Absolutely incredible video!!! I've always wondered about the origin of the term "frog". By far the most succinct and enlightening description of the evolution of the bow on RU-vid. BRAVO!
I believe that is because of styles that developed, and maybe because the German style is more ergonomic for holding, in comparison to the French style?
@@oae Probably AI-assisted, self-calibrating bow that makes the tip and the frog part equally heavy. There will also be sensors to monitor your hair's tension and condition, and the hair will probably synthetically made. Now that I write and think about it, while that may sound cool and all, I think I'll miss the elegance and beauty of 'classic' bows and I'm not even a string player.
I'm a choir singer, and at least in the days before Covid the choir would often share buses with the orchestra when touring. One time I was seated behind the 1st and 2nd violinist, and I overheard them talking about prices and such. I heard a figure of €4000, and I thought to myself, "yes, violins can be a bit pricey." Then it turned out that was just for the bow. Ah.
2:13 and I've always wondered why they sound so different when playing different composers, how a composer could indicate that they wanted the sound of X period in their music, haha...I know someone who sometimes wondered that, having come up with pieces he thought of as sounding like pieces before the Romantic period, etc...
It would be nice if you mentioned that this is the "European history of the bow" and not just the "history of the bow" as the bow used for stringed instruments existed far before 1500 in other african,indian,and asian cultures ,even with the advent of one of the first bowed instruments like the ravanahatha which was created way before any european rebec or violin class instrument was developed.
I think it's just the history of the modern violin bow. Europe was bowing instruments well before this. But I agree the region is an important distinction to make in a history video.
A lot of music history is like this, very eurocentric. It was one of the things I found very frustrating in my music appreciation class, all of the history and theory we went over was solely Western. I also wonder if the bows design hasn't changed in 200 years due to it being satisfactory, or due to the dogmatism that is heavy within the violin community especially
@@nigeladams8321 the ravanahatha has quite an interesting evolutionary diversion from the european bow, they even have jingles on them to help accompany the ravanahatha, I feel like if the ravanahatha bow were given a chance to evolve quicker than the western bow (it hasn't changed in hundreds of years) we would have an entire other practice and breed of musicians trained to play complex sycopated rhythms with their bows along side their playing, probably entire families of instruments and cultures of music would have been brought about if the idea of the ravahatha bow were exploited by other cultures, for example, me being hispanic and having an intimate experience with many different kinds of regional music, I could very comfortably seen an adapted violin rustica with a Trio Huapangero, that kind of sound would suit that music very well and probably many others, But unfortunalty western society gets all of the influence for some reason, they just love arbitrarily taking over shit mercilessly don't they, even Ideas
I agree, all that needs to be done is to say 'The History of the bow as used in western musics", or "The Western History of the Bow". A weird thing is that western music is so global it's not even funny.
After just 1 second of looking at the thumbnail, I already decided that I needed to see what the hell is going on (great video by the way, especially the please subscribe part in the end XD)
When and why did the bow hold change to more towards (or practically over?) the frog? I noticed on the earlier bows Henrietta's hold is between the frog and the centre of the bow. I'm a woodwind player so it's all a bit lost on me!
I believe it's because the style of music has also evolved. During the romantic period composers and musicians wanted deeper, warmer and richer sounds, and it's way easier to do when you hold the bow near the frog, because there is much more weight. I'm sorry i struggle with english so i can't explain with more details 😅 but i hope i've somewhat answered your interrogation.
Yes its because music required a bow technique to deliver deeper and longer phrases. Up until the late 18th century, much of violin music was dance music. Dance music requires a bouncier lighter bow, short phrases, clean and clear notes and strong down bowing, weaker up bowing. You can't play mozart or haydn like that. From a woodwind perspective its like going from the recorders direct "speaking" style, to a modern cor anglais playing very long undulating singing phrases with connecting lines where the listener can't tell where the breath might begin and end. On an old 18th C woodwind instrument that would be very difficult.
Thanks for asking .... my limited violin training has me holding my bow close to the end, even tho' I often find my position creeping up towards the middle ... & then, I call it a more of a "choke" hold ... Henrietta Wayne certainly seems to be "Choking" the bow here, so I take it that this must be desirable, at least some times
The. price of the "bows" shown are in a value of a nice apartment in uptown N.Y. City You can buy a bow at your local violin shop for $50 to 75 dollars but it's not much of a bow. When your become a grand master of the violin your bow could easily cost $300,000. to 1/2 a million. A good bow makes the sound better, a great bow in the right hands makes the sound heavenly.
Thank you so much for this fabulous video! I share so much of this channel’s content with my studio🎻☺️✨ we are learning medieval/folk music at the moment and venturing into the Baroque. LOVELY
Lovely and informative! I thought I was going mad when I could hear ticking (of a clock?) during the violin/bow demonstrations but not during the talking segments. I'm listening with standard earphones. I actually paused the video and went to check my air-conditioning box outside which makes a very similar noise! It's audible throughout, but most noticeably at 4:43.
