Violin: bowing

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THE ORCHESTRA: A USER'S MANUALIntroduction Orchestration Orchestration Resources Historical Andrew Hugill

by section by instrument select... select... Philharmonia

VIOLIN

Section: StringsTransposing? No

ConstructionRangeBowingPlucking

Left HandMute/Harmonics

ChordsExtended

Player's Tipsand Tricks

Links

BowingNAME DESCRIPTION NOTATION LISTEN/VIEW COMMENTS

arco bowed (as opposedto plucked) arco

Here is aselection ofnormal bowednotes markedwith 'hairpins',to give an ideaof the range ofbowingpressuresavailable. Theviolin iscapable ofgreat subtletyof dynamicsand tonecolour:

D4 > E5 < F5 > B5 > C6 <

It is assumed that apassage is bowedunless markedotherwise. However,once a 'pizz'indication has beengiven, 'arco' mustbe indicated for thenext bowedpassage. Whereunusual bowingtechniques areused, 'ord' or 'norm'will return theplayer to normalbowing.

downbow

bow travels fromfrog to point

about downand up bows

Strong, andtherefore used oftenon downbeats.There is no need toindicate bowingunless a specificpattern of up anddown bows isrequired.

up bow bow travels frompoint to frog

[ about downand up bows]

Weaker sound thandown bow, andtherefore used oftenon upbeats. Thereis no need toindicate bowingunless a specificpattern of up anddown bows isrequired.

(middlebow)

middle ofbow: thebalancing point

Not normallyindicated

Violin: bowing

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au talon bowed at the frogau talon

(Germ. FroschIt. tallone)

au talon Works best loud

puntad'arco bowed at the point

punta d'arco (Fr. pointe

Germ. Spitze)

puntad'arco

Good for delicateeffects

col legnowith the wood (but

see next twoentries)

col legno(Fr. bois de

l'archet Germ. die

Bogenstange)

col legno

When only col legnois indicated, playersoften use tratto butengaging an amountof the hair of thebow. It is best tospecify the method.

col legnobattuto

hit with the woodof the bow

col legnobattuto

G3 Ab3 Bb3 Db4 F4 E5 B5 E6

MahlerSymphony no.4 (Movement1, 172-173)

col legnotratto

drag wood of thebow across string

col legnotratto

(Germ.Gestrichen)

G3 Bb3 Bb4 E5 B5 G6

Use with extremecaution! Players donot like to riskdamaging valuablebows

sulponticello

bow near thebridge sul pont

Ab3 Bb3 Db4 Eb4 Bb4 E5 B5

sul tasto bow over thefingerboard sul tasto

G3 Ab3 Bb3 Db4 F4 Bb4 E5 C6

détaché separated notes détaché Separate bows

legato smooth, slurrednotes legato In a single bow,

without breaks

tenuto full note values tenuto Alternate bows, fulllength

Violin: bowing

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portato "carried" notes

Fr. louré

portatoIn a single bow, butwith slight breaksbetween notes

staccato short notes staccato Alternate bows

spiccato very short notes spiccato

"Off-the-string", i.e.bounced bow. Aspiccato played in asingle down bow iscalled saltando, andin a single up-bowis called volante.

martelé "hammered" notes martelé

Also indicated byaccents. In a singlebow, but veryseparated notes.

jeté "thrown" bow jeté jetéA controlledbouncing on thestring

ricochet ricochet bow

ric (sometimeswith multipledots over the

note)

An uncontrolledbouncing on thestring

tremolo rapid up-downbows tremolo

A measured tremolosubdivides the beataccurately accordingto the number ofbars through thenote stem. Anunmeasuredtremolo (usuallyindicated with theword trem) is avery rapidalternation of upand down bows.

sul G played on the Gstring sul G

Played on a singlestring untilotherwise indicated,thus sul G, sul D,sul A, sul E. Lends aparticular colour tothe timbre.

