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Originally posted by tonyelder

A background for the discussion:

I've seen folks play close to the bridge, over the fingerboard; some with the bow tilted toward the fingerboard and others tilted toward the bridge; at the tip and at the frog; with lots of pressure and hardly any pressure; with their grip over the frog and with their grip half way up the bow --- and everything in between.

I'm sure some of it is subconscious and some of it is a deliberate choice.  How do you handle your bow / bowing?

Now... I'm not asking for a lesson on what is the "correct way" - nor am I asking what is the "best way".  I know there are opinions that will want to carry the discussion that way. But I would be surprised if someone here didn't already know those things.

I'm more interested in what "you" do and why. It doesn't matter how conventional or unconventional it might be or sound.  What are you expecting to hear?  Is that working for you?

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Coming from a self-directed background... finding what works, what's good enough, for the musical context (which can vary).

I can't offer to dictate, one and done, follow quantified "right" instructions. For me it's more a continuing learning process via experimenting qualitatively; listening and paying attention to cause and effect, understanding sound generation. Finding new solutions as needed, if not working or good enough. Can share what I learned.

Coming from other string instruments, it's similar. Besides just "tone", volume, dynamics, transient response; to flow, efficiency and comfort of RH, as well as the feel of how the sound responds with RH.

Obviously good start is how the distance from bridge affects the overall tone; but as well as the response of transients, attacks, tightness; dynamics, how it sounds in mix. Distance to me also play role in to the feel/flow of the right hand.

Some of my hold depends on the bow as not all bows are created equal, same weight or balance; so found myself choking up on some earlier bows for easier initial control. As got better at playing, I learned better RH control, can apply more variability to play/control those bows, inc. near the frog. With better control and understanding, I have found need much less pressure (in turn less pressure gives me better control).

Of course besides different bows; different fiddles, setup and strings will affect all these aspects... require adjustment.

I'm sure some of it is subconscious and some of it is a deliberate choice. 

At some point that process, was bit more deliberate in paying attention, but gradually becomes more subconscious; my hand just reacts to what I want to hear, without much thinking about it. (I guess a version of playing from heart)

Mentally, I play mostly halfway between the bridge and the fingerboard. Because of visual distortion I may cheat out towards the fingerboard. I try to bow perpendicular to the strings, but that's not perfect either.

I need to be more aware of moving between the bridge and the fingerboard to control dynamics (volume).

Years ago I had adopted a more-or-less classical Franco-Belgian hold. Mentally, I thought that was what I was doing still. But I had drifted to a different grip, as was pointed out to me recently by a violin teacher. I'm not totally sure what the difference is, because I asked for a picture of my hand when she was satisfied with it. The picture looks like what I thought I was doing. That said, I know my thumb was generally locked, which is makes it hard to do really fast motions with only your fingers and not the arm. And maybe my middle and ring fingers were a bit too far apart. I think having the middle finger, ring finger and thumb close together makes it easier to do string changes and rock the bow. Because then if you let up pressure on your index finger, the bow can rotate somewhat independently of your hand.

to answer the question, i think i generally bow halfway between the bridge and finger board

but for high notes i often move the bow toward the fingerboard

and for certain accents i bow not only down or up but "sweep" the bow toward the finger board a little

i will use all of the bow at different times, ranging from big longs to short quicks, but never seem to spend too much time at the tip of the bow

my grip is usually on the stick near the frog varying between holding the bow with 1-4 fingers
sometimes my pinky is wild because i injured it as a kid and that pinky stopped growing so depending on the weather or day it can do its own thing or even ache sometimes so it just sticks out

heres a video that is hard to see but has a little bit of it all. noisy venue, bad phone video, but we we tried to clean it up visually because it was a nice musical moment.... and I am still trying to copy some of the bowing I did there because much of it wasnt planned

https://vimeo.com/802500931