This is a topic that has really been on my mind for a while. Although the violin and its family are the most prominent of bowed-string instruments, they are certainly not the only ones. There are ancient bowed-string instruments in Northern Europe, Africa, the Middle East, East Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, etc. I am wondering though, if the idea of bowing originated in a certain area, or if it sprang up in multiple places, in different times, and spread from there. Please leave you're opinions, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks guys.
It seems to me that *something* was introduced (from Asia?), maybe some kind of primitive bow, as a novel way of sounding the strings on stringed instruments. It was then enthusiastically taken up by Europeans and greatly developed.
That's about as far as I get. The above link isn't the only sourece I've seen, having read articles on the web in the past, and also having read books on violin history. But still, what's on that website is about as much as I know. (Probably more.)
"Early Music" magazine did a special on just this, packed with iconography and pictures. This is where I wish I had my 'resources' at hand to give something more plausable than just "China!!!" I am sure I've seen early Egyptian art that depicted musicians and which included an instrument being played with a bow...
I've read somewhere that it originated with the Mongolians, who where the first to draw horse hair across a string to make music. I think the modern Erhu is related to the original Mongolian instruments.
A bowed instrument can provide a sustained note that can make ritual music or epic recitals that much more compelling, or indeed aid a bard or singers to find and keep their pitch, and the technology of instruments made to do this at a fairly basic level is comparatively simple. I should imagine the human race tumbled to it fairly early and the idea spread fast, though from what centre or centres I wouldn't know.
Huh? I forgot to read that title and let it sink in ~ are there 'Violin/fiddle experts' on this site? Jeez!
Sorry and sadly, my Galpin Society Journal collection isn't on hand for me to check through. I love the idea of the Mongols and Huns whippin' it up ~ YEEHA!!! I'm a Hun!!!
That link just doesn't want to work... Here's the bit from it on "Origin", and me ol' mate Eric Halfpenny, and a member in good standing fo The Galpin Society ~ gets mention...
History
[edit] Origin
The question of when and where the bow was invented is of interest because the bow made possible several of the most important instruments in music today. Authorities give different answers to this question, and this article will give only the predominant opinion.
Scholars are agreed that stringed instruments as a category existed long before the bow. There was a long period—possibly thousands of years—in which all stringed instruments were plucked.
In fact, it is likely that bowed instruments are not much more than a thousand years old. Eric Halfpenny, writing in the 1988 Encyclopaedia Britannica, says "bowing can be traced as far back as the Islamic civilization of the 10th century ... it seems likely that the principle of bowing originated among the nomadic horse riding cultures of Central Asia, whence it spread quickly through Islam and the East, so that by 1000 it had almost simultaneously reached China, Java, North Africa, the Near East and Balkans, and Europe." Halfpenny notes that in many Eurasian languages the word for "bridge" etymologically means "horse," and that the Chinese regarded their own bowed instruments (huqin) as having originated with the "barbarians" of Central Asia.
The Central Asian theory is endorsed by Werner Bachmann, writing in the New Grove. Bachmann notes evidence from a tenth century Central Asian wall painting for bowed instruments in what is now the city of Kurbanshaid in Tajikistan.
Circumstantial evidence also supports the Central Asian theory. All the elements that were necessary for the invention of the bow were probably present among the Central Asian horse riding peoples at the same time:
In a society of horse-mounted warriors (the horse peoples included the Huns and the Mongols), horsehair obviously would have been available.
Central Asian horse warriors specialized in the military bow, which could easily have served the inventor as a temporary way to hold horsehair at high tension.
To this day, horsehair for bows is taken from places with harsh cold climates, including Mongolia [1], as such hair offers a better grip on the strings.
Rosin, crucial for creating sound even with coarse horsehair, is used by traditional archers to maintain the integrity of the string and (mixed with beeswax) to protect the finish of the bow; for details, see these links: [2][3].
From all this it is tempting to imagine the invention of the bow: some Mongol warrior, having just used rosin on his equipment, idly stroked his harp or lyre with a rosin-dusted finger and produced a brief continuous sound, which caused him to have an inspiration; whereupon he seized his bow, restrung it with horsehair, and so on. Obviously, the degree to which this fantasy is true will never be known.
However the bow was invented, it soon spread very widely. The Central Asian horse peoples occupied a territory that included the Silk Road, along which goods and innovations were transported rapidly for thousands of miles (including, via India, by sea to Java). This would account for the near-simultaneous appearance of the musical bow in the many locations cited by Halfpenny.
