With the slow rise of reputable german bow makers, Sue Lipkins and Robert Dow, how could french bow possibly survive the onslaught of a superior tool? Power, finesse, and a sautille that just can't be rivaled. Start selling the Sartorys and Fetiques now, before they are worth nothing. Do others agree or will you always belong to the dark side?
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Double Bass French Bow Will Be Dead in 20 Years
- Thread starter professorslinky
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There will always be both bows.
Each has their advantages and are a large part of why certain bass sections sound the way they do. You will rarely see a german bow player in the Philadelphia Orchestra section or a french bow player in the New York Philharmonic. You do see it but those types of playing are more natural on their respective bows.
Each has their advantages and are a large part of why certain bass sections sound the way they do. You will rarely see a german bow player in the Philadelphia Orchestra section or a french bow player in the New York Philharmonic. You do see it but those types of playing are more natural on their respective bows.
- May 6, 2003
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- Proprietor Fifth Avenue Fret Shop. Technical Editor Bass Gear Magazine
when i learned how to bow (earlier this year) i had a choice and i went with german because it felt much better (and because i knew paul chambers played german...kinda helped me decide haha) and EVERY other bass player at my school plays french, and i was told about ten times by other players that i was holding my bow wrong, because they'd never even seen a german bow before. so i think if any other high schools are like mine, i think french bowing will be taught almost exclusively and therefore contribute to the livelihood of the technique.
...german is totally better though haha
...german is totally better though haha
What's the point here?
No Point, really. Just a high school kid (my guess is 13-16 y.o.) making an outrageous claim to get a rise out of someone. Where's that troll picture?
If French bow is dead in 20 years, then we might as well predict the end of human curiosity with it.
Most of the time, I think of these threads as a little dissonance to wake us up from the trance this board finds itself in most of the time.
It's kinda fun to get a little jack-in-the-box surprise every now and then.
It's kinda fun to get a little jack-in-the-box surprise every now and then.
Roger Scott dictated an all french section and hopefully this will change in the next few auditions under Hal Robinson. And if I'm correct there are one or two french bow players in NY. And you can achieve the same sound on both bows, but german sounds better obviously. And lastly I didn't know the circus was in town.
Ah well, the world loves a dreamer. I'm sure Henry Ford was pretty set in his convictions when he decided to name a car after his son Edsel.
I think German is the better bow - mainly because both grips work better on German than French. You can do a lot with either grip and it is best to have a working knowledge of both.
Interesting to note changes in sections' styles. I have been watching the Bernstein/NY Philharmonic "Concerts for Young People" series with my four-year-old daughter. These shows, filmed in the '50's and 60's provide some pretty inspirational samples of Robert Brennand, Fred Zimmerman, and the rest of the section in their prime, nailing it (thanks, Netflix).
Point here is that nearly everybody in the section then was playing French. No, its not "evolution" (and support for the "extinction" premise). I believe that it is the revolving door of fashion and the influence of key Principals/teachers/virtuosi.
To seriously answer this question, no matter how much superior the German bow is (in anyones opinion or by technological advances), the French bow will ALWAYS exist for two reasons. 1. Anyone who gets there start on cello, will almost inevitably play french, becaus it is very similar to the cello bow hold, 2. some thing like 80%(thats my guess not fact) of elementary, middle and high school orchestra teachers are violinist, violists or cellists. And they general have never seen a German bow before, and if they have they probably don't know how to hold it. This is why there will always be a need for the French bow. Personally I play both and am proficient with both, but the got to bow for me right now is German.
This, combined with the fact that most ed majors aren't even required to learn bass at all makes "treat it like a big cello" a common approach among educators at school. Hell, my high school only owned a german bow and I was told to hold it overhand when I started off.
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