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

Mute/Harmonics

NAME	DESCRIPTION	NOTATION	LISTEN/VIEW	COMMENTS
mute(s) on	a damper is attached to the bridge to mute the sound	con sord (Germ. mit Dämpfer)	con sord, piano con sord, forte	There are two types of mute: the clamp type (Ma Sihon) which is placed on the bridge, and the sliding type (Roth-Sihon) which is permanently attached to the strings. It is usually best to allow about 5 seconds for players to put on or remove a mute.
mute(s) off	the mute is removed	senza sord		No need to specify this unless a muted passage has preceded
natural harmonics	the string is lightly fingered at a nodal point to produce a "fluted" sound	The notation of natural harmonics is often inconsistent. Frequently it is either just a circle over the note, thus: or the word harm, or indeed a diamond notehead to indicate finger position, or some combination of the above! To be completely accurate, a harmonic would be notated thus: Here, the large round notehead indicates the fundamental (open G-string in this case), the diamond notehead indicates the finger position and the small note in brackets is the resulting sound. (However, violists would probably regard this as over-fussy for a straightforward natural harmonic).	natural harmonics	The nodal points on a string are as follows: 1/2 (gives 8ve above open string) 1/3 (gives 8ve+5th above open string) 1/4 (gives 2x8ves above open string) 1/5 (gives 2x8ves+maj3rd above open string) There are more natural harmonics, but these are relatively unreliable, although the thickness and length of the string makes them more playable than on the violin.
artificial harmonics	the string is stopped normally, and then fingered (with the little finger) at a point a 4th or a 5th above the stopped note	The same notational practices apply for artificial harmonics. Note that in this case: the first will produce a note 2x8ves above the stopped note, the second an 8ve+5th above the stopped note. Often a small notehead in brackets is used to indicate the sounding result, as in the example above. Where the word flag (= "flageolet") is written over the note, a whispered bowing might help the 'whistling' sound, but this instruction can also mean, quite simply, 'harmonic'.	artificial harmonics vibrato on artificial harmonics	It is possible to add vibrato and to play melodic lines in artificial harmonics, but both techniques should be used with care. Two rarer artificial harmonics are: min 3rd above stop (gives 2x8ves+5th) maj 3rd above stop (gives 2x8ves+maj 3rd)