I believe it was introduced because I was having a dilly of a time bowing. I had the wrong glasses. I could no see music. I had the songs memorized, but for some reason, the fact that I did not have the proper glasses and could not tell if a note was a B or a C, I had major major issues. I told him I had bow control issues. But then when I was trying to play and not be able to actually see the music, I was useless. I was way worse than I am. I am trying to play and lean forward to be able to actually see the music, and my bow was going less straight than usual, was barely touching the strings, etc. It dawned on me that I had left the glasses at the chair I use at home when I pulled into the parking lot. So, @Gordon Shumway, I think bow control was why he is doing it. My instructor said he has not had to use it anywhere, but it helped with bowing.

I have trouble releasing pressure of my index finger when the up bow or down bow movement starts. I actually like the sound of it and think it really adds “accents” (probably wrong choice of word for what I am trying to say), to parts of the songs it was used in in the videos I did find, but they were not good instructional videos at all. Mostly just explanation and then doing it.

I was hoping to find a video that explained it, had close up of the actual action of the index finger, wrist, etc. It is not that simple to do. At least, not for me, I have no musical education except for the violin and cello lessons, do not know terms until we get to them in classes. I Googled the Sul Tasto mentioned above, so now I know what that is, and think it is lovely. I mention this just to let you know where I am at, not to change the direction of this thread. Thread direction change usually does not matter for me, but in this case I really need to figure this out.

So, every time I try to release the index finger pressure, that finger just gets airborne, and that is not what it is supposed to do. I also don’t get the timing right. When I changed directions to do a down bow martelé after an up bow martelé, it was really a mess. Maybe I am expecting too much right away? He wants me to use it for every note (again, probably to get me to actually use the bow in the strings less timidly) in the two songs. They are full of staccato and 8th and 16th notes. They sounded neat when he did it. I am sure he does not literally mean every note, that is just a target so I am thinking of the bow as I play. 

Maybe, I am trying to do it too fast and need to do it slower for now? I get lessons for an hour every other week for violin, the other week will be cello. But, the week after next week, next week is cello week, will have to be cancelled because I will not be home, so I do have time to really work on this. I will only be a away a few days, so not missing a lot of practice days, unfortunately it falls on lesson day. I just need to be doing it properly during this time period so that I am not training myself in the wrong way.

I think he said I hold the bow and use a pressure with my index finger when the bowing starts. As soon as the bow starts its up bow or down bow, I release the pressure of the index finger. And continue bowing. He wants me to do it on the upper half if the bow. Quarter and longer notes get the full half of the bow. Eighth notes and shorter just use half of that upper half if the bow. Those two songs only have a very few half notes, if I remember correctly. It is like a snap and bow. Probably an inaccurate description, but the best I could do. I am nor sure about the index finger and the rest if the bow hand movement.

Does this all help my explanation of the issues?