Introducing the Evolution of the Bow

[@bobomcfoe]

That part at the beginning where she shoots a stick with her home-made bow and the satisfied smile she gives the camera afterwards are giving me life

[@moltzer]

same, always loved and kept repeating that part

[@applecake2209]

Haha it's lovely!

[@viktorsebastien604]

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 KZbin. BRAVO!

[@oae]

Thanks Viktor, glad you enjoyed it!

[@Symphing12]

I wonder if you could do a similar video but about the double bass bow? What led to the two styles?

[@oae]

Good idea Shrish! Thank you for the suggestion, we'll try to get that done in 2021. Also, thank you for watching!

[@Symphing12]

Love the content; Keep it up!

[@kathyjohnson2043]

The one is a cool da gamba now, which is what a bass is a descent of, and the other is a heavier version of a violin or cello bow

[@marlmachine]

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?

[@meyerbeer13]

Comes from Arabistan in case you missed it. Not Robinhood!

[@Ucceah]

i'm in love with the curve and minimal look of the earliest one. it's so sleek

[@joeblaine3202]

Imagine the future evolution of the bow.

[@oae]

What do you envisage, Joe?

[@nanwijanarko1969]

@@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.

[@gandalfgrey91]

PEW PEW....PEW

[@salvat3735]

@@nanwijanarko1969 the bow should evolve if it has to, but if it takes away part of what it means to be a string player, then it's for the worst

[@randomperson-en8kq]

@@oae your brain controls it, you don't have to use your hands anymore; 2089 technology lol

[@scottconroy2712]

The frog! Finally an explanation!

[@ruperttmls7985]

Finally you can play this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/omK9pJ5raq5ljdk

[@JaydentheMathGuy]

I thought this video was gonna be about someone playing Bach with a thick bow similar to how it was portrayed in the thumbnail. This is even better!

[@LemonEyesNL]

All bow playings 1st twig bow 0:43, 2nd +/- 1600 bow 1:38, 3rd copy of Ashmolean Museum 2:15, 4th 18th century 3:31, 5th modern bow 4:20

[@beepot2764]

I don't play a single instrument but I find videos like this fascinating.

[@whatabouttheearth]

Check out my History of Music playlist and have fun diving in

[@Gilmaris]

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.

[@user-yishtabachshmo]

Don't forget the bow makes the sound, the violin is passive do the bow is massively important

[@archangecamilien1879]

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...

[@ningdongxie508]

Just see the cover: SaCRailEgIOus After the video: aMAzINg

[@danaeillia9943]

iNtErEsTinG

[@ahanamanna6142]

it's iNtErSeTiNg how twosetters can be found in almost every video related to the violin

[@mycomment1096]

@@ahanamanna6142 IF YOU CAN PLAY IT SLOWLY

[@ahanamanna6142]

@@mycomment1096 YOU CAN PLAY IT QUICKLY

[@CubicCube17]

Twoset comment

[@fazergazer]

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.

[@ab-zg8pt]

Henrietta's tone is incredible!! I loved this presentation!!!

[@brucekuehn4031]

But the stick with the string was awful. I have much more appreciation for the bow now.

[@ZJStrudwick]

​​​​@@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!

[@Aikechi]

Claim your 'here before twoset comments' ticket here.

[@taxfraudtoad]

Here before two set

[@verystupid8882]

Oohhhhhh yes lol

[@notzo7020]

Yup lmao

[@kolapsg7748]

I'm here before twoset

[@tristanzhang6118]

Her before two set comments

[@stevenbergom3415]

Thank you! I truly enjoy learning how we got from there to here. I have been enlightened.

[@whdrawing3863]

Why am I watching this? I don’t play the violin. I don’t own a bow.

[@carlosmacmartin4205]

Same here. Interesting video.

[@MrPHart]

Because we are all musical!

[@claudineesait]

But now you know more about the subject, isn't that enriching? also, cool

[@carlosmacmartin4205]

@@claudineesait Yes ma'am! 😆

[@mistermangoman69]

KZbin is gonna give me ads about an app that teaches you violin for the next year now

[@chadharuouyehara5443]

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!

[@ViolinViolaMasterclass]

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

[@isaacsmusicalworld2317]

Whoa! This is the best video of violin bows ever so far!

[@jesperhansen9399]

She and her violin sounds so beautiful.

[@liamnevilleviolist1809]

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.

[@theoldleafybeard]

You have a superb style and humor! Hahaha, thank you very much, what a precious video.

[@user-ov2kx8ql5i]

The first bow is literally a bow .

[@luismlex2886]

So it was an actual bow before huh

[@frosty9750]

How the bow got it's name:

[@azureNotsure]

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)

[@idraote]

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.

[@CubicCube17]

Looks so sacreligious to me

[@frzisfrvr]

s a c r e l i g i o u s

[@CubicCube17]

Twoset gang join here

[@CubicCube17]

@Stamatis Taramas yes. Huge fan of them

[@Segen_Bell]

Yay, two set!

