The Bowed String

Abstract

Primarily from the point of view of the player, the various aspects of the behavior of the bowed string will be considered: the form of its vibration, the parameters of bow position, velocity, and “pressure”; maximum and minimum pressure and their relationship to tone production, starting conditions, efficiency of the “stick-slip” process as a generator, and effects of stiffness in the string. Some observations of particle velocity made by electromagnetic pickup along the string will be shown, along with measurement of the spectrum; and the recorded sounds evoked by cello strings alone, without the corpus of the instrument, will be compared with those from the normal cello.