Your Bow, Your Voice

Frog of a violin bow (K. Gerhard Penzel)

Photograph from ViolinBowFrog-pjt - Bow (music) - Wikipedia (date accessed 3/4/26)

It was the Baroque composer and violinist Arcangelo Corelli who said, “Your bow is your voice”. In that sense we use our bows to create our sound and to help us to tell the musical story. There are limitless possibilities with the bow – short percussive and rhythmic strokes, brushed strokes, or long sustained strokes to name but a few.

Dynamics form part of the musical narrative and essentially come from what we do with the bow. There are three main inter-related variables which help us with this:

1. The contact point. This describes where we place the bow on the string. Closer to the bridge will be louder with more core to the sound, whereas further away from the bridge will be softer and have an airier feel to it.

2. Bow speed. By increasing the speed of the bow, a crescendo can be created. When combined with a choice of contact point, bow speed can have different effects – a slow bow nearer to the bridge can be rich and projecting whereas a faster bow further away from the bridge can be expansive and open but the sound won’t travel so far.

3. Weight. By varying the amount of weight in the bow we can increase or decrease the dynamic level. Using the natural weight of the arm rather than pressure ensures that the sound stays rounded and warm even when playing a good strong forte!

   
   

Last term we worked on the 1^st movement of the Orchestral quartet Op.4 No.1 by Stamitz which required dynamics ranging from pp to ff. This term we will be playing the 2^nd and 3^rd movements of this work and so will be building upon the skills of how to achieve these hugely varied dynamics for which the orchestra in Mannheim became so famous.

In addition, we will be playing Danza Espagnola No. 2 “Oriental” by Granados. Another great piece for us all to enjoy!