[@CubicCube17]

Thanks for the likes

[@snakekeeper2073]

That is an impressive looking violin, i want to know more about it!

[@naurthanks6122]

YOUR ACCENT IS SO SATISFYING I CANT-

[@DanceMyStyle]

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!

[@cocolunaire6394]

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.

[@Rik77]

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.

[@bobreminick4699]

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

[@strike5012]

Amazing video of violin bows

[@linnahoogers2080]

Why did this get recommended to me and why is this now my comfort video

[@willreed1699]

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!

Thank you for this. Going to share it with my students right now

[@enriquemtzg.6856]

Thanks for sharing the video Teacher 👌

[@vrai3078]

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.

[@BonaparteBardithion]

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.

[@nigeladams8321]

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

[@vrai3078]

@@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

[@whatabouttheearth]

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.

[@CharlesProoth]

Thank you Henrietta! Your video is very interesting.

[@monicacall7532]

Thank you! I’m sharing this video with my students.

[@AdrianLopez-sb7eo]

Interesting to see a modern violin bow with a rounded frog. That's something you typically see in viola and cello bows, but not so much violin bows.

[@ooooohjeez2020]

what a wonderful British accent! the music is wonderful

[@Lucygeno]

Nice explanation, thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience

[@Pionike]

Mystery behind the frog name solved

[@coolaznboy98]

Where’s twoset violin? 😂

[@abram2730]

LMAOOOO

[@scalabekbek5681]

Include olaf in this!

[@ashleylai6509]

I was just about to comment this damn it

[@thelookingcat]

@@ashleylai6509 I swear I read gordan ramsey

[@joseleonido3479]

@@thelookingcatHOW

[@TonyBittner-Collins]

Renaissance and baroque bows are my favourite.

[@kokeskokeskokes]

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.

[@BadViola]

Ooh, I would love to try that twig bow! ❤

[@commontater8630]

Well then, get yourself a twig and a piece of string.

[@ChloeTalks]

Okay! 😅

[@MrPHart]

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.

[@yaakovrubinstein4981]

Wonderful. Thank you!

[@jancello]

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)!

[@thefilmtube659]

🔥So So edifying thank you🔥

[@mal5256]

I can't tell if the music sounded better to me with the older bow or I just liked the songs better

[@MrPino]

Not only was the bow "historically correct", she was playing a baroque violin. Here's why it sounds better😂

[@xXAnni3LuvsYhuXx]

@@MrPino so why didn’t she change violin 😂

[@MrPino]

@@xXAnni3LuvsYhuXx she did

[@TheCreate78]

She plays on gut strings, which makes the sound different, and better. :p

[@MrPino]

@@TheCreate78 yeah, also that

[@jennymatthew3268]

This is so interesting so educational!

[@Ostsol]

Kinda interesting how Eastern bowed instruments stuck with tensioning the horse hair by hand, rather than with the bow itself.

[@melodyanimations485]

I love how shes called a violin

[@jordanlake471]

Twinkle twinkle little star... the first song learned on violin

[@UniversalDirp]

Ive been wondering for a long time, even tho im a pianist. Thank you

[@johannsebastianbeanz3690]

Hi are u the universal dirp on discord? BTW I'm @the violinist 😎🎻

[@UniversalDirp]

@@johannsebastianbeanz3690 yes ik

[@MelissaMoyaA]

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. :)

[@bananamilk2201]

Alright. Now practice with that bow for 40hours a day

[@xt5370]

Who are the singers at the end who sing “Please Subscribe?” They sound great!

[@stoic1962]

Realise this is quite an old thread. When comparing different bows for different periods and composers, Bach is a notable omission. Similar on other KZbin videos on the same topic. What type of bow would you use of solo Bach?

[@Cellottia]

Aha! Not the bouncy green amphibian, but the bouncy shock absorber in an equine hoof! I always wondered why it was called a frog, but never made the connection with horses' hooves, despite having cleaned out a few in my time; not surprising really, as it no longer has that shape. (I'm not sure I saw the likeness in the original, to tell the truth!) I was also surprised that the standardisation of bows took place so early. (Were viola, cello and bass bows all standardised at the same time?) Thanks for this quick summary of the evolution of the bow, it was very interesting 👍💐💐

[@Cellottia]

I'd not noticed the Baroque bow hold, but saw it clearly here. And I am already subscribed, but the request at the end would have won my subscription anyway!

[@Andi-xp7de]

The best channel

[@rachmaninoff900]

that’s absolutely crazy!

[@ronwade5433]

Amazing bow hand.

[@darirumusic]

You tone on the first bow is better than mine right now

[@MiltonBlancoMusico]

EXCELENTE, MUCHAS GRACIAS

[@christinamorton953]

This is wonderful- wondering why the bow is so pointed at the tip. It feels like a weapon. (And can be in my classroom!)

[@johnny_eth]

For aerodynamics. If you play really fast, you get less tired.

[@anonymousdratini]

It’s so you can poke your stand partner in the eye if they start getting off beat.

