bow

bow, in music, curved stick with tightly held fibres that produces sound by friction when drawn across the strings of a chordophone, such as a rebab, violin, or erhu. The most common material is rosined horsehair; some African bows used strips cut from rubber inner tubes, and the Korean ajaeng, a zither, is bowed with a rosined stick of wood. Early bows and those used in folk cultures were shaped like hunting bows. Later bows had a less pronounced curve, and the tension was controlled with the fingers of the right hand. Since the 16th century, European bow tension has been controlled by means of an adjustable nut or “frog” on the end, held by the player. By the late 17th century a screw mechanism was used. The concave shape of the stick, bending toward the hair, was perfected by Franƈois Tourte in the early 19th century and became the standard form of the bow used for instruments of the violin family.