THE ORCHESTRA: A USER'S MANUAL

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Introduction Orchestration Orchestration Resources Historical Andrew Hugill
  Philharmonia

VIOLIN


Section: Strings
Transposing? No

Construction
Range
Bowing
Plucking
Left Hand
Mute/Harmonics
Chords
Extended
Player's Tips and Tricks

Links

 

Bowing

NAME
DESCRIPTION
NOTATION
LISTEN/VIEW
COMMENTS
arco
bowed (as opposed to plucked)
arco

Here is a selection of normal bowed notes marked with 'hairpins', to give an idea of the range of bowing pressures available. The violin is capable of great subtlety of dynamics and tone colour:

D4 >
E5 <
F5 >
B5 >
C6 <

 

It is assumed that a passage is bowed unless marked otherwise. However, once a 'pizz' indication has been given, 'arco' must be indicated for the next bowed passage. Where unusual bowing techniques are used, 'ord' or 'norm' will return the player to normal bowing.
down bow
bow travels from frog to point
about down and up bows
Strong, and therefore used often on downbeats. There is no need to indicate bowing unless a specific pattern of up and down bows is required.
up bow
bow travels from point to frog

[ about down and up bows]

Weaker sound than down bow, and therefore used often on upbeats. There is no need to indicate bowing unless a specific pattern of up and down bows is required.

(middle bow)
  middle of bow: the balancing point
Not normally indicated
au talon
bowed at the frog
au talon
(Germ. Frosch
It. tallone)
au talon
Works best loud
punta d'arco
bowed at the point
punta d'arco
(Fr. pointe
Germ. Spitze)
punta d'arco Good for delicate effects
col legno
with the wood (but see next two entries)
col legno
(Fr. bois de l'archet
Germ. die Bogenstange)
col legno When only col legno is indicated, players often use tratto but engaging an amount of the hair of the bow. It is best to specify the method.
col legno battuto
hit with the wood of the bow
col legno battuto

G3
Ab3
Bb3
Db4
F4
E5
B5
E6

Mahler Symphony no. 4 (Movement 1, 172-173)

 
col legno tratto
drag wood of the bow across string
col legno tratto
(Germ. Gestrichen)
G3
Bb3
Bb4
E5
B5
G6
Use with extreme caution! Players do not like to risk damaging valuable bows
sul ponticello
bow near the bridge
sul pont
Ab3
Bb3
Db4
Eb4
Bb4
E5
B5
 
sul tasto
bow over the fingerboard
sul tasto
G3
Ab3
Bb3
Db4
F4
Bb4
E5
C6
 
détaché
separated notes

détaché

Separate bows
legato
smooth, slurred notes
legato In a single bow, without breaks
tenuto
full note values
tenuto Alternate bows, full length
portato
"carried" notes

Fr. louré
portato In a single bow, but with slight breaks between notes
staccato
short notes
staccato Alternate bows
spiccato
very short notes
spiccato "Off-the-string", i.e. bounced bow. A spiccato played in a single down bow is called saltando, and in a single up-bow is called volante.
martelé
"hammered" notes
martelé Also indicated by accents. In a single bow, but very separated notes.
jeté
"thrown" bow
jeté
jeté A controlled bouncing on the string
ricochet
ricochet bow
ric
(sometimes with multiple dots over the note)
  An uncontrolled bouncing on the string
tremolo
rapid up-down bows
tremolo A measured tremolo subdivides the beat accurately according to the number of bars through the note stem. An unmeasured tremolo (usually indicated with the word trem) is a very rapid alternation of up and down bows.
sul G
played on the G string
sul G
  Played on a single string until otherwise indicated, thus sul G, sul D, sul A, sul E. Lends a particular colour to the timbre.