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(6 votes) 
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It keeps slipping my mind to ask everyone (Violinist, Violists & Cellists) about this!
How do YOU decide & measure the amount of bow hair tension to play with?
Yeah, it's VERY personal... a lot of variables involved between player & instrument, so I'm interested in YOUR point of view!
When I began learning to play it seemed I only needed to consider a pencil, or 'pinky' diameter - for the space between my stick & the hair... and also a little 'pressure check' to ensure I wouldn't 'bottom out' against the stick.
Things changed when I bought my Arcus Viola bow (a little over a year and a half ago). The Arcus seemed more sensitive (?) to fairly small hair tension adjustments I made - not only effecting play-ability, but also tone.
Found myself going beyond the little 'pressure checks' I used to do, to somewhat more customizing for what I felt like playing. I tried different tensions depending on what type of music, possible bow strokes, AND which strings I'd play on - usually worth a few seconds for me to think about.
🤔... I also try to adjust 'my bowing' for those SAME 3 reasons! Think I'm just trying to stay aware of what's going on - BOND? Okay, I said it. 😳 The bow has become more than a tool for me! 😱
...how about YOU?
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It's not just personal, it depends on the bow too. I've got a JonPaul Carrera which was supposed to be stiff, but turned out to be flexible. I try to keep the hair fairly tight to make it resemble the stiff version more, but it tends to stiffen up during the course of playing, so I wind it down a little after a while to the clichéd pencil-wide gap. I just aim at having the hair almost touch the stick in the middle of the bow when I'm using maximum pressure.
I've seen pro orchestras on TV where a violinist's gap was a good inch. Maybe the wood was just too flexible due to old age?
Andrew
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For me it sounds and also feels different if the tension is wrong, regardless of the bow I have never used the pencil idea to measure a gap.
Cant beat a sunny day
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I think I've always had a gap wider than a pencil. I'm not sure where that "rule" comes from, even though I've read it multiple times. Maybe it's just meant to give a basis for beginners?
Same as you, I adjust the tension so that the wood doesn't touch the strings while playing, and it depends on the type of music. Yes, it makes difference to the sound and playability. When I find myself having trouble getting the notes out easily, sometimes a little change to the bow tension solves it.
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I like it fairly tight, with a slightly wider gap than the usual “pencil” recommendation -- maybe 1/2 inch. The tight hair seems to give me better control than looser.
I’m mostly self-taught so I don’t really know much about this. I guess that if I were properly trained, I would have better technique and thus be able to use looser hair. I imagine that looser hair may offer more options in bowing -- something like the old baroque bows.
But that’s just what I think. I could be wrong -- and often am!
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For me, it depends on what kind of music I'm playing. With Baroque and Classical music, I like my bow hair a bit looser, which I think gives the bow a little more flexibility. For Romantic and later music, I tend to prefer tighter bow hair, which allows me to dig into the string more.
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@Gordon Shumway -
Thanks for mentioning there's a difference in bows!
Bow sticks play a HUGE part in the 'variables' I was thinking of! Brands, stiffness, wood vs CF, faceted vs. round shape, etc... even the hair type/grade and condition (new vs. worn) makes a difference when choosing what tension to have for the best sound & play-ability.
@wtw -
When I find myself having trouble getting the notes out easily, sometimes a little change to the bow tension solves it.
I think this is a VERY important point! Thank you!
@stringy , @Strabo , @AndrewH -
Great points!
Thank you for letting me know your thoughts on bow hair tension!
I don't see where anyone ever talks about it, but I hope more folks see this as an opportunity for exploration.
It's interesting that early Baroque bows had to have tension adjusted by how far a detachable frog could be wedged in place.
One of the most interesting bows I've seen is used to play Pontian Lyra/Kemenche/Rebec, around the Mediterranean - has NO frog! Hair is just wrapped up where the frog would normally be - so the hand constantly adjusts tension by pressing/pushing on the hair! Can you imagine... as if our bowing hand doesn't already have enough to do!
Or...
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And further to what Andrew says, I've heard of people loosening their bowhair if the music requires much triple stopping. I've been wanting for a while to see what effect bow tension has on expressivity, but I haven't tried it methodically yet. And if I had a carrera stiff, there'd be no need.
Andrew
Verified human - the ignominy!
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