Wow, jtrout, that was amazing! Tell you what, the timing ... the sheer *unanimity* of solist and ensemble, was *way* better than your usual professional classical concert over here.
There are or were simple one-stringed fiddles certainly among the native americans. Since these people are related to people in asia, this doesn't contradict the central-asia-theory but would probably make the bows much older than the year 1000. I think I heard about bowed one-string fiddles in africa as well, though.
Anyway there is an important point about the mongol fiddles: They not only have horsehair for bows but also for strings!!! So i wouldn't count to much on the "horse-people-theory". Simple ethnic instruments like the "mouth bow" (somethin like an over-dimension jew's harp, in africa and australia) use thin fibers of plants as strings. why shouldn't it be possible to make a simple bow out of somethin other than horsehair.
I made the mistake, as I have done before, of lumping in 'Mongolia' under the heading 'China'... It is very likely the influence of Islam that spread the use of the bow to Africa, as well as not forgetting it was also advanced and part of the trade that moved along 'The Silk Road'... With North America there is nothing putting a single string bow, as far as I know, back very far. There are numerous influences that oculd be responsible for its introduction besides prehistory. That includes settles and the mutually oppressed, such as those from Asia who were used as slave labour... I'd be VERY interested in any proof of a single string bowed instrument amongst the native Americans that predates any possible influence from those many other possible incoming influences...
Conjecture is best based on some proof, but it would be great if we could trace back musical instruments as accurately and genes... That said, the folks who are obsessed with such things, like "The Galpin Society", do a pretty damned good job. I love it. It's all part of the magic that is music...
something I can add to this is some of the history of the central asian steppe. One thing to keep in mind is that the huns were a force in the 4th and 5th centuries, but after Atilla, they as a people simple assimilated themselves into the cultures in easter europe.
Also the mongols traded with the Islamic cultures to thier east, so the idea of the mongols developing the bow and spreading it to the Islamic cultures, then the crusades bringing the thing to Europe makes sense to me
The mongol life was based on the horse, so using horsehair for a bow would be a pretty reasonable thing to attribute to them.
The eldest picture ever found with a bowed instrument (kind of Gamba) is from 920 and comes from Mozarabic times in the South of Spain. From there the bow spread over Europe and from there to Asia (and not the oposit way). In the beginning all bowhair was black. (white Mongolian hair probably appeares after Marco Polo) There is here an iconography of 360 historical pictures with fiddle or gamba with a bow from 920 and 1000 till 1600. We're working on an article about it. But any question? you're welcome.
forgot this: ca 850 The big temple Borobudur (Java) was finished. There are many musicians all around in sculpture.
But ... not one bowed instrument. ( also in Werner Bachmann's book - Die Anfänge des Streichinstrumenten-spiels - page 27)
Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
This is a topic that has really been on my mind for a while. Although the violin and its family are the most prominent of bowed-string instruments, they are certainly not the only ones. There are ancient bowed-string instruments in Northern Europe, Africa, the Middle East, East Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, etc. I am wondering though, if the idea of bowing originated in a certain area, or if it sprang up in multiple places, in different times, and spread from there. Please leave you're opinions, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks guys.
# Posted on September 1st 2008 by guitar101
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
I'm no expert. But I have Google:
http://library.thinkquest.org/27178/en/section/1/1.html
It seems to me that *something* was introduced (from Asia?), maybe some kind of primitive bow, as a novel way of sounding the strings on stringed instruments. It was then enthusiastically taken up by Europeans and greatly developed.
That's about as far as I get. The above link isn't the only sourece I've seen, having read articles on the web in the past, and also having read books on violin history. But still, what's on that website is about as much as I know. (Probably more.)
# Posted on September 1st 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
China!!! Bless them...
# Posted on September 1st 2008 by ceolachan
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
"Early Music" magazine did a special on just this, packed with iconography and pictures. This is where I wish I had my 'resources' at hand to give something more plausable than just "China!!!" I am sure I've seen early Egyptian art that depicted musicians and which included an instrument being played with a bow...
# Posted on September 1st 2008 by ceolachan
Maybe it was Chinese...
Let me consult my Egyptian experts on this... I'll be back...
# Posted on September 1st 2008 by ceolachan
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
Who you going to ask? Your Mummy?
# Posted on September 1st 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
I've read somewhere that it originated with the Mongolians, who where the first to draw horse hair across a string to make music. I think the modern Erhu is related to the original Mongolian instruments.
