Conclusions
- I have found that you can play Tango with both techniques, but you cannot follow the same instructions to find the same results. This is mainly because of the anatomy of the bow. Additionally, because there is not a strong tradition outside of Argentina of typical orchestras or soloists that play beyond Piazzolla, the tradition of playing with a French bow is still strong. After finishing this research, I would like to continue working on this subject through a new repertoire in a personal search to improve my performance as a tango player and then share this knowledge playing concerts or teaching with other double bass players.
- Although this research at the beginning focused more on the solo repertoire for double bass, now after having carried out this work I consider that the most challenging thing about playing double bass with a German bow is found in its role in the orchestra, because most of the effects and articulations are intended to be played in an ensemble context, where these elements are mixed with other instruments to obtain the final result or function as support to lead an ensemble.
- As musicians, we know how important technique is and how important it is to practice regularly to improve our playing, but it also has to be accompanied with the understanding of the music through listening to music or studying the history to understand the context and the sound of the music we want to play. For those reasons, I consider that the most important thing about playing Tango music is related to the knowledge about the style beyond the bow that you use to play it.
- I found that most of the time when you play with a French bow you should play the articulations and effects on the frog, but when you play with a German bow it is easier to play in the middle between the frog and the middle of the bow.
- After reading about Argentine history and delving into its culture, I have come to the conclusion that the reason why it is played with a French bow is thanks to the great Italian influence that they have on their daily life customs, but also in their ways of seeing the world.
- Tango players affirm that if you are going to play this music regularly you must play French bow (Horovitz, L., Seimandi, F., Motta, P., Cajal, C., Botti, F., and Yamus, F., 2021. Min. 7:00) and that makes sense for me, but I also think that it is important to understand the context of our societies. Medellín is a city in Colombia where most of the kids and teenagers start to play music in a music social program that is for free and where, many times, you do not have the best facilities, so when you start to play you do not choose which bow you want to play or they do not give it to you because of a tradition. Following this idea and after this research, I think it makes sense and it is important to talk about playing tango with a German bow.