Make terrific learning tools from broken bows

Old bows are now new pedagogy aids! Save all of your broken bows and also ask your local shops save all of the bows they were planning on throwing away. Then, cut off the horse hair and chop them off so with a jigsaw just above the grip. This allows you to have “real” bows to use as teaching tools for your beginner students (or those that need remediation!) without all of the length and weight. Plus, when the bow hair is missing it allows the student to better see their thumb and other fingers.

If the bow is missing a grip, you can affix foam pencil grips. I also sand the cut edges to avoid any sharp corners or splinters, hot glue any loose rubber grips, and super glue or epoxy the adjusting screws so they don’t get lost. I keep a few unglued so students can see how the frog mechanism works.

Using these “mini bows” really helps my students better understand their bow hold and how all of their fingers should be placed and shaped.