I noticed the link and comments by Trevor on baroque bows which sparked my curiosity. I was wondering if you need a different technique to play with this type of bow. Looking at the pictures, the hair is further away from the stick than is the case with the modern bow. So is it more difficult to control (re: bounciness?).
Any other observations on advantages of this type of bow over modern bows aprreciated.
Donnchad, I haven't been playing fiddle very long, but I have both baroque-rigged and modern-rigged fiddles.
My baroque bow is, by design, a little bit "skewed" to help players used to modern bows but it still does the job. I find the early bow much less inclined to bounce. Modern bows are intended to give the same response along the whole length of the hair; early ones are not, and they give a natural dynamic on long bow strokes. I think this is why (for me at least) the early bow bounces less. Also, because the early bow isn't trying to maintain constant tension, you get a tiny bit of "give" before the hair starts to drive the string, which helps separate rapid notes cleanly. This doesn't mean that you can't play as fast as you can with a modern bow, contrary to popular misconception, as any recording by Andrew Manze, Rachel Podger, Anna Macdonald, Rheinhardt Goebbel, Simon Standage, or any of dozens of other period violin professionals will demonstrate.
I much prefer to play trad on gut strings with the early bow but if I get too used to it, it takes about two weeks to get my modern bow back under control! Plenty of people I know go from one rig to the other all the time but my technique isn't solid enough for that yet.
I think I've said here before, though, that a baroque bow, because of its long, tapering "pikes head" tip isn't as robust as the modern "hatchet head" bow, so my nice early bow stays home and my sturdy, easily replaceable student modern bow goes to sessions.
As I say, though, I'm a new starter and no expert - I just happen to have one
Baroque Bows
Baroque Bows
I noticed the link and comments by Trevor on baroque bows which sparked my curiosity. I was wondering if you need a different technique to play with this type of bow. Looking at the pictures, the hair is further away from the stick than is the case with the modern bow. So is it more difficult to control (re: bounciness?).
Any other observations on advantages of this type of bow over modern bows aprreciated.
# Posted on June 13th 2004 by donnchad
Re: Baroque Bows
Have a search for "Bach Bows". These had a lever to slacken/tighten the bow hair, so you could play multi-strings (for chords) or one string.
# Posted on June 13th 2004 by geoffwright
Re: Baroque Bows
Donnchad, I haven't been playing fiddle very long, but I have both baroque-rigged and modern-rigged fiddles.
My baroque bow is, by design, a little bit "skewed" to help players used to modern bows but it still does the job. I find the early bow much less inclined to bounce. Modern bows are intended to give the same response along the whole length of the hair; early ones are not, and they give a natural dynamic on long bow strokes. I think this is why (for me at least) the early bow bounces less. Also, because the early bow isn't trying to maintain constant tension, you get a tiny bit of "give" before the hair starts to drive the string, which helps separate rapid notes cleanly. This doesn't mean that you can't play as fast as you can with a modern bow, contrary to popular misconception, as any recording by Andrew Manze, Rachel Podger, Anna Macdonald, Rheinhardt Goebbel, Simon Standage, or any of dozens of other period violin professionals will demonstrate.
I much prefer to play trad on gut strings with the early bow but if I get too used to it, it takes about two weeks to get my modern bow back under control! Plenty of people I know go from one rig to the other all the time but my technique isn't solid enough for that yet.
I think I've said here before, though, that a baroque bow, because of its long, tapering "pikes head" tip isn't as robust as the modern "hatchet head" bow, so my nice early bow stays home and my sturdy, easily replaceable student modern bow goes to sessions.
As I say, though, I'm a new starter and no expert - I just happen to have one
# Posted on June 14th 2004 by Tish