15/05/2012Fast, sharp and unrelenting, he is considered one of the most ruthless and dangerous predators of his era. Absolute ruler of his territory, almost no one could rival Eugène Sartory! What did you expect ? Have you thought I was talking about the famous Cretaceous dinosaur ?
08/05/2012According to a Tuscanian proverb "All poets miss a verse," , but at a first glance it seems that the "poet" Sartory, has all verses, although deepening the story of his life we realize that he is missing something, even if he is completely not-guilty about it.
Violin bow tortoise and gold Eugène Sartory Read More ...
02/05/2012Obviously I apologize to the Master for my tiny plagiarism, but it fits perfectly to many craftsmen who worked in the penultimate historical period of French bowmaking. These, too, as Vitangelo Moscarda, had "one " fire brand, that turned in "no one " through the "hundred thousand" hands of those who had worked on it.
Violin bow Eugéne Cuniot aka "Cuniot-Hury"
24/04/2012The bowmaking history, especially the French one , is characterized by the presence of families who handed down the job from father to son , they changed shape from creaftmen into small companies, which solidified remaining on the market for more than a century as the Bazins. Well, even if the Thomassins were three of them and they all came from the same family strain, their work development is very special.
Violin bow in ebony and gold Claude Auguste Thomassin
17/04/2012Superficially the Vignerons may appear as one of the many craftsmen families who worked in the French bowmaking world in the nineteenth century, where fathers trained the sons who would have carried on the profession. And, in a sense, it is like this for them as well, but in a unique way. Cello bow André Vigneron "Fils" 1905/10 Read More ...
11/04/2012
The change of style and mechanic introduced in the mid-50s of the nineteenth century by Francois Nicolas Voirin was indeed a real revolution in which only a few managed to not be involved , Joseph Arthur Vigneron Pére was one of these!
Violin bow Joseph Arthur Vigneron Pére
03/04/2012Very often in my previous blogs, I dwelled in dealing with the style of each individual author thoroughly: bevels, throats, wedges, sight defects, etc.., etc.., etc. .. In other ones I explained what are the differences between an ancient and a modern curve, completely forgetting to talk you about the connecting link between stylistic and mechanic: the geometry. Violin head - Dominique Peccatte
28/03/2012Even for this family of craftsmen, such as Peccatte's one but with less damage, one tends to confuse or hide with tricks aimed at distorting reality, who really are the authors of the bows, gathering them all under the big umbrella of the surname LAMY. But while Peccattes were more or less all relatives, among LAMYS there is also an intruder!
Hippolyte Camille Lamy - Violin Bow
20/03/2012
Studying bowmaking history, as after all all human manifestations, we realize that there are key characters who act as a link between various historical periods, without whom the evolution would have been much slower or would even have stopped. Joseph Alfred Lamy "Père" is a classic example.
13/03/2012
What you see below, besides being a beautiful violin bow, it represents for me a small reason of satisfaction, and now I will tell you the story from the beginning.
Violin bow by Jean Joseph Martin 1880/85
06/03/2012This week we play a new game: the mysterious object.
28/02/2012
The same musician who allowed me to take a photo to the magnificent Tourte I spoke about last week has, poor guy, even this another wonderf Dominique Peccatte 1840-45; his golden age!
Viola bow - Dominique Peccatte 1840 - 45
21/02/2012Only six. The father of our discipline, Francois Xavier Tourte, has not made many bows, but only six are those ones that reached us today. Here I show just one, probably the most beautiful among them.
Viola bow Francois Xavier Tourte 1820 - 25 Read More ...
14/02/2012I added another valuable piece to my photo collection. The musician who gave me the opportunity to take a pic of the beautiful Dominique Peccatte we spoke about last week, also keep, poor man , a magnificent Nicolas Rémy Maire, so ... here it is!
Violin bow by Nicolas Rémy Maire 1855 - 60
07/02/2012A piece of history! What I was lucky enough to examine and photograph last week, is a real piece of French bowmaking history. Not only Dominique Peccatte, but the most gruesome, true, and pure one !
Violin bow by Dominique Peccatte 1830-35
31/01/2012After having closed the doors of the famous Bazin family , with the death of Charles Alfred occurred in 1987, we take once again a step back to deal with what can rightly be considered the first true multi-national of instruments; the YAMAHA of the nineteenth century!
