The Bow Grip

(In other words, the proper control of the bow.)

The ability to transfer the forces of our arm to the bow, to execute complex “lever actions” at any moment, and to differentiate between them according to the desired bowstroke and expression depends intrinsically on the manner in which the right hand holds the bow.

The most purposeful arm movement is useless if the bow grip does not ensure that all partial forces and movements can act upon the bow unimpeded. Every tonal nuance requires finely graded muscular action, which must be transmitted directly and without hindrance to the wood of the bow stick at the frog. A rigid bow grip impedes the transmission of force. To understand the correct bow hold, we must first consider the functions performed by the individual parts of the bow-holding hand. The following experiment helps us with this: hold your hand with the palm facing upward so that the palm and all the fingers including the thumb form a uniform, gentle curve, not completely outstretched, as if we wanted to take something in the hand. Now, spread the four fingers^[1] moderately apart, while the thumb comes into opposition to the fingers, as if it were about to hold an object in the palm of the hand!

Next, place the bow across the tips of the four fingers so that the second and third fingers move closer together and rest on the upper end of the frog, where the empty space between the end of the frog and the silver winding is located. The tip of the third finger extends slightly beyond the edge of the hair and the ferrule. Together with the tip of the second finger, it fills the flat surface of the frog. Thus, both fingers form one support point of the bow hold. On the other side, the thumb presses against the stick of the bow. It rests on the wood at the point where the pad of the thumb opposes the cushion of the third finger’s end joint. The thumb’s contact with the bow is about one-third on the stick and about two-thirds on the frog. The pad of the last joint of the little finger rests on the stick of the bow. The index finger contacts the stick in the crease between its last joint and middle joint, both at roughly equal distances from the middle fingers. In this position, the last joint of the little finger is more stretched out than those of the other fingers; in contrast, the index and middle fingers are slightly curved at all joints.

In this starting position, every part of the hand should be loose and relaxed. Not one joint should feel overly strained. All the joints should have a slight inwards curve.

A slight, uniform tension exists throughout all parts of the hand. Imagine a line that connects two contact points: the point where the thumb touches and bow, and the point where the second and third fingers touch the bow. (In reality, they are not really “points,” more like “areas.”) We call this imaginary line the “playing axis.” (Of course, a strict mathematical axis does not exist here, as the points of force application are never exactly the same.)

The concept of the playing axis is indispensable for understanding the process of movement here. If we now turn the bow around so that the back of the hand is facing upwards and stretch it out in a horizontal direction, we notice that the little finger has the function of forming a counterweight against the long lever arm from the pivot point in the axis to the tip of the bow. Even when not actually pressing down on the strings, the bow needs some counterforce from the little finger to the right of the pivot point. This seems quite natural—the lever force stays gentle when the fingers involved stay loose and any unnecessary pressure in the axis is avoided.

Let us now rotate the entire forearm, including the hand (keep it in the same position on the bow) in a clockwise circular movement. As we continue to rotate, the palm of the bow-holding hand moves upward, and the bow approaches a horizontal position again (i.e. we have rotated it 180 degrees). We call this rotation of the forearm from the elbow joint “supination.”

We can also rotate the bow in the opposite direction, but only by about 90 degrees at most, by pressing down on the frog with the little finger. In the first case, the pivot point of the entire system was at the elbow joint. Now the pivot point is in the bow itself, specifically in the axis. The little finger presses on the frog, acting as a lever between the axis and where the little finger touches the bow stick.

This same rotation can work in both directions. The arm can rotate as a whole at the elbow while keeping the finger positions on the bow unchanged. We call this lengthwise forearm rotation toward the thumb side “pronation.”

When holding the bow horizontally in the air, just releasing the little finger is enough to make the bow rotate left through its own weight. The little finger acts like a brake lever, determining how much the bow swings out. If you completely release the little finger from the bow stick, the bow will will fall with the tip pointing downwards.

These possibilities for movement and rotation are the foundation of relaxed bow technique. Under these conditions, the little finger alone is enough to rotate the bow in the vertical plane. But imagine the bow is supported at any point—for example, by resting it on the string. Now relaxing the pressure from the little finger will make the weight of the bow stick effective, but you need enough pressure (like what is needed to produce forte dynamics) to make this work. It is not enough just to ease up; it requires the application of force, which the index finger must exert in the direction of pronation.

We can measure this force by placing the bow at any point on the hair and trying to press it down. Notice that to achieve the same effect at the tip, the effort from the hand and arm must increase significantly. For cello playing, this means we must increase the force we apply to get the same volume. (See Jahn, Fundamentals of Natural Bowing on the Violin, p. 19 ff.).

The index finger’s function on the bow stick is to exert pressure on it through the short lever between the playing axis and the place where the index finger contacts the stick. This pressure is transmitted through the hair to the string, creating a reaction force that creates the friction we need for tone production.

Think of this as a lever system: the grip (the playing axis) is the fulcrum, the index finger pushes down on one side, and the bow hair presses on the string on the other side. The distance from the index finger to the fulcrum always stays the same. But the distance from the fulcrum to where the bow contacts the string changes as we play closer to the tip or frog.

Because of how levers work, there’s a direct mathematical relationship between the index finger pressure and how far the sounding point between bow and string is from the bow hand. When you move the bow toward the tip, the distance from your hand to the sounding point increases, so you must increase your index finger pressure proportionally to maintain the same bow pressure on the string. When you move toward the frog, this distance decreases, so you must reduce your index finger pressure. This means consistent tone production requires constantly adjusting your finger pressure based on where you’re bowing. Playing toward the tip demands the most effort because you’re working with the longest lever arm. Therefore, when moving the bow toward the tip, the index finger pressure must increase proportionally as the distance from bowing point to playing axis increases. Conversely, when moving toward the frog, it must decrease to maintain consistent pressure on the string, which is necessary for continuous tone production. Making a crescendo toward the tip therefore requires the greatest expenditure of force.

The pronation force can be expressed in two ways. The index finger can work together with the middle hand and forearm to exert pressure (the so-called forearm rotation).

Second, the index finger can work in the same way as the little finger, rotating from the knuckle joint onto the stick. Then the pivot point of the entire system is not at the elbow joint, but in the axis of the frog.

Without going into the complicated relationships of both force application variants, let me say this: natural and purposeful pronation force never occurs when we move the index finger around the bow stick while playing. The hand on the bow acts as an intermediary, a flexible link between arm and bow. It can only meet the mechanical requirements of a coupled joint connection when it transfers the arm’s force uninhibited while simultaneously giving the bow the greatest possible freedom of movement.

If we think of the hand as the link between the arm and the bow, we need to remember that the hand is not rigid. It consists of the wrist, the joints where fingers connect to the hand, all the finger joints, and the thumb joint. All these separate joints work together as one flexible system. This allows the hand to smoothly transfer force and movement from the arm to the bow, while still being flexible enough to make precise adjustments. In this sense, the various anatomical joints unite—from the fingertips to the wrist—into a functional unit for transmitting force and movement from the arm to the bow.