Measurement of bow motion and bow force in violin playing

Abstract

A simple piece of equipment which makes it possible to simultaneously register the motion of the violin bow and the downward force on the string (‘‘bow pressure’’) under normal playing conditions is described. Registrations of various bowing gestures in violin playing obtained with the equipment are presented and discussed.

A Low-Cost Real-Time Tracking System for Violin

“…In the 1970s Max Mathews used analog filters to simulate violin body resonances in an early electric violin (Mathews and Kohut, 1973) and in the mid-1980s Askenfelt (1986) developed a strain gauge system for measuring bow force and position, using it to study bowing technique.…”

“…Askenfelt tackled both of these problems in pioneering full violin tracking work. Adding a resistance wire in amongst the bow hair, placing strain gauges on the bow and later electrifying the strings allowed bow position, pressure, velocity, and bow-bridge distance to be captured together (Askenfelt, 1986(Askenfelt, , 1989. Bow tracking developments continued with the Hyper Cello which used an antenna to drive a resistive strip along the bow thereby tracking bow position and bow-bridge distance (Paradiso and Gershenfeld, 1997).…”

Static model of a violin bow: Influence of camber and hair tension on mechanical behavior

“…Although the bow force generally remains low when playing near the tip, it may well reach values around 1.5 N in this part of the bow 33 . A comparison with a linear case, indicated by dotted lines in Figure 9 can be made.…”

The influence of cellist's postural movements on their musical expressivity

“…Parmi ceux-ci, trois paramètres sont dits primaires, car ils déterminent particulièrement la nature du son produit [Askenfelt 1986, Askenfelt 1988, Guettler 2002] :…”

“…Pour le violon par exemple, [Askenfelt 1986] a mis en évidence que le niveau de tension perçu dans le phrasé musical est directement corrélé aux paramètres physiques de l'archet. En effet, par comparaison entre deux interpréta-tion douce et agressive d'une même musique, la version agressive comporterait davantage de changements abrupts et une valeur moyenne plus élevée de la force d'archet.…”