24/01/2012Charles Nicolas, which might be called the Great , is now an old Grandpa, who spends his days in a corner in his workshop handling horsehair and carrying out small restorations. It is precisely from that corner of the lab he owned and that was handed over to his son that we start telling the last chapter about the history of one of the long-lived bowmakers family ; over 140 years of activity !
Cello bow by Charles Louis Bazin, branded "Vanelli" Read More ...
17/01/2012"How can we speak of the man who is the source of so many of bows of such good quality, without once again evoking Mirecourt and its primordial importance for violinmaking and for French bowmaking?" J.F Raffin - "L'Archet"
09/01/2012After having left behind the ancient period, consisting of individual craftsmen and workshops of excellence, this week we begin to talk about a new phase, just as important for the French bowmaking, that one of the families. We start from the most long-lived one : the Bazins.
20/12/2011Often, as it happens for some other fields, when I study the most important texts about bowmaking history , I find some strange reticence, as if they were not telling me everything. The closer you get to the historical period of Lupot II, the ticker is the fog !
13/12/2011As promised, this week I will show you the other ancient bow, I had the luck to study so to take a picture of it with no rush. This is one of the most beautiful Pajeot I have ever seen.
Violin bow by Etienne Pajeot - 1812
06/12/2011Not so many words are needed to describe the latest two works by M° Daniel Tobias Navea Vera, as you will see, pictures speak for themselves. It is however dutiful to express a thank to whom gave the incipit to the making of these two wonders; Merci monsieur Millant !
30/11/2011During my long wandering , I met two bows of rare beauty. A magnificent Pajeot and the bow I'm going to show you, one of the most beautiful among my favorites: Jean Pierre Marie Persoit. Violin bow J.P.M. Persoit 1820 ca.
22/11/2011Do you remember the beautiful Dominique Peccatte's frog in gold and tortoise mounted on an Eury's stick I showed you last week ? Take a look in which condition it was handled to us for its restoration !
Dominique Peccatte's frog in gold and tortoise; fragments !
16/11/2011It is probably written in my fate, the bows of the great French I handle with , are never fully intact. From Pajeot's cello and to Persot's violin, which we usually rehair and that you know well because they were shown here several times, even if they have two beautiful sticks, the original frog is missing. Also in the beautiful bow I am going to speak about, the frog is not the original one , the difference between this and the other ones lies in the person who created the new one!
02/11/2011Last night I was having a chat with master Ilya Grubert, who asked me why some big bowmakers of the Tourtian age, are unknown to most musicians. The answer is simple, the relationship that existed between Francois Xavier Tourte and his Contemporaries was very similar to that one between Beethoven and Schubert: - I am the God composer personified and you are just a poor composer of dancing halls songs ! -
18/10/2011After more than fifty years of business and having really created the great school of French bows, Jean Baptiste Vuillaume dies on March 19, 1875, bringing with him the grandeur of an era that no one will touch anymore !
Violin bow by Dominique "Justin" Poirson 1890 ca.
11/10/2011Before beginning to talk about one of the first "craftsmen families", I express my thanks to the "Scuola di Musica di Fiesole" which hosted the conference dedicated to the bows and to Dr. Adriana Verchiani who kindly invited me . Furthermore, since one thing leads to another one, I held another one at the "Conservatory Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina" in Cagliari. So I thank also the director of the institute, Prof. Maria Gabriella Artizzu for the hospitality and his friend Francesco Pilia for the kindness, resourcefulness, and curiosity!
Violin bow by Charles Claude Husson
05/10/2011At first I had thought to title the blog as : J.J. Martin, the poor visionary. Quite fitting title for a part of his life. Both statements are true, it was very poor and even visionary, even if they are not sufficient to describe the work of this last Great one .
27/09/2011
Surely some of you know Miles Davis' words: "Jazz died in 1960." Well, believe it or not, even with short resuscitations, watching the bowmaking history, one gets the idea that the bow is dead, obviously not in 1960, but exactly a century earlier!
20/09/2011If what my my father used to say is true, that the sons of the cats chase mice, it is also true that sometimes the sons do not run as fast as the fathers and the mice run away!
