Get a Grip: A Few Pointers on Mastering the Art

of Baroque Bowing
Freiberg, Sarah . Strings ; San Anselmo, Calif.  Vol. 17, Iss. 6,  (Feb 2003): 26-29.

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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT)
The Baroque era was a time of experimentation and variety in music. String bows ranged from long to short and
players used numerous techniques to hold the bow. Tips and techniques for bowing properly in the Baroque style
are described. Illustrations and a musical example are included.

FULL TEXT
SARAH FREIBERG

Get a Grip
A few pointers on mastering the art of Baroque bowing
THE BAROQUE ERA was a time of experimentation and variety, and bows were no exception. Depending on the
music and the location, violinists might have used very short bows or exceedingly long ones. Some players held
their bows as we do now, at the frog, while others "choked up" on the bow, placing the hand closer to the middle of
the bow, and some cellists preferred an underhand gamba-like hold. But there were certain similarities in all
Baroque bows that set them apart from our modern Tourte-style bows, making them suitable to the music of the
time. With a Baroque bow in hand, and a few pointers, you too can make the wonderfully expressive music of the
Baroque era come alive.
WHAT MAKES A BAROQUE BOW DIFFERENT?
Before French archetier François Xavier Tourte's late 18th-century bows became the standard for style and
length, bows came in all shapes and sizes. In general, Baroque bows were lighter and balanced nearer to the frog.
The shaft curved in the opposite direction from the modern bow--convex rather than concave. Baroque bows
tended to have pointed tips (often quite elegant), and fit much less hair than modern bows.
Bows used for dance music were usually quite short, while sonata bows were considerably longer. Some of the
earliest ones had fixed tension, and could not be loosened. Others had clip-in frogs that could be removed to
loosen the hair. By 1700, bow makers began adding screw mechanisms for loosening and tightening purposes.
HOW DO YOU HOLD IT?
In the late 17th century, German composer Georg Muffat noted that Italian cellists used an underhanded bow grip--
not surprising, since many cellists also played gamba. Slowly, however, more and more cellists began to emulate
the overhand grip of violinists, but hand placement varied widely. The French favored a bow hold with the thumb
under the hair, which worked well for dance music. The Italian grip was more like

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baroque cello bow holds: the italian grip places the index (a), middle (b), ring (c), and pinky (d) fingers on the shaft,
with the thumb (e) under the middle finger. in a french alternative the pinky (g) is placed on the other side of the

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shaft, and the thumb is under the hair (f). a third approach is closer to the modern grip: index (h), middle (i), ring (k),
pinky (m), and thumb (l).

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boccherini bowing: this portrait of luigi boccherini shows the italian grip (painter unknown, c. 1765-67). the
modern one, but the player held the bow much further up the stick. Michel Corrette, whose tutors for violin and
cello (first published in 1738 and 1741, respectively) promised playing those instruments to perfection, illustrated
the various bow holds (see illustration, opposite).
For cello, the Italian grip places the index (A), middle (B), ring (C), and pinky (D) on the shaft as shown, with the

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thumb (E) under the middle finger. A French-style alternative was to keep the hand in the same place but position
the pinky on the other side of the shaft (G), and the thumb under the hair (F). In the third choice the hand is
positioned at the frog: index (H), middle (I), ring (K), pinky (M), with the thumb (L) underneath, much like a modern
bow hold.
Over time, the Italian grip became more universal, and can be seen in the portrait above of Luigi Boccherini from
the 1760s. In 1756, Leopold Mozart (Wolfgang's father) admonished violinists not to hold the bow too far up the
stick, and to stay closer to the frog, approximating our bow hold. However, many players preferred the above-the-
frog grip for more than another century.
HOW DO YOU PLAY IT?
First, don't be surprised at how different a Baroque bow feels. After all, the balance point is not in the same place, it
is lighter, and there's less hair on it. While modern bows

