Shar PinkyHold

As any seasoned violinist or violist can tell you, a player's pinky is crucial for guiding bow direction. Specially crafted by us, the Shar Music^® PinkyHold was created to help you master bow control. It's designed to help you form a bow hold and – more importantly – to help you keep your fingers relaxed while bowing.

The PinkyHold is designed for the developing student, though it works just as well for adults. (It's great for adults who are switching instruments – say, from a violin to a viola.) Small, brightly colored, inexpensive – and crucial. What more do you need?

This item comes with Shar Music's^® 1-year warranty covering defects of workmanship or materials. General wear and tear or misuse are not covered. Non-transferable.

Pinky Positioning and Shaping: The Key to Mastering Smooth Bow Changes

Created specifically with the developing violinist in mind, the PinkyHold is not a crutch or support. Instead, it gently helps develop the pinky's muscle memory along the way to mastering bow control. The PinkyHold is easy to install and fits on all sizes of violin and viola bows and is easily adjusted to accommodate variations in hand size and hold placement.

The PinkyHold does not lock the player into some idealized notion of "the perfect position and shape." This varies with each individual. However, the pinky does have many responsibilities such as guiding bow direction, acting as a counter-weight, and initiating many of the movements needed to produce bow strokes such as the martelé, collé and spiccato.

The PinkyHold is designed to encourage the development of an agile and flexible pinky, which leads to the proper flexibility and balance. Avoiding stiffness is critical, because it squelches good tone and significantly limits the versatility required in playing the instrument. A pinky that is either poorly positioned or constantly slipping off the stick can now be corrected quite simply.