13/09/2011The first thing that strikes the attention when you look at Francois Nicolas Voirin's work, is with no doubt the huge development in both style and mechanic he could accomplish. Later on , a second look at his bows, reveals the enormous sensitivity that this man had for the "balance of the shape."
Violin bow F.N.Voirin 1870 ca.
06/09/2011Some time ago, talking with a friend about the bad luck that seems to haunt people, he said to me "- Dear Paul, bad luck is just the excuse of the losers" -Well, I do not totally agree with him, but it is certain that having an exceptional talent, is very often not enough to make life easier and Nicolas Rémy Maire is a clear demonstration of this theory.
30/08/2011"Which bow do you play with ? "- "A Peccatte". "-Yes, but which one ? -" "-Peccatte Peccatte-". "- Dominique? -" "No, not this name, the son -". "- "Well, Dominique Peccatte had no sons, but two females only ! -". "-The brother, it is his brother Charles" "-Excuse me, but Charles was the grandson, his brother was François." "- Well, however, it is always a Peccatte, isn't it ? -". No, and now I'll explain it to you in the same way I did with the owner of that bow! Silver and ebony violin bow Francois Peccatte 1845/50
03/08/2011...and finally here they were ! It has been quite a long gestation, but it was really worth it. Here displayed are M° Navea Vera's three latest creations.
Violin bow in ebony, silver and tortoise by D.T. Navea Vera
26/07/2011"La valeur n'attend pas le nombre des années! " These are the words used by M° J.F. Raffin to describe Joseph Henry who arrived in Paris in 1837 at the age of fourteen, one year in advance than his thirtyish colleague Pierre Simon.
Violin bow by J. Henry in silver and tortoise ca. 1860
19/07/2011Excellent craftsmanship , even if not like Him. Great sense of proportions and geometry, but less intense. Pierre Simon is undoubtedly the only one, after Peccatte of course, who was closer to the great master, although he never reached his level. We can consider him the other side of Dominique Peccatte: the nice one !
Silver and ebony violin bow by Pierre Simon, 1855 ca
12/07/2011Children, brothers, nephews, grandparents, the Malines are really a multitude and almost everyone, had to do with a plane!
21/06/2011NO WORDS NEEDED !
14/06/2011Following nor the Gregorian, neither the Republican calendar , this latter much loved by French revolutionaries, but the Vuillaume's one , this week's post should be dedicated to Nicolas Maline. In a chronological order, he arrived first by J.B.V. 's workshop , but unfortunately I was unable to collect any photo of his bows so I hope to succeed in it next week. So, now: Le Grand Adam !
Violin bow with ebony button without coulisse and slide
07/06/2011Talking about Fonclause, the great masters rank him one or two levels below his well known colleagues we already mentioned, such as : F.X. Tourte, J.P.M. Persoit, E.Pajeot, and, of course, D. Peccatte. But even if it is undeniable that he never reached those heights, it is true that his works own a unique vibrancy and lightness.
31/05/2011
As you already know, in order to establish the authenticity of a bow , the experts base on objective criteria such as the stylistic choices and the sight defects of the craftsman. But the confirmation of this authenticity comes mainly from the character that these forms express and that one of Dominique Peccatte was so strong and dominant, so that although he adopted more than a style, his bows are unmistakable.
Dominique Peccatte's violin bow in gold and tortoise
24/05/2011Brilliant, histrionic, aggressive and angry: Dominique Peccatte, the most controversial and envied craftsman in the history of modern bowmaking.
17/05/2011Describe the character of a person like a Vuillaume, is not an easy task, as already said. Since he is not a craftsman, it is not easy to observe his physical work and get an idea, so I will try to describe him by telling his actions.
Violin Bow J.P.M. Persoit 1820 ca.
02/05/2011The instrument depicted in the photo is 3.85 meters high, you change the notes by pressing a button panel located on the upper right side of the instrument, while to pull the bow you have to climb on the stool placed at its base. Whoelse but Vuillaume's could have ever thought of a such a Pachyderm-sized instrument ?
19/04/2011I tried to find an adjective able to describe in a word, the peculiarities of Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume's character: wise, scrupulous, machiavellian . But it all seems not to complete the picture of this man. So to find out more, you'are compelled to read the whole article!