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deliver immediate attacks, and sustain beautifully, Baroque bows favor gentle note beginnings, and naturally
decrescendo from frog to tip. Baroque bows offer a wealth of sound possibilities, even as to how a note begins.
As Ingrid Matthews, violinist and leader of the Seattle Baroque Orchestra points out, "I find that articulation is such
an important part of the way we use Baroque bows. I use more articulated, fast-bow, energetic bow strokes with
the Baroque bow than I ever did with the modern, in addition to the slower, more sensuous bow strokes that are so
characteristic of the Baroque bow."
On longer notes, a preferred Baroque technique is the messa di voce --a crescendo and then diminuendo on held
notes. Try this instead of vibrato to add color to a long tone. Baroque musicians thought harmonically more than
melodically, and liked to call attention to dissonances. The messa di voce is perfect for highlighting discordant
pitches.
Baroque bows are wonderful for quick articulations. They possess an unrivaled clarity that allows for sparkling
separate notes. Baroque bows don't bounce as naturally as modern ones, but quick notes played in the string on
Baroque bows will sound very crisp and clean. Matthews notes that a good example of quick, in-the-string notes
can be found in the last movement of J.S. Bach's Sonata in A-Minor for Solo Violin. She explains, "It contains 32nd
notes, which modern players usually slur (and editors ask them to). But they're not slurred in the manuscript, and
Baroque violinists usually play them separately." See Example 1 .
Hooked bowings were not generally used, so series of paired long/short notes should be bowed separately. Since
the Baroque bow doesn't sustain well, you'll rarely find slurs over eight or more notes, but more typically over two
or four. Follow these four rules:
THE RULE OF DOWN BOW
The Baroque bow naturally diminuendos on a down-bow stroke, and crescendos on an up bow. Based on rhetoric,
Baroque music had stressed and unstressed beats (rather like speech) that were naturally suited to the Baroque
bow. First beats of measures tended to be stressed (but not every one), and down bows easily stressed the
downbeats. Influenced by dance, the French favored the "rule of down bow" in which a down bow would start off
each bar, even if it meant retaking the bow.
The French influence was far-reaching, and while this rule was not as rigorously followed elsewhere in Europe, it's
good to keep in mind, particularly when playing French music or dance-derived movements (including Bach).

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example 1: in this excerpt from the last movement of bach's a-minor solo violin sonata, the facsimile manuscript
(left) contains no slurs, but most modern editions (right) indicate slurs over some of the fast notes.

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p.28

SLURS, DOTS, &DAGGERS

In general, if notes proceeded stepwise, they would be played more connected, perhaps even slurred. If they were
separated by a leap, they would be more detached. As Matthews comments, "Rarely does a passage stay
constantly step-wise, and I love switching to shorter notes, even for only one or two notes, when the intervals get
larger."
Leopold Mozart once wrote an invaluable treatise on violin playing, and offers this advice: "[Whether to slur or not]
depends on the cantilena of the piece and on the good taste and sound judgment of the performer, if the composer
has forgotten to mark the slurs, or has himself not understood how to do so. However, the following rule can serve
to some extent: Notes at close intervals should usually be slurred, but notes far apart should be played with
separate strokes and in particular be arranged to give a pleasant variety."
Keep this in mind when you encounter dots over notes in Baroque music. If the notes are half or whole steps, the
dots may simply be a reminder not to play too legato, rather than to play the notes very short. Although daggers
(also know as wedges, which are often used in modern notation to indicate martelé) and dots often meant the
same thing--to play shorter than the usual stroke (and off the string if the notes were not too fast)--daggers could
also indicate more separation than dots.
BOW VIBRATO
If you encounter notes (often the same pitch) with both dots and slurs over them, or a wavy line over them, don't
panic. These signs indicate that all the notes under the sign should be played on one bow, with a slight articulation
between the notes, which is known as bow vibrato. Matthews believes it was used in the 17th century in imitation
of an organ's tremolo stop.
MULTISTOPS
In modern playing, we have a convention of dividing four-note chords into two notes plus two notes. Baroque bows
aren't so powerful, and don't do this kind of bowing well. Remember that Baroque music emphasized harmonic
progressions. If you encounter a four-note chord in Baroque music, hold out the bass note a bit longer than the
rest, then touch the other strings on your way up to the top. There is no set length for the notes of multistops--that
should depend on speed and context of the passage being played. If two of the notes in a chord are discordant, by
all means linger on them or play them together.

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©Copyright 2003 String Letter Publishing, Inc.

DETAILS

Narrow subject: Baroque music, Bowing techniques, Bow, Playing Techniques

Broad subject: Music History

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 Publication title: Strings; San Anselmo, Calif.

Volume: 17

Issue: 6

Source details: 108

Pages: 26-29

Publication year: 2003

Publication date: Feb 2003

Publisher: String Letter Publishing, Inc

Place of publication: San Anselmo, Calif.

Country of publication: San Anselmo, Calif.

Publication subject: Solo Instrument Music, Music

ISSN: 0888-3106

Source type: Magazine

Language of publication: English

Document type: Instruction/Guidelines

ProQuest document ID: 1407261

Document URL: https://login.ezproxy.aim.edu.au/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/magazines/g

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Last updated: 2017-08-23

Database: Music Periodicals Database

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