Are you joking about the bow? since many thousands years are Persians playing instruments like Gheychak with bow and colophon in great Persian. Why do you mentioning 1500?
Pottery figurine of a man playing a violin type insrument WITH BOW of the 3ceNTURY Bc found at Abdira Greece , at display at the archaeological museum of Kaballa Greece (exhibit number E 193 ) visit and see !!!
Excuse me, I have made an incorrect statement; The horse cultures of the Asiatic Steppes probably started around 4 thousand years ago, not 9 or 10. Still, they were using musical bows far earlier that Europeans, from our present archeological knowledge.
You are sadly misrepresenting the "evolution"(origin) of any bow used to make music if you start in Renaissance Europe. The musical bow was perhaps born (as you mention) as a secondary usage of a hunter's bow - but the material that makes any bow (from ancient times until this very day) truly successful as a musical tool is the hair from a horse's tail. This specialized kind of bow was developed by musicians from the ancient cultures that focused so much of their lives and art around horses, and they are well known to have likely originated in the Asiatic Steppe regions, and may have been in use as early as 9 or 10 thousand years ago, as the horse cultures thrived and developed starting around that time, if current archeology is accurate. Please research the "morin kuur".
This was enlightening. I was aware of violin evolution but the bow was always disregarded in those sources which is a shame, as it apparently has such a direct impact on the technique.
"A history of the bow in western musics", "A history of the bow as predominantly used in western music", etc, would be a more accurate title. It doesn't take that much of a change in language one is using. Either way, nice video.
Realise this is quite an old thread. When comparing different bows for different periods and composers, Bach is a notable omission. Similar on other RU-vid videos on the same topic. What type of bow would you use of solo Bach?
A beautiful summary. Let us now appreciate the aspects of the bow and how each type of bow serves the music it brings forth at the hands of the master.
@@brucekuehn4031 Indeed, although a crude twig with a string is incomparable to actual properly crafted bows, with the biggest difference tonewise undoubtedly coming from the lack of rosin-coated horse tail hair!
I am new to the violin and my violin is a cheap chinese model and I got one of those upgraded bows for it. but I am learning how to repair an old violin and bow and my really old german copy came In yesterday. and the bow the came with it is in horible condition but I was curious so I our rosin on it and tried it. even in its condition it made my crap violin sound 10x better. why is that??? I thought the violin made the sound and the bow didnt really matter. why is this. can somebody please help. thxs y'all. I am just extremly curious as to why this is. and like I said, I am extremely new to all of this so dont judge :).
Great content! It would have been interesting (although beyond the temporal scope of the orchestra) to have a proper look at medieval bows, which weren't simple twigs. Especially that the oldest surviving bow originates from British Isles (Christchurch bow, Dublin)!
the history of the bow goes back quite a bit further the Mongolians were skilled with bow and arrow and skilled horsemen their artistry with string and wood culminated in the earliest types of neck-strung instruments that were not lyres or harps their range of instruments resembling fiddles and guitars seem to be nearly endless even today, parts of bowed string instruments were recovered in graves of the 2nd to 5th centuries AD and these instruments are pretty much the same today often every tribe or family had their own take on these instruments. the first spread of the neck-strung (bowed or not) instruments was in china. the conquest of the Mongolians spread the use of neck-strung instruments all over the former Roman empire where they developed and evolved into the instruments we know today in each region in Europe they evolved in the viol family of instruments and in the middle east into the lute family culminating today into lutes mandolins and guitars it also went further down into sub-Saharan Africa where the neck-strung instruments developed into gourd neck-strung instruments the building knowledge of these went with slaves to America were they evolved into banjos. the Spanish brought their neck-strung instruments over to South America as well as wooden flutes where these are the dominant types of instruments today. the original indigenous instruments were clay ocarina-type instruments and clay flute-type instruments and drums.
Amazing you got a sound with the first one. I just tried it with a paracord and all the sideways hair was getting in the way, producing noise at best. It was expected. I knew the moment I bought my viola 3 weeks ago that the bow would have to wait. I blew everything on it, and I mean everything. Now I am pretty hungry but the next paycheck will fix it, and the bow will arrive soon after. For now I am playing scales plucking.
This is a very interesting video. I would like to hear the examples you shared with different bows but using the same piece, like to see you the same piece with the same dynamics sounds different when the bow changes. :)
Is Henrietta Wayne keeping well? I have worked with her twice on projects at Beverley Grammar School in the East Riding of Yorkshire with Zoe Hughes and doubt she’ll remember me however she laid the embers of what would become a burning passion for baroque music!
wonderful video! I play winds and keyboards, but I'm trying to pick up viola da gamba, so I'm fascinated by all these string issues. Do people tell you that you look like Helen Mirren? 🙂
One of the most common questions I get by students is "Why is it called a frog?" This video answers that nicely, as well as provides a wonderful introduction to the mechanics and evolution of the bow. Thank you!