12/04/2011As already mentioned last week, Etienne Pajeot was a Genius equal to few others, such as Persoit and Dominique Peccatte. Although if slightly different, he is a genius with the scooter ! Etienne Pajeot –cello bow 1820/25
04/04/2011Etienne Pajeot is recognized as one of those who did some of most beautiful work of is time, and, far from the great Masters of the capital as he was, it remains a mystery as to where he drew his inspiration. He was perhaps a genius. (J.F. Raffin)
Etienne Pajeot - Cello bow ca. 1815
29/03/2011Whatever you do in your life, your being will be seen in your work. It is for this reason that Jean Pierre Marie Persoit is one of my two favorite bowmakers.
23/03/2011"The bowmaking of Jean Pierre Marie Persoit alongside that of Francois Xavier Tourte represents the pinnacle of an unsurpassed epoch in this domain. Each bow of these two great makers is a quite individual creation."
15/03/2011A few years ago, Pierre Guillaume told me that the best time in the professional life of a bowmaker is that one going from thirty to forty-five years. After this age, in his opinion, the eyes and hands of the craftsmen, begin a slow but inexorable decline, affecting their bows as well. From my personal experience I can say that I know at least one of them who is now even more than fifty but has a very high level of construction, even better than when he was thirty. But to think that the bow you see below was built by a person older than seventy years , induce to believe seriously in extraterrestrials!
Head violin bow by F.X. Tourte
08/03/2011If, from one side, the story of modern bowmaking was written by few enlightened one, on the other side it was made by many fledgelings willing ones, as you can see.
01/03/2011
Why are the bows French, the violins Italian and philosophy Greek ? Because there were Tourte, Stradivari and Socrates . This logic can't be faulted !
16/02/2011If there was an "Order" of the bass players, I think I would deserve in full the expulsion of it and even exile. During this year I talked mainly about bows for violin, viola, and cello and I've not even dedicated an article to the instrument that I studied for almost twenty years, the double bass. What a shame!
09/02/2011This week I will try to meet Claudio's request, he is a cello teacher who, after having read and enjoyed the posts on this blog, asked me to write one about rosin, a topic that indeed I overlooked. Dear Claudio, I hope to meet you soon and good reading, this article is dedicated to you!
02/02/2011These are two cars. Both have four wheels, a steering wheel, a brake pedal, an accelerator and an engine. But the difference is obvious: one is a 6000 (in fact, seen the results this year, an abundant 5700), the other is a 5100!
18/01/2011was not possible to use the 6167, because it had a "cancer", but this beautiful 6067, however, was extremely healthy, and as you can see it was turned into a magnificent Bow. But if this stick in a way is a miracle, it is a curse on the other way !
15/12/2010Pernambuco is a wonderful wood ! Tense and nervous, compact and carnal, full of colors ranging from amber yellow to black throughout a rainbow of endless shades. Its longitudinal fiber is incredibly straight and it interweaves with the long and even medullary rays,, making it look like a real fabric full of light, woven on a loom. A beautiful Pernambuco, is as a beautiful woman, but like women, the nicer you are, the more unpredictable you become ! "Ca va sans dire" as, in fact, a Frenchman would say.
14/12/2010Even this week I am not going to slow down at all with the provocations therefore I borrowed a sentence by Pierre Boulez, that in 1951, after the recent passing of Arnold Schonberg gave this title to his article for the English magazine "The Score". Now let me explain you why I have chosen it.
Pierre Boulez Arnold Schonberg
09/12/2010This title is undoubtedly a work of art, even if unfortunately it is not mine, but by Nick Hornby that has entitled its last book in this way. I have found it on a stall in a motorway cafeteria, and here the beloved Nick has obtained his first victory; to be purchased stimulating with four words my natural-born desire to discover the reasons of such a provocative affirmation
30/11/2010Reading the last article released by Eng. Simone Bianchi some doubts came to my mind: But what makes these disciplines become art while other man's creations don't ?
22/11/2010What is Art? Science? Nice problem. There's a whole part of Philosophy, Aesthetics, which takes care of Art, and another, Epistemology, which takes care of Science. Moreover there's our perception which can recognize what engenders a sensation and what doesn't.
18/11/2010- Hijack - Pssst! Careful... don't tell Paolo. This week he's away and I've taken over his blog. Too many accesses and temptation has been too strong. I'm hijacking his space and I'll use it as my private stage. That's a bore to be always serious and never tell anything personal about life. Until he's back, his blog's mine. He'll never know. He deserves it, so' he'll learn not to leave his password on a post-it under the lab's desk. I'll leave all in order and my actions will go undetected...
