# Frog (English; Italian: al tallone)

Source: https://arcosounds.com/glossary/frog
Also known as: heel, nut, al tallone, au talon

**The frog is the block at the hand end of the bow that holds the hair and carries the screw mechanism; playing at the frog means using the heaviest part of the bow, nearest the hand.**

Because the bow is heavier and less flexible near the frog, notes played there are naturally louder and more accented, and the arm has the most leverage. Composers and editors write al tallone or au talon when they want that weight, typically for a heavy accented chord or a marcato passage that needs to bite.

The opposite end is the tip or point, where the bow is lightest and the player must supply weight from the arm instead. Learning to make the two ends sound the same is one of the durable technical projects of string playing.

The frog also carries the screw that tensions the hair, and the slide and ferrule that keep the ribbon of hair flat. It is usually ebony, and it is the part most often damaged when a bow is dropped.

Canonical source: https://arcosounds.com/glossary/frog