Hold & bow grip

The sarangi is played upright, and the left hand does not support it. Get that wrong and nothing else on this site will work, because a hand holding the instrument up cannot move along the neck.

Holding the instrument

The sarangi stands vertically, body down, pegbox up. It is not tucked under the chin like a violin.

  1. Sit cross-legged on the floor, or on a chair with both feet flat.
  2. Rest the base of the body in your lap, slightly to the left of centre.
  3. Let the upper body and neck lean back against your left shoulder or upper chest. The instrument now stands on its own between your lap and your shoulder.
  4. Check: take your left hand right off the instrument. It should stay put. If it falls, move the base further into your lap and lean it back more.
This is the whole trick. The lap and the shoulder hold the sarangi. The left hand only touches the strings. Beginners clamp the neck in the left hand to stop it wobbling, and then cannot slide — and sliding is what this instrument is for.

Standing. Gaine musicians traditionally played walking and standing, with a strap over the shoulder taking the weight and the body of the instrument against the chest. If you have a strap, it is worth trying: it is the posture the repertoire was made in. For learning, sit.

The left hand

  • The neck sits in the crook between thumb and index finger, loosely. The thumb rests behind the neck as a reference point, not a clamp.
  • The fingers come at the strings from the side, curved, and touch them lightly. You are not pushing the string down onto the wood — see The left hand, which is a page of its own because this is the least obvious thing about the instrument.
  • The wrist stays soft and roughly straight. A bent, tense wrist cannot slide.

The bow

The bow (gaj) is held underhand — palm up, not palm down like a violin bow. This grip comes from the sarangi family generally and it is worth getting right early, because it is what lets you use arm weight rather than finger pressure.

  1. Turn your right palm upward.
  2. Lay the stick across your fingers so the frog — the end with the knot — sits against the base of your thumb.
  3. Let the index and middle fingers rest on top of the stick. These regulate pressure.
  4. The remaining fingers curl loosely around the frog underneath, supporting the weight.
  5. Thumb relaxed against the side. Not gripping.
Rosin the hair before your first stroke. Draw the rosin block firmly along the whole length of the hair, twenty or thirty times, until you can see a faint dust. Unrosined hair slides over the string silently, and it is the single most common reason a new player thinks their instrument does not work.

Where to bow

Bow the strings just above the bridge — close to it, not out in the middle of the string. Closer to the bridge gives a firmer, brighter, louder tone; drifting away from it makes the sound woolly and vague.

The bow travels roughly at a right angle to the strings, in a straight line. Watch it: a bow that wanders diagonally will cross onto a neighbouring string halfway through a stroke.

Both hands do one job each. Right hand makes the sound; left hand chooses the pitch. If you find yourself pressing harder with the left hand to get more volume, that is the right hand's job.

Posture check

  • Instrument stands up with no help from the left hand — yes / no
  • Left wrist straight and soft — yes / no
  • Bow palm-up, first two fingers on the stick — yes / no
  • Bow hair rosined — yes / no
  • Shoulders down, not hunched over the instrument — yes / no

Next

Your first sound