Note: it contains vaguely futurist concepts and one (1) bad word.
10/11/2010I often hear the musicians say: " I do not care if my bow is original or not, I feel fine with it and that is enough." I have nothing to object provided that the bow has been paid the right price , otherwise you may face bad surprises!
20/10/2010
Everybody working in the bow making field knows that often, or better almost always, the mounting that is carried out when the violin is finished, is absolutely a temporary one. In the early months of use, an instrument is subject to a constant transformation and, I would say that the change of the audible sound changes even minute by minute, in the very early hours. That is why the set up should be done frequently, at least in the early years. Although a little bit more complicated, it is possible to carry out a set up on the bows as well. But, first of all, it is dutiful to thank some friends of ours !
D.T.Navea Vera violin in ebony, gold, tortoiseshell, and "heart shaped mother of pearl
28/09/2010"But what's the weight of this bow?". I assembled a list of the most useless questions I am constantly asked by the musicians who try our bows, and it won the Golden Globe !
07/09/2010During this period some Viola bows came out from the workshop D.T. Navea Vera & Sarri , including the one shown in the photos. Consequently, as business man of the company, I have got in touch with many violists therefore I could realize that none of them ever heard about Prof. Kurt Goedel !
Viola bow in gold, ebony and tortoise "DT Navea Vera
31/08/2010The bow you can see here below, is the latest born at Navea Vera & Sarri's , and it was for us a real pride. From one side because Maestro Navea Vera has done a wonderful job, but especially because sticks at this level are about 1 out of 10,000!
Head of cello bow D.T. Navea Vera, with visible medullar rays on both sides
24/08/2010Already while writing the latest article, I had the impression of giving a bit too much technical knowledge for granted , therefore I decided to write a new article trying to give some more indents so, even not technicians ones, could be able to understand everything in a proper way. At this point I called the graphic designer, with whom I work and asked him to make some drawings that could help me to expose the topic, and as I tried to explain him what he had to draw, I got the confirmation that this article is absolutely indispensable! Carubelli violin, Maestro Stefano Conia "The Young"
17/08/2010Currently accepted since several years now, by carbon is actively entered to become a part of the musicians' lives. But the feeling has so far not been so idyllic, at least for the moment being. From my side, as a musician, but above all as technical, I decided to express my opinion.!
10/08/2010This week, if you allow me , I want to make an exception to the rule. I will not talk about curves, sound, mechanic, but I will deal with a particular bow, or better, three to be more precise.
03/08/2010Often, when I face particularly technical topics here on the blog, the greatest difficulty I encounter is to explain the concepts in a clear way to my readers. For this purpose I often use similes, simplifications and examples, and believe it is quite a hard job for me. For instance, while speaking about the curve last week without finding a proper analogy, and I preferred to release a short article with some hints about the evolution of bow making Now I finally found the right parallelism: Ivan Lendl and John Patrick McEnroe !
22/07/2010Here is, finally, the second and conclusive part of Eng. Simone Bianchi's article devoted to environmental acoustics. I hope these scientific issues have shed a little light on some base sound concepts, and this all can be useful to you in understanding some aspects of your work. Many thanks to Simone for his kindness and to you all for your attention. Next weeks will see us speaking about bowmaking and particularly about the secrets of Mr. Peccatte and Mr. Sartory.
09/07/2010I wonder if you realized it, but already from the introduction some phenomena begin to outline and they have to be taken into a high consideration. For example, it is demonstrated by scientific measurements that the low frequencies arrive much more easily than the high one. So, contrary to common thinking, in a large hall the high frequencies will be at the worse. And now a question: When you listen to a violinist in a hall that has a very defined sound on the whole extension of the registers, and where both low frequencies but even those high ones do not lack, what do you think he hears under his ear, a soft and pasty sound and or a dry and enamelled one ? For those who answered correctly the prize is ... having made a very important step forward in understanding the sound! So long
08/07/2010As announced, this week we begin a series of three articles issued by Eng. Bianchi dedicated to the scientific study of the sound waves behavior produced in a closed environment. This first part is a discursive introduction to the next two ones that will be a little bit more technical. I understand that these issues might be difficult to understand for those unfamiliar with this field but I think that to understand what really happens in a concert hall, it's useful for any musician, so do not lose heart! I profit the opportunity to announce that our workshop "Navea Vera & Sarri" recently added to its customers M° Boris Belkin. The Maestro has expressed his thanks for having let him know M° Navea Vera's bows, he bought one at once and ordered three more. .
