Bow guide

As a sheet guide (see also bow pose ) is called to handle the bow of string instruments , usually with the right hand, which is the game just as important as the fingering , so the activity of the other hand which shortens the strings (attacks). Depending on whether the bow is held by hand from above or below, one speaks of bow guidance in the upper or lower grip. With today's orchestral instruments violin, viola and violoncello, the bowing in the upper grip is common. Both bow guides are possible with the double bass, in Germany the bow guide in the underhand grip is common and is therefore called the German bow guide. In contrast, the double bass bowing in the upper grip is called French bowing. Further examples of instruments with bowing in the underhand grip are the viol , but also the Chinese erhu .

The purity of the tone or the pitch depends on the application, everything else depends on the bowing, namely the softness or hardness of the tone, expression , type of performance ( staccato , legato , etc.).

As long as the bow does not leave the strings, the game appears tied (legato), even when changing the bow; Various kinds of unbound talk are caused by the independent stopping and starting of each tone with constant or constantly changing sheet guide actual staccato, further the game with jumping sheet ( spiccato ) and the loosest caused by sheet guide Virtuosenstaccato ( transplanting ).

A distinction in the sheet guide to smear or down stroke or Herstrich and the spread or Up bar or Hinstrich .

In orchestras care is taken to ensure that all string groups with the same voice lead also play with uniform lines; therefore the bow lines are also drawn precisely into the individual note parts (this is called “setting up” the parts). Usually, the change in the direction of the stroke is only indicated by arcs drawn over the notes. The conductor Leopold Stokowski broke with this tradition and granted the orchestra musicians individual freedom in bowing in order to achieve a fuller sound.