# Posted on September 1st 2008 by Marklar
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
A bowed instrument can provide a sustained note that can make ritual music or epic recitals that much more compelling, or indeed aid a bard or singers to find and keep their pitch, and the technology of instruments made to do this at a fairly basic level is comparatively simple. I should imagine the human race tumbled to it fairly early and the idea spread fast, though from what centre or centres I wouldn't know.
# Posted on September 1st 2008 by nicholas
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
http://www.theviolinspace.com/Article/History-of-the-Violin-Bow/6
# Posted on September 1st 2008 by ceolachan
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
I just sent out the emails of inquiry Mr. Benhall, and my mummy ain't far from the truth...
# Posted on September 1st 2008 by ceolachan
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
"ritual music or epic recitals" ~ scary Nicholas... You black country folk are a weird lot...
# Posted on September 1st 2008 by ceolachan
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
The Central Asia theory is given here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow_(music)
# Posted on September 1st 2008 by ceolachan
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
Link don't work, Mr Ceol.
Ah ... I see what you've done. Try this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow_(music)
# Posted on September 1st 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
Right - I'm going to write it out this time.
No. I'll copy it afresh.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow_(music)
Oh, I do hope that works ...
# Posted on September 1st 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
Huh? I forgot to read that title and let it sink in ~ are there 'Violin/fiddle experts' on this site? Jeez!
Sorry and sadly, my Galpin Society Journal collection isn't on hand for me to check through. I love the idea of the Mongols and Huns whippin' it up ~ YEEHA!!! I'm a Hun!!!
# Posted on September 1st 2008 by ceolachan
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
Nope. Okay, folks, what you need to do is re-type the closing bracket on the thing. Goodness only know why it isn't working ...
# Posted on September 1st 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
That link just doesn't want to work... Here's the bit from it on "Origin", and me ol' mate Eric Halfpenny, and a member in good standing fo The Galpin Society ~ gets mention...
History
[edit] Origin
The question of when and where the bow was invented is of interest because the bow made possible several of the most important instruments in music today. Authorities give different answers to this question, and this article will give only the predominant opinion.
Scholars are agreed that stringed instruments as a category existed long before the bow. There was a long period—possibly thousands of years—in which all stringed instruments were plucked.
In fact, it is likely that bowed instruments are not much more than a thousand years old. Eric Halfpenny, writing in the 1988 Encyclopaedia Britannica, says "bowing can be traced as far back as the Islamic civilization of the 10th century ... it seems likely that the principle of bowing originated among the nomadic horse riding cultures of Central Asia, whence it spread quickly through Islam and the East, so that by 1000 it had almost simultaneously reached China, Java, North Africa, the Near East and Balkans, and Europe." Halfpenny notes that in many Eurasian languages the word for "bridge" etymologically means "horse," and that the Chinese regarded their own bowed instruments (huqin) as having originated with the "barbarians" of Central Asia.
The Central Asian theory is endorsed by Werner Bachmann, writing in the New Grove. Bachmann notes evidence from a tenth century Central Asian wall painting for bowed instruments in what is now the city of Kurbanshaid in Tajikistan.
Circumstantial evidence also supports the Central Asian theory. All the elements that were necessary for the invention of the bow were probably present among the Central Asian horse riding peoples at the same time:
In a society of horse-mounted warriors (the horse peoples included the Huns and the Mongols), horsehair obviously would have been available.
Central Asian horse warriors specialized in the military bow, which could easily have served the inventor as a temporary way to hold horsehair at high tension.
To this day, horsehair for bows is taken from places with harsh cold climates, including Mongolia [1], as such hair offers a better grip on the strings.
Rosin, crucial for creating sound even with coarse horsehair, is used by traditional archers to maintain the integrity of the string and (mixed with beeswax) to protect the finish of the bow; for details, see these links: [2][3].
From all this it is tempting to imagine the invention of the bow: some Mongol warrior, having just used rosin on his equipment, idly stroked his harp or lyre with a rosin-dusted finger and produced a brief continuous sound, which caused him to have an inspiration; whereupon he seized his bow, restrung it with horsehair, and so on. Obviously, the degree to which this fantasy is true will never be known.
However the bow was invented, it soon spread very widely. The Central Asian horse peoples occupied a territory that included the Silk Road, along which goods and innovations were transported rapidly for thousands of miles (including, via India, by sea to Java). This would account for the near-simultaneous appearance of the musical bow in the many locations cited by Halfpenny.
