Col legno
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0 sec: battuto,
9 sec: tratto,
20 sec: ... with tremolo,
33 sec: ... with glissando,
48 sec: battuto with movement of the bow across the fingerboard
In music for bowed string instruments, Script error: No such module "Lang"., or more precisely Template:Langnf; Script error: No such module "IPA".), is an instruction to strike the string with the stick of the bow across the strings.
History
The earliest known use of Script error: No such module "Lang". in Western music is to be found in a piece entitled "Harke, harke", from the First Part of Ayres (1605) by Tobias Hume, where he instructs the gambist to "drum this with the backe of your bow".[1] Such 'drumming' or col legno battuto also occurs in Mozart's 'Turkish' Violin Concerto No. 5, Haydn's Symphony No. 67, Salieri's La Cifra, Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2, and Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique.
Col legno tratto ("drawn") is rarer effect: Mahler felt the need to include a note "No mistake! to be stroked with the wood" in the third movement of his First SymphonyTemplate:Efn. Tratto occurs in many works of the Second Viennese School, such as Webern's Four Pieces for Violin and Piano, Op. 7, Berg's Lyric SuiteTemplate:Efn and Schoenberg's Moses und Aaron.
Sound
The percussive sound of battuto has a clear pitch element determined by the distance of the bow from the bridge at the point of contact. As a group of players will never strike the string in exactly the same place, the sound of a section of violins playing Script error: No such module "Lang". is dramatically different from the sound of a single violin doing so.
The wood of the bow can also be drawn across the string – a technique called Script error: No such module "Lang". ("with the wood drawn"). This is much less common, and the plain marking Script error: No such module "Lang". is invariably interpreted to mean battuto rather than tratto. The sound produced by Script error: No such module "Lang". is very quiet, with an overlay of white noise, but the pitch of the stopped note can be clearly heard. If the sound is too quiet, the bow can be slightly rolled so that a few bow hairs touch the string as well, leading to a slightly less "airy" sound.
Equipment
Some string players object to Script error: No such module "Lang". playing as it can damage the bow; many players have a cheaper bow which they use for such passages, or for pieces which require extended passages.[2] Some players tap the strings with pencils instead of bows, producing a further percussive, lighter sound.[3]
Notes
References
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- ↑ Peter Walls, "Bow" II. Bowing, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001): §2, xi.
- ↑ Blatter, A.: "Instrumentation and Orchestration", page 37. Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 1997
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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