22/06/2010After some weeks devoted to the topic of general acoustic, I decided to deal once again with a fundamental aspect of the bow: "The curve" . In several posts dedicated to this subject, we tried to determine when the curve of a bow is properly carried out. Now we will try to deepen some secrets of the mechanic of the bow, and to do this we will ask for help to two monuments of the modern bowmaking: Peccatte and Sartory.
15/06/2010This week, instead of the promised articles by Eng. Bianchi, I would like to indulge on the nice viola bows that blossomed during May thanks to Maestro Navea Vera and, since they are really too beautiful, I could not help showing them to you.
01/06/2010As we saw last week, if a hair change is done incorrectly, it can create significant sound emission problems. But there are some cases, unfortunately very common, in which a badly done reahairing can be lead to irreparable damages.
25/05/2010A couple of weeks ago, a customer of ours, who lives in Vienna, called me to tell that she was by a great French master working in her city that , after having replaced the horsehair, said that her bow was crooked and that this problem could not be solved because the material used was not seasoned enough. A cold shiver went through my back. The wood we use is of course not fresh but seasoned and of a high quality, but you may also understand that when a craftsman, especially French, let you know such a thing it means that the bow moved in an abominable way. When the bow came back to us, we felt reassured. The bow actually moved, but the fault was not ours, but because of his abominable rehairing.
11/05/2010Before start talking about bows, it is imperative to be more precise about one thing. The sound of each instrument, i.e. That one which distinguish it, does not come neither from the instrument, nor from the bow, but rather from his Soul. If an instrumentalist has a beautiful sound, it will remain the same even using instruments and bows of poor quality, obviously if he uses excellent ones , the result will not certainly be worse!
04/05/2010What is “Sound” ? In order to answer partially to this simple question, I have employed many years of my life, and although I was able to give some answers, the greater certainty that I have acquired, it is that it is so vague not to allow nobody of being able to know the Sound thoroughly.
Jakob Ludwig, second cello at Teatro alla Scala
27/04/2010We finally succeeded in going out a bow-maker workshop with two bows ! After the post of last week, you surely wandered around as Ulysses from one workshop to the other looking for “ a stony Ithaca” but once you step on it, you will realize that you just did halfth of your task. You have to pass the final test....that one of the bow, obviously.
15/04/2010Here we are again, after the two pieces posted by Simone to whom I repeat my thanks, I consider it as proper, at this point, to resume a little bit all the topics I dealt with until now. We have dealt with many topics about the “Bow machine” we have checked the engine (sound velocity), the tyres ( curve), the structure (torsions and distorsions), we have tried to watch it and to test it with a glance; we just have to come aboard and start a lap. !
07/04/2010Mumble, mumble, mumble. As you can see from his expression in the picture, Engineer Bianchi has pondered upon for a while and decided to give us an article that could be a little less technical than the previous one, so that even people that are not expert in this field, can better understand the topic issued last week. Thanks to Simone for his helpful assistance and to you as well for your patience. So long Paolo
23/03/2010The sly guy portrayed in this picture with me, is the engineer Simone Bianchi. So long Paolo.
16/03/2010On the blog I often compared my colleague, M° Navea Vera with some great figures of the past; Jean Pierre Marie Persoit, is my other favorite and in my opinion he is the one who mostly looks alike him. I understand that some of you might call me pretentious, and for this reason, the other night I enjoyed taking pictures for you of the last two creations by D.T.; Mars and Venus.
09/03/2010As advanced in the previous blog, one of the positive aspects of the high sound velocity we can find in a material, is that to this parameter corresponds a very high resonance frequency. This week , using practical examples, I will try to explain why this parameter is so important.
23/02/2010Before speaking about “The sound velocity” I take the opportunity to announce that Atelier d'Archeterie has finally found its own rosin, born from the cooperation between us and Melos. You will find all details at the bottom of this article, but first of all we deal with "The sound velocity".
