How To Hold And Use Your Violin Bow.
Section Links: Intro Parts Tightening Rosin The Grip The Stroke Bow Pressure
Violin Bow pressure--Does it really matter?
Yes, it really does. You need to be able to apply more, or less, downward pressure on your violin bow, depending on where you are in your bow stroke.
Bow pressure matters in fiddling because of how the bow hair works.
- The sound your fiddle makes comes from the traction your bow hair gets on the strings as you bow. In a single pass of your bow, the hair actually grabs and releases your string hundreds of times.
- This causes your string to vibrate and make a sound. The more downward pressure you put on your bow, the harder the hair "grabs" your string, and the stronger and richer your tone will be (up to a point).
The speed of the bow stroke also affects volume and richness of tone to a great degree, but It's fairly easy to understand when to increase your bow speed. In my experience, most players get a feel for this right away; but learning how, and when, to apply and release bow pressure is a little more challenging. This video should help you get a handle on it.
- You need more downward bow pressure out toward the tip. In the middle, you need just a little; and down near the frog you don't need any.
- The first finger and the thumb regulate downward pressure. The pinky is there to provide balance and to allow you to lift your violin bow off the strings as needed.
"Angeline The Baker" is played almost entirely in the middle third of the bow, and this is true with the great majority of up-tempo tunes.
- As I play "Angeline" in the video the first time through, the tone is thin and scratchy because the bow is bouncing and sliding around. It's out of control. It's "floating" because the bow, by itself, doesn't weigh enough to keep it in solid contact with the strings.
- The second time through "Angeline," I solve the "floating" problem by applying only enough downward pressure to keep the bow under control and on the violin strings. It doesn't take much. In the middle part of the violin bow, where most of the action is, you'll find that just a little bit of pressure is enough to make a hugh difference in tone.