Does Col Legno damage the bow?

Does Col Legno damage the bow?

Equipment. Some string players object to col legno 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.

What is Sul Tasto bowing?

Meaning ‘on the touch’ in Italian, Sul Tasto is a technique that requires the bow to be used over the end of the fingerboard, creating a more mellow tone.

What is Ponticello bowing?

The Italian term sul ponticello refers to a bow position where the bow is placed “on the bridge”, or in the vicinity of the bridge, in order to achieve an overtone-rich, corrupted timbre, that may be perceived as scratchy or distorted when used in combination with various bow pressures.

What effect does Col Legno create?

Col Legno Butatto means to bounce the wood of the bow and creates a much more percussive sound, this is used by Chopin in Piano Concerto no. 2 in the final movement. It gives a feel of wood being struck together sticking with the peasant dance theme that he had throughout the final movement.

What is a Col Legno in music?

Definition of col legno : with the wood —used as a direction in music to players of bowed instruments to use the wood and not the hair of the bow in playing.

What is the opposite of Sul Tasto?

The opposite of sul tasto must be sul ponticello. Sul ponticello is when the bow is dragged directly over the bridge, slightly over the bridge, or just touching the bridge.

What is the difference between Sautille and Spiccato?

The main difference between these bow strokes has to do with exactly what part of the bow bounces. With Spiccato, the entire bow bounces. The bow hair leaves the violin string. However, when playing Sautille, the bow hair, for all practical purposes doesn’t leave the string.

What does col legno mean on a bow?

The wood of the bow can also be drawn across the string — a technique called col legno tratto (“with the wood drawn”). This is much less common, and the plain marking col legno is invariably interpreted to mean battuto rather than tratto.

What does col legno stand for in music?

In music for bowed string instruments, col legno, or more precisely col legno battuto (pronounced [kol ˈleɲɲo batˈtuːto], Italian for “with the wood [being hit]”), is an instruction to strike the string with the stick of the bow, rather than by drawing the hair of the bow across the strings.

What’s the difference between col legno and battuto?

As a group of players will never strike the string in exactly the same place, the sound of a section of violins playing col legno battuto 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 col legno tratto (“with the wood drawn”).

When to use col legno or tratto technique?

Sometimes the col legno technique requires long bowing, just as if you were playing normally. When that’s the case, your score will be marked (or the conductor will have you write in), “tratto.” Sometimes, however, this technique is used more like percussion – with quick raps on the strings.

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