! :)

Answer 3

practice your bowstroke for hours... just by itself...with no notes... i spent an incredible amount of time doing this when i first learned how to play... believe me, all those hours staring at your bow pays off.