Violin: chords

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THE ORCHESTRA: A USER'S MANUALIntroduction Orchestration Orchestration Resources Historical Andrew Hugill

by section by instrument select... select... Philharmonia

VIOLIN

Section: StringsTransposing? No

ConstructionRangeBowingPlucking

Left HandMute/Harmonics

ChordsExtended

Player's Tipsand Tricks

Links

Chords about divisi

about non divisi

NAME DESCRIPTION NOTATION LISTEN/VIEW COMMENTS

doublestop

two stringssoundedtogether

double stop(arco and pizz)

If the double stopis difficult (theleft hand span isawkward) asection will playthis divisi (notesshared outbetweeninstruments). Willwork at anydynamic.

triplestop

three stringssoundedtogether

A minor G major B minor A major

A section willnormally play atriple stop divisi(i.e. notes sharedout betweeninstruments). Ona soloinstrument, triplestops only workat loud dynamics,otherwise theywould bearpeggiated.

quadruplestop

four stringssounded,

normally as anarpeggiation orbroken chord

A quadruple stop

A typicalarpeggiation

quadruplestop, arco

arpeggiatedquadruplestop, arco, ona firstinversion C-major chord

arpeggiatedquadruplestop, arco, ona root positionC-major chord

a pizzicatophrase inquadruplestops, playedquasi guitar

Four-note chordsare no problemto a section ifplayed divisi, butif non divisi thengreat care mustbe taken with lefthand positions.

Violin: chords

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(violin heldsideways)

Violin: left hand

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THE ORCHESTRA: A USER'S MANUALIntroduction Orchestration Orchestration Resources Historical Andrew Hugill

by section by instrument select... select... Philharmonia

VIOLIN

Section: StringsTransposing? No

ConstructionRangeBowingPlucking

Left HandMute/Harmonics

ChordsExtended

Player's Tipsand Tricks

Links

Left HandNAME DESCRIPTION NOTATION LISTEN/VIEW COMMENTS

vibrato

pitchundulationcreated by

motion of thewrist and

finger

not normally notated, butif extra vibrato is

required, indicate moltovib under note(s)

Ab3 F4 B5 G6

Vibrato isinherent to aplayer'stechniqueand eachplayerexecutesvariableamountsdependinguponinterpretativeintentions. Itis possible toexecutevibrato onopen strings,but this isnot normallydone unlessspecificallyrequested.

non vibrato no undulationin pitch non vib

Ab3 F4 B5 G6

Must bespecified.Players willsometimesadd tinyamounts ofvibrato evento passagesmarked nonvibdepending onmusicalinterpretation

glissando a continuousslide in pitch

glissando Ab3-Bb3 Db4-F4 Bb4-E5 B5-G6

G6-Bb5 Bb5-C5 C5-Db4

Saint-SaënsLe Carnival des

Consider rateof glide, startand endpoints.

Pluckedglissandi arealso possible.

Violin: left hand

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Animaux('Personnagesà longuesoreilles')

harmonicglissando

a continuousslide while

lightly touchingstring

G-string D-string A-string E-string

The pitchesare distinctand can becontrolled toa fair extent.Nevertheless,this is aneffect thatworks bestdone quitequickly.

portamento

a slide fromone pitch to

another,usually

stopping formoment eitherabove or belowthe destination

pitch

portamento

downwards upwards

Essentiallyanexpressivedevice whichwas verypopular inthe 19th andearly 20thcenturies,but has morerecentlyfallen intodisuse

trill

a rapidalteration

between twopitches either a

tone (majortrill) or asemitone

(minor trill)apart

this shows a minor trillfollowed by a major trill,indicated by accidentalsover the note. If these

are not given, players willchoose trill type based onmusical context. The wavylines indicating duration of

trill are also optional.

Trills: Ab3 F4 E5 G6

In highlychromaticmusic, it is agood idea tospecify thepitch ontowhich thetrill is madein bracketsafter thenote

fingeredtremolo

a trill betweentwo notes more

than a toneapart.

This is anunmeasuredtremolo andlasts twobeats. Ameasuredtremolo issimply analterationbetween thetwo notes inregular notevalues and isusuallynotated assuch.Obviously

Violin: left hand

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bariolage

a colouristictechnique ofusing lower

pitched stringsfor highernotes in apassage

indicate fingerings overnotes, with string names

if necessary

presentstechnicalchallengesand isprobablymosteffective insolo writing

Violin: mute/harmonics

file:///E|/Τα έγγραφά μου/Τσέτσος, ενορχήστρωση (μαθήματα)+/Enorchistrosi Instruments/2. Strings/Violin mute_harmonics.htm[17/10/2015 9:32:43 πμ]

