Bow holds of the great violinists

The following is an extract from the article ’Violin Bow Hold: No holds barred’ from October 2007. To read the full article, click here

Traditionally, Carl Flesch’s classification of three main bow holds in his book The Art of Violin Playing has dominated discussions about the ideal position of the right hand. I believe that these classifications focus on matters of relatively minor significance. Instead, here I will look at the element of bow hold I consider the most important: the position of the fingers in relation to that of the thumb.