Anti-Gravity Eyeball (Teaching Tip)

Here is a photo of my young student Olivia, showing how we use a Halloween plastic eyeball to help us fight the effects of gravity. I got this idea from a Paul Rolland book years ago, and we enjoy doing it every Halloween:

The plastic eyeball balances on the G and D strings. If the violin strings are parallel to the floor (as opposed to the violin body itself, which then means that the strings slant downward to the floor), then the ball will balance.