THE ORCHESTRA: A USER'S MANUALIntroduction Orchestration Orchestration Resources Historical Andrew Hugill

by section by instrument select... select... Philharmonia

VIOLIN

Section: StringsTransposing? No

ConstructionRangeBowingPlucking

Left HandMute/Harmonics

ChordsExtended

Player's Tipsand Tricks

Links

Mute/HarmonicsNAME DESCRIPTION NOTATION LISTEN/VIEW COMMENTS

mute(s)on

a damper isattached to thebridge to mute

the sound

con sord(Germ. mit Dämpfer) con sord

There are twotypes of mute:the clamp type(Ma Sihon)which is placedon the bridge,and the slidingtype (Roth-Sihon) which ispermanentlyattached to thestrings. It isusually best toallow about 5seconds forplayers to puton or remove amute.

mute(s)off

the mute isremoved senza sord

No need tospecify thisunless a mutedpassage haspreceded

naturalharmonics

the string islightly fingered

at a nodalpoint to

produce a"fluted" sound

The notation of naturalharmonics is often

inconsistent. Frequently it iseither just a circle over the

note, thus:

or the word harm, or indeed adiamond notehead to indicate

finger position, or somecombination of the above! To

be completely accurate, aharmonic would be notated

thus: harmonics

naturalharmonics

The nodalpoints on astring are asfollows:1/2 (gives 8veabove openstring)1/3 (gives8ve+5th aboveopen string)1/4 (gives2x8ves aboveopen string)1/5 (gives2x8ves+maj3rdabove openstring)There are more

Violin: mute/harmonics

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Here, the large roundnotehead indicates the

fundamental (open G-string inthis case), the diamond

notehead indicates the fingerposition and the small note in

brackets is the resultingsound. (However, violinists

would probably regard this asover-fussy for a

straightforward naturalharmonic).

naturalharmonics, butthese arerelativelyunreliable.

artificialharmonics

the string isstopped

normally, andthen fingered(with the little

finger) at apoint a 4th ora 5th abovethe stopped

note

The same notational practicesapply for artificial harmonics.

Note that in this case:

the first will produce a note2x8ves above the stopped

note, the second an 8ve+5thabove the stopped note. Oftena small notehead in brackets

is used to indicate thesounding result, as in the

example above. Where theword flag (= "flageolet") is

written over the note, awhispered bowing might helpthe 'whistling' sound, but this

instruction can also mean,quite simply, 'harmonic'.

harmonics

artificialharmonic at4th

artificialharmonic at5th

It is possible toadd vibratoand to playmelodic lines inartificialharmonics, butbothtechniquesshould be usedwith care. Tworarer artificialharmonics are:min 3rd abovestop (gives2x8ves+5th)maj 3rd abovestop (gives2x8ves+maj3rd)

Violin: plucking

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THE ORCHESTRA: A USER'S MANUALIntroduction Orchestration Orchestration Resources Historical Andrew Hugill

by section by instrument select... select... Philharmonia

VIOLIN

Section: StringsTransposing? No

ConstructionRangeBowingPlucking

Left HandMute/Harmonics

ChordsExtended

Player's Tipsand Tricks

Links

Plucking

NAME DESCRIPTION NOTATION LISTEN/VIEW COMMENTS

pizzicatoplucking the string,

as opposed tobowing

pizz

pizz

G3 Bb3 Db4 C5 E5 Bb5 B5 G6

Players may putthe bow downfor extendedpizzicatopassages

snap('Bartok')pizzicato

pulling the stringupwards and

allowing it to 'snap'sharply against the

fingerboard

snap pizz

snap pizz

G3 Bb3 Db4 E5 Bb5 G6

Often used byBéla Bartók,hence thenickname.

nailpizzicato

plucking with thefingernail nail pizz nail pizz

Avoid on theviolin! Mostviolinists cuttheir fingernails.

glissando plucked glissando gliss pizz

G3 Bb3 Db4 F5 B5

Note that it ispossible tomake a glissaway from anopen string.

pizzicatotremolo

rapid motion of thefinger against the

stringpizz

pizz tremolo

Tiring toexecute for longperiods on theviolin and anuncontrolledeffect.

quasiguitar

violin held sidewaysagainst the bodyand strummed

quasi guitar quasi guitarMake sure thechords aresimple!

left handpizz

plucked with lefthand rather than

bowing hand+ (over note)

Use withextremecaution. Thefingerings needto be carefullyconsidered.

Violin: plucking

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