What does bow hold mean in music?

Bowing & articulation

Bow hold

Also: bow grip

The bow hold is the way the right hand contacts the bow, a flexible, curved grip that lets the fingers absorb pressure changes rather than locking them out.

Violin, viola, and cello use variants of a hold in which the thumb bends outward against the frog and the fingers drape over the stick at slight angles. The double bass has two competing traditions: the French bow is held overhand much like a cello bow, and the German or Butler bow is held underhand, more like a saw handle.

Whatever the school, the shared requirement is flexibility. A locked thumb or a straight index finger transmits arm tension straight into the string and produces a scratchy, uncontrolled tone at any dynamic above mezzo-forte. This is the one element of string technique that genuinely benefits from a teacher physically checking it, because the difference between a functional and a damaging hold is not always visible to the player.

Détaché: Détaché is the basic string bowing in which each note gets its own bow stroke, changing direction between notes while the bow stays on the string.
Martelé: Martelé is a strongly accented bow stroke that begins with a sharp bite of pressure, releases into a fast stroke, and stops on the string before the next note.
Spiccato: Spiccato is a controlled bouncing bow stroke in which the bow leaves the string between notes, producing short, light, clearly separated sounds.
Rosin: Rosin is the hardened tree resin applied to bow hair to create the friction that makes a string speak; without it the bow slides silently across the string.

Every term in this glossary is taught in context somewhere in Arco's curricula, on the staff, on the keyboard, and on your own fingerboard at the same time.

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