Unclipping the bow hair in performance

March 29, 2011 at 04:29 PM ·

I wonder if anyone can shed some light on this?

I'm trying to figure out if the guy in this video has a special bow that unclips or whether he's just modified it himself so he can dismantle it - I really want to try it!

In case the video link doesn't work for any reason - about 30 seconds in he unclips the bow hair from the frog apparently by unwinding it, and then plays all four strings with the stick of the bow under the violin body, with the hair stretched across all the strings! I'd heard of people doing this with baroque bows but then I thought there was some sort of lever and the bow stick was bent to allow the hair to bend more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLhExserrbQ

Replies (5)

Jo Parker

March 29, 2011 at 04:59 PM ·

I don't want to try it.......................eeeek

Y Cheung

March 29, 2011 at 06:34 PM ·

It is just a regular bow. He took off the frog, wrapped the hair over the strings, and clamped the frog to the bow stick with his hand. (Don't try this with your treasured bow!)

Chuan Yun Li pulled the same stunt at a Great Wall Academy concert:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSqiYSDFd7g

Rebecca Hopkins

April 9, 2011 at 04:46 PM ·

Now I know what those $50 bows are for!

David Sanderson

April 9, 2011 at 06:43 PM ·

This is an old trick; the alternative is to have a bow haired long enough to place the stick underneath and the hair on all four strings. I've seen it mostly as and old time/country stunt, but it's obviously hard to resist everywhere.

We should observe here that trick/comedic violin routines are in some sense a part of the insturment's history, prominent in vaudeville for one thing. Do a Youtube search for "trick violin" for a batch of videos; try "Wilbur Hall" for examples of a professional vaudeville performer. Then there's Joe Venuti's piece from 1927 or thereabouts, "Four-String Joe." Charles Ross Taggart did a number of recordings, comic monologues; but he was notable on the Chautauqua circuit for his trick fiddling. And one suspects Paganini of being close to the line between virtuosity and tricks....

Casey Jefferson

April 10, 2011 at 02:22 AM ·

This is cool too.