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RE: The Piccolo Violin: A forgotten instrument
This was such an informative and enjoyable post, @bengy
My little emerging violinist will certainly soak all this up and have lots of questions for his instructor this afternoon - I imagine they both will have a hearty conversation about it ;)
I noticed in the first video how the bow is held differently - that is interesting!
Great that you noticed the different bow hold! The viol family (gambas) had more strings than the violin family, and they were also fretted. In addition, they used a underhanded bow grip (which still exists for some double bass players), whilst the violin family (including cellos) developed an overhanded bow grip that allowed for more power. Although, in the early Baroque there were different variants of the overhanded bow grips, and these were not standardised until the French schools of later periods.
So interesting, @bengy Really enjoying your knowledge and wisdom.
How to hold the bow was a biggy for my son - why I noticed. He didn't have range of motion after his surgeries so he had to develop that - so this became the 'center' of his violin playing for quite a while. Important part of playing - holding the bow correctly.
Seems like the underhanded bow would make it more difficult especially when playing sixteenth notes...maybe they didn't?
You would be pretty surprised! The bow is lighter and the mode of sound production uses speed of bow rather than weight of contact! As a result, they are more agile but less powerful!
Listening.....@bengy So beautiful. Love the deeper tones and emotion. Will continue listening to the end. "More agile but less powerful"...yes :)
Thank you so much for taking the time to share this and your knowledge/love of music. I truly, truly appreciate it.
And congratulations on your c-squared support. Much deserved!