16/02/2010In these days I received from John a copy of his last released record, “Remembrance” and, as promised to you, even if it is not my job, I will try to write a small review. But first of all, I wish to thank him for having mentioned us in the credits of his latest job.
Brian Blade, John and Joe Lovano
02/02/2010In a previous article devoted to the comparison between ancient and modern bows, I advanced that the next topic would have been “the velocity of sound”. Thinking about it, I decided that before running, we better learn how to walk. Before explaining why the parameter of sound velocity quickness throughout the fibers is so important in bowmaking, I will try to describe the different woods that has been used during several time periods and which were the evaluation criteria that led to the choice of pernambuco as an irreplaceable material.
26/01/2010I wanted to devote this post to a topic we started last week while talking about certificates (THE CERTIFICATES OF AUTHENTICITY); ancient bows. We will analyse, in particular, the strongest and weakest points of this kind of instruments.
19/01/2010The choice to use an ancient bow instead of a modern one, is obviously related to the way of playing, the feeling and the idea of sound that a single musician owns. In case you choose to play with an ancient bow, it is necessary to be aware of particular details so to avoid bad and "expensive surprises".
Violin bow in turtle and gold – D. Peccatte
12/01/2010As already announced in the previous post THE CURVE AND THE FORCE many musicians, even the cleverest ones, while trying a bow, sometimes even before playing with it, ask questions such as “Nice bow, but how much does it weight ??”. As already told, among many useful questions they could ask, they choose the most useless, because weight has nothing to do with force or mechanic. Furthermore no musician can feel the weight of a bow, he feels the weight on the point, i.e. the balance.
05/01/2010This week, Instead of speaking about the problems occurring when a bow had too much or too little curve, I would like to talk about my visit to the Mount Olympus.
Mr. J.F. Raffin – current founder of French bowmaking
15/12/2009In the previous blog I tried to explain you how to recognize a properly done curve. This week we will start to deepen another topic, this one as well strictly related to the curve: i.e. “the force of a bow”
08/12/2009As already announced, this week we start dealing with one out of two of the most important aspects in the bow: “the curve”. there are only two kinds of curve in bow-making: those that are properly done and those that are done in a wrong way.
01/12/2009As already mentioned in the previously posted blog, exception made for rough construction errors by the craftsman, all bows that show a torsion surely turn the head towards left, and in order to explain you why it may occur, I will ask for help to a plant that apparently has little to share with bows : “The sunflower”.
24/11/2009Whenever you watch bows to ascertain if they are crooked, you will find out that some of them will be clearly crooked, while other just seem like that but they are not. Most probably they are twisted .
17/11/2009Before speaking about the topic of this week "the torsion", Iwould like to introduce you the latest output of a friend /cutomers of ours. The new CD by John Patitucci with Joe Lovano - Sax and Brian Blade - Drums has recently been released. I had the plesasure to attend his concert and listen to some pieces.As soon as the new record is in my hand, I promise I will publish a thorough review. If anybody wishes to know more, you can have access to some music samples by clicking on the picture inside the posted blog.
10/11/2009From the very moment I was pondering about writing an “info blog” about the Bow, I was wondering, as well, how to start with the description of such a vast and complex world. I think that in order to understand a bow and, especially how it works, it is necessary to define the basic essence of this instrument.
02/10/2008Hello everybody and welcome in my English blog! After 1 year from the issues in the Italian version, I am glad to start the issues in the English version hoping it will have the same success and faithful followers of the Italian one. All comments will highly appreciated, I hope you will enjoy reading my articles as much as I enjoy writing them. I will be glad if you would subscribe to my mailing list so to receive constant updates about any new issue. This small space that I have inserted within our site has been born from an ascertainment on the spot: during the years I devoted to bow making, I realized that those one using bows, i.e. musicians, very often know very little about the object they hold in their right hand. This blog is specifically devoted to the musicians. Periodically, I will publish articles regarding wood, hair, working techniques, several schools and all topics surrounding such an eluding object that too often turns out to be deceptive. My first issue is the letter that a dear friend and a world known jazz player sent for the inauguration of our workshop; Mr. John Patitucci, and I profit of this opportunity to thank him for the beautiful appraisal words that he has addressed to our workshop. So long Paolo.
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