Bowed string instrument

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"Bowed" redirects here. For the social gesture, see Bowing. For the playing technique, see Bowing (music).
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Bowed string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by a bow rubbing the strings. The bow rubbing the string causes vibration which the instrument emits as sound.

The Arabic rabāb is the earliest known bowed instrument,[1] and the ancestor of all European bowed instruments, including the rebec, lyra and violin.[2]

List of bowed string instruments[]

Violin family[]

Niccolò Paganini playing the violin, by Georg Friedrich Kersting (1785–1847)
  • Pochette
  • Violin (violino)
  • Viola (altviol, bratsche)
  • Cello (violoncello)
  • Double bass (contrabasso)
Variants on the standard members of the violin family include

Viol family (Viola da Gamba family)[]

Karl Friedrich Abel playing the bass Viola da Gamba, by Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788)
  • Treble viol (treble viola da gamba)
  • Alto viol (alto viola da gamba)
  • Tenor viol (tenor viola da gamba)
  • Bass viol (bass viola da gamba)
Variants on the standard four members of the viol family include:

Lyra and rebec type[]

Chinese bowed instruments[]

Two performers playing the Erhu, sometimes known as the Chinese fiddle.

Rosined wheel instruments[]

A performer playing the Morin Khuur, the Mongolian Horse Fiddle

The following instruments are sounded by means of a turning wheel that acts as the bow.

Other bowed instruments[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "rabab (musical instrument) - Encyclopædia Britannica". Britannica.com. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
  2. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica (2009), lira, Encyclopædia Britannica Online, retrieved 2009-02-20
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