[@will2998]

I don't even play strings and this seems interesting

[@greenviolist34]

Fabulous!

[@chrisharrison809]

This is so good!!!!

[@Hecticatia]

“Hey I’m a bit bored there’s no one to shoot from the tower, by the way do you still have that weird little guitar looking thing?”

[@itzumetric]

Why is her violin's fingerboard so short

[@ab-zg8pt]

It's a baroque violin, they have shorter ones.

[@BearKamus]

Que hermosura!

[@CamOp3r4t3r]

Lovely

[@ameirrivas1018]

I subscribed because of the beautiful song at the last part of the video😅😂

[@tejaspatel6965]

You know you cant put mending and infinity on the same bow

[@sifridbassoon]

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? 🙂

[@LemonEyesNL]

Amazing video

[@cello9015]

The first bow makes the violin sound like a viola

[@louiscouperin3731]

or a chainsaw

[@TheCreate78]

Because it sounds deeper?

[@ttaibe]

The subscribe was awesone ^^

[@kc6326]

I subscribed!!! :) lovely video!

[@Paraglidecrete]

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 !!!

[@giangvu7902]

Very interesting video

[@scrwbll19]

Seeing the last bow shown was from seemingly around the time of Beethoven, have there been any other changes to the bow since that time period? It seems that something would have happened during the 1800s, especially since that period was when instrument makers tried expanding the range of instruments or making variations of them. (Feel free to correct me. It has been some time since I took music history.)

[@scrwbll19]

@@JohnyG29 That may be true, but I am still curious to know what kinds of small changes have occurred. As a musician myself, I can attest to the fact that sometimes the seemingly most insignificant things can greatly affect how and instrument plays and/or sounds.

[@MarkHatlestad]

@@scrwbll19 While there is still a lot of subtle variation within bows (each piece of wood is different, and different weight distribution can strongly affect playability and resonance of the stick affecting tone), they tend to stick to the same general formula. The only big technological difference that sometimes occurs is the use of silver at the tip of the bow in lieu of ivory/plastic to affect the weight distribution.

[@scrwbll19]

@@MarkHatlestad Does the use of silver versus ivory or plastic affect the tone, intonation, or ability to play certain styles (i.e., staccato versus legato) at all? By the way, I play clarinet and guitar, so that is where I am coming from, if that helps any.

[@AyaanAhmad]

​@@scrwbll19 In your question you asked about bows affecting intonation. Everything to do with intonation is in the left hand and doesn't really involve the right hand, so a different bow wouldn't actually affect intonation. Like you mentioned, some bows will be drastically easier or harder to do different bow strokes with, such as ricochet, spicatto or stacatto. I don't know to what extent the use of ivory or other materials as opposed to silver will affect the overall tone, but from my experience, the material itself won't affect this too much. Just recently, I tried a bow with a frog made from tortoise shell. Bows with a frog made from a material like this are pretty rare and not played much anymore. Although this frog looked really nice, I will admit I didn't really love the sound it made when comparing it to other "normal" bows, and I found it quite heavy. Hope this helped :) **Just to be clear, I am not in any way an expert on violin bows. I just happen to have some experience playing the violin so don't flame me too hard if I say something wrong lol

[@ThomasDawkins88]

@@scrwbll19 For a while, bows made of carbon fibre were rather a joke for serious musicians but they make some very good ones now, and I know players in major orchestras who use them because they're consistent and much cheaper than great wooden bows, and they also don't use wood that is becoming scarcer and harder to source ethically. But the shape is the same as the Tourte bow.

[@ivoryconsort]

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.

[@Zhiakyun]

"Lovely"

[@kuuderepiano2988]

Now imagine bows in 200 years, I wonder how they would look like and how they would perform Man, we need a time machine..

[@BonaparteBardithion]

Part of that is going to be affected by the instrument itself. Right now standard bows are used for electric violins, but the violins themselves have a wildly different shape that could lend themselves to entirely new bowing techniques and new bows to accommodate them.

[@kuuderepiano2988]

@@BonaparteBardithion Yep

[@AntonioVivaldi1678]

Ok WHY is she holding her violin on her shoulder like that?

[@tinovanderzwanphonocave544]

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.

[@haddiering3381]

is she using a certain bow hold?

[@orca9890]

The Dominant string: Don’t! Don’t touch me with that!! Ahhhhhhhhh---

[@bluelanterns2589]

Nice baroque bow hold.

[@ShivKumar-jt2qq]

No mention of Central Asian origins? How’d it get to Europe?

[@therealzilch]

Yep. As a bowmaker, I find that the more interesting part of the history- not after 1500, but before.

[@jeremyho6221]

Did anyone notice how short her fingerboard was??

[@TheCreate78]

Yes, baroque violin.

[@supdograinbarff1460]

Epic

[@DiamondSG]

Bowhold is baroque style in case anyone is wondering

[@lilybutikofer7051]

Or an amazing violinists!!

[@sabella1841]

ayo here before twoset

[@Cellosong2007]

I feel like longer bows have warmer and softer sound.