# Posted on September 1st 2008 by ceolachan
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
Here's another link to it ~
http://www.theviolinsite.com/violin_bows/index.html
# Posted on September 1st 2008 by ceolachan
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
"New Light on the Old Bow" by Robert E. Seletsky
Part 1: Early Music 5/2004, pp. 286-96
Part 2: Early Music 8/2004, pp. 415-26
# Posted on September 1st 2008 by ceolachan
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
For your bowing enjoyment:
http://www.esnips.com/doc/733af067-6196-4585-85f5-14091835de61/guananquan
# Posted on September 2nd 2008 by jtrout
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
Interesting. Of course, as with any historical origin theory, nobody really knows for sure.
# Posted on September 2nd 2008 by Bob himself
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt-ptMfsaK8
at about 1:34
# Posted on September 2nd 2008 by Wyogal
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
Wow, jtrout, that was amazing! Tell you what, the timing ... the sheer *unanimity* of solist and ensemble, was *way* better than your usual professional classical concert over here.
Remind me ... what's that instrument again?
# Posted on September 2nd 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
ceol - they may do that in the Black Country, for all I know; I've never set foot there in my life...
I'd never realised, btw, that rosin was essential to get a note
out of a bowed instrument.
# Posted on September 2nd 2008 by nicholas
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
I'm not sure it is essential for bow materials such as string, for instance, rather than horsehair.
# Posted on September 2nd 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
There are or were simple one-stringed fiddles certainly among the native americans. Since these people are related to people in asia, this doesn't contradict the central-asia-theory but would probably make the bows much older than the year 1000. I think I heard about bowed one-string fiddles in africa as well, though.
Anyway there is an important point about the mongol fiddles: They not only have horsehair for bows but also for strings!!! So i wouldn't count to much on the "horse-people-theory". Simple ethnic instruments like the "mouth bow" (somethin like an over-dimension jew's harp, in africa and australia) use thin fibers of plants as strings. why shouldn't it be possible to make a simple bow out of somethin other than horsehair.
# Posted on September 2nd 2008 by Mina the Fiddler
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
True... But times are often fiddled...
I made the mistake, as I have done before, of lumping in 'Mongolia' under the heading 'China'... It is very likely the influence of Islam that spread the use of the bow to Africa, as well as not forgetting it was also advanced and part of the trade that moved along 'The Silk Road'... With North America there is nothing putting a single string bow, as far as I know, back very far. There are numerous influences that oculd be responsible for its introduction besides prehistory. That includes settles and the mutually oppressed, such as those from Asia who were used as slave labour... I'd be VERY interested in any proof of a single string bowed instrument amongst the native Americans that predates any possible influence from those many other possible incoming influences...
Conjecture is best based on some proof, but it would be great if we could trace back musical instruments as accurately and genes... That said, the folks who are obsessed with such things, like "The Galpin Society", do a pretty damned good job. I love it. It's all part of the magic that is music...
# Posted on September 2nd 2008 by ceolachan
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
something I can add to this is some of the history of the central asian steppe. One thing to keep in mind is that the huns were a force in the 4th and 5th centuries, but after Atilla, they as a people simple assimilated themselves into the cultures in easter europe.
# Posted on September 2nd 2008 by Nate Ryan
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
Also the mongols traded with the Islamic cultures to thier east, so the idea of the mongols developing the bow and spreading it to the Islamic cultures, then the crusades bringing the thing to Europe makes sense to me
The mongol life was based on the horse, so using horsehair for a bow would be a pretty reasonable thing to attribute to them.
anyway, interesting stuff
# Posted on September 2nd 2008 by Nate Ryan
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
i was recently informed that stallion hair is better because it doesn.t get peeed on...
# Posted on September 5th 2008 by pipewatcher
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
The eldest picture ever found with a bowed instrument (kind of Gamba) is from 920 and comes from Mozarabic times in the South of Spain. From there the bow spread over Europe and from there to Asia (and not the oposit way). In the beginning all bowhair was black. (white Mongolian hair probably appeares after Marco Polo) There is here an iconography of 360 historical pictures with fiddle or gamba with a bow from 920 and 1000 till 1600. We're working on an article about it. But any question? you're welcome.
# Posted on December 7th 2008 by jackschroevers
Re: Violin/fiddle experts please read, thank you.
forgot this: ca 850 The big temple Borobudur (Java) was finished. There are many musicians all around in sculpture.
But ... not one bowed instrument. ( also in Werner Bachmann's book - Die Anfänge des Streichinstrumenten-spiels - page 27)
# Posted on December 7th 2008 by jackschroevers