Violin Forum/Message Board

[John Cadd]

A popular argument always starts if anyone mentions tilting the bow. The main theme is the bow Has to be leaning towards the scroll . Some argue that the hair should always be flat on the string . So there you have two themes to stop the alternatives . The violin and bow were designed to have as much freedom of expression as possible. But there you have two ways to reduce the choices . I personally preferred to lean the bow towards me .I sometimes played with the hair flat on the string .Tilting the bow makes the flat ribbon of horsehair stand on a narrow edge about 1/8th inch wide and that makes a finer ,cleaner sound and lets the string vibrate more cleanly . Strings create nodes and anti nodes as you play . A wider flat bow hair will have a different sound .
I wanted to examine the idea of only playing on the hair edge by making a bow with the hair set vertically instead of horizontally. The hair of a bow is clamped flat as it emerges from the frog . If you p;lace a ruler so the edge is horizontal and lay the bow hair on edge across the ruler you will see the hair keeps it`s narrow shape well along the bow stick .It does not squash flat because all the hairs have a coating of rosin and remain in the same position in the ribbon ..So it would be possible to make a bow like that but you would lose the flat hair sound , You have lost some expression .
Young players worry about scratchy playing . They need to explore playing as scratchy as possible . Move the bow slower and press harder . Explore the limits of your sounds .
Then play with a faster bow and very lightly touching the strings . Breathing whispery sounds are a different expression . Play flat or tilted to see how extreme you can get .
You should remember the Stabbing Scene in the film Psycho . That`s to represent nastiness ,not beauty . But it`s still expression .