THE ORCHESTRA: A USER'S MANUAL

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Introduction	Orchestration	Orchestration	Resources	Historical	Andrew Hugill
					Philharmonia

VIOLA

Section: Strings
Transposing? No

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

Extended techniques

A general comment regarding extended techniques:

NAME	DESCRIPTION	NOTATION	LISTEN/VIEW	COMMENTS
microtones	intervals smaller than a semitone	notations vary, but the following examples seem typical of quartertones: and the following typical of raised and lowered inflections:	microtones	Microtones are practicable, but can easily sound like 'out of tune' playing, particularly if attempted by an entire section at once!
scordatura tuning	retuning the strings	a verbal instruction to retune, possibly with an additional staff to show new tunings		Do not retune more than a tone, and in general it is better to lower than raise the pitch of the string. Retuning takes time and care.
tap instrument	tap the body of the instrument with fingers or with the bow	verbal instruction, with x-shaped noteheads for extended passages		Finger taps are common, but bow taps are to be used with care: no player would want to risk damaging the violin. If a bow tap is called for, the safest place to tap is the chinrest.
play behind bridge	playing the strings between the bridge and the tailpiece	verbal instruction, with x-shaped noteheads if necessary		The standard bowing and plucking techniques may be used for this effect.
bow on bridge	bowing the strings directly on the bridge	verbal instruction, with x-shaped noteheads if necessary		This is not the same as sul ponticello which plays near the bridge.
bow tailpiece	bowing the tailpiece	verbal instruction		Extremely quiet!
strike strings	striking the strings with the hand	verbal instruction		Pitches may also be fingered with the left hand.