Guide to a good bow job

There are many cool French and Italian terms for different types of bowing. The textshave explanations of each of the different strokes, but these explanations range fromexcellent to confusing to plain contradictory (just google détaché). These terms refer tothings the section does ‘under the hood.’ As an orchestrator, it is important to under-stand these, as they are the rudiments of string playing. Remember that in the end,though, the important thing is to know how to notate your intent; the section willtake care of the technique.

When discussing bow technique it is important to note that several terms players useto describe a stroke are also terms used in notation; however, they have a slightly dif-ferent meaning in this case. The two main ones to watch out for are staccato andlegato, which will be discussed in this section.

The default for bowing is to play on the string and change direction with each note.

Long NotesLong notes are played on the string, or shorthand on, meaning that between notesthe bow does not leave the string, but rather maintains contact. The bow will changedirection for each new note. If you want more than one note per stroke, use a slur todesignate how many notes should fall under each bow.

How many notes you can write per bow depends on several variables. Some are non-negotiable; for example, at loud dynamics the bow must move faster to maintain afull tone, so fewer notes are possible. When the dynamic is soft, many more notes canbe played and the amount of changes and the speed of the bow can make some nicecolors. Watch a section bow; the speed changes all the time and this is what gives thephrase life. There is a third variable: placement. Players will put the bow in slightlydifferent positions on the string to produce different sounds. The extremes are sulponticello and sul tasto, but there are many little variations in the middle that whencombined with speed and pressure give every note a unique sound.

The reason why samples have no ‘life’ is that every note is recorded at similar speedsand pressures, so there is no relationship between technique and musical context.

Short NotesThe default is still to play on the string. If you want the playing heavy and on thestring, you can label it marcato. Marcato is a term that refers to the attack; for strings itis performed with the martelé stroke. Notes start on the string and have a big attack

due to extra pressure applied. Note that marcato does not necessarily mean short; itaffects the attack, and due to the physics of how it is performed, the notes will have aseparation, and so by default will be shorter. A series of marcato eighths will give theimpression of being staccato. It’s important to realize the distinction though, and un-derstand that a normal short on the string bowing is called staccato bowing.

The alternative to bowing on the string is, of course, bowing off the string. This iswhere the bow leaves the string between notes. The most common example of an offthe string bowing style is spiccato. One common misconception is that spiccato itself isthe way you label a passage as off the string. It is not. It is just one particular style ofoff the string bowing. However, if you do use that word and it is perhaps not the cor-rect stroke for the phrase, players will do what they do best and adapt their bowstroke to the current musical context.

I believe the misunderstanding and misuse of the terms marcato and spiccato is due tocertain string libraries using these names for their short note patches. In the realworld it is impossible to play spiccato as loud and heavy as it sounds in thesepatches, and as mentioned above, marcato is a type of attack, not duration.

‘Off-ish’Spiccato is a very useful and common bow stroke, but if you look at the physics of it,it is not useful for heavier attacks and louder dynamics. For these we need more con-tact with the string and bouncing the bow off does not allow this. But we still wantthe bow to come off between notes, even if it is very slight. This is a stroke that is be-tween a spiccato and a marcato. It is not discussed often but if you watch a section, youwill see it is what naturally happens when they have to play short and heavy notes. Ihave also noticed that even when asked to play on the string, when the music getsfast and loud, the same thing happens and they gravitate to this same stroke, the bowseems to lift a little as it changes direction. They also often do this for clarity. In celloand bass, playing fast on the string does not project or come through as well as itdoes on the violin.

Under Pressure: Looking at the Bow(ie)

Notice how I have bowed the above phrase. Even though I have not marked acrescendo, there will be a slight one as the bow speed and emphasis change and the

sound gets more intense. If I did mark this as a crescendo I would also want the samebowing. The louder the sound, the faster the bow has to travel to maintain a qualitytone. If it were a big crescendo and I had not marked it like this they would automati-cally go to at least two bows per bar as the music gets louder.

There are so many subtle differences to the sound you can make when you thinkabout the bowing.

Bowing does not always follow the phrase, but how you bow makes the phrase.

1. There is a school of thought that says you should use a long slur as a phrase markand the section will sort it out. Yes, they can work something out, but you will get theresult YOU want if you take the time to bow the passage yourself. In this case, theprincipal will decide how to bow it. But they do not know the music or how intense Iwould like each note.2. This is how they would probably play it, starting on an up-bow of course. Theymay also slur C to Ab. Each bar uses the same amount of bow, and the sound will beconsistent.3. How I might do it. This will give the phrase much more life than the even bowingof #2. The more notes, the slower the bow but more pressure is applied. Fewer notesor single ones lead the bow to move faster with less pressure, giving a different inten-sity and some nice phrasing. So while the section will use a whole bow to cover thesix beats of the Ab and G, they will use half to three quarters just for the Eb. This iswhat makes the music magical, and why samples have a hard time replacing theemotion of a real section.

Keep in mind that even though the notes may be slurred, there are often places wherethe players will have to change strings. These notes will not have the ‘slurred’ sound

as the new string will not be vibrating before the next note starts. Players can workaround this in many cases by playing the line in a position that avoids the stringchange, but if the interval is wide, this may not be possible. It is a very subtle effect,and good players will be able to almost mask it, but it is still something to thinkabout.

In reality a good section can change bow direction without you knowing. This is veryeasy on the violin but gets harder as the instruments get bigger. On the violin, thestring is not moving very far as it vibrates, but on the bass it is moving a lot, so stop-ping and starting the string as the bow changes is more perceptible. A good sectionleader will have the section blend the bowing to avoid this issue, especially on quietpassages.

Sometimes you will not want to hear any bow changes, but only a completely smoothand even line. In order to get this effect you will need the section to change bow atdifferent times. This can be dictated by writing two overlapping bowing patterns, oneset of slurs above and one below. This will mask the changes and is sometimes re-ferred to as ‘divisi bowing.’ In the studios we often mark the phrase with a long slurand ask the section to ‘free bow’. They will then change bow at different times, not asa group. Unfortunately ‘free bow’ is not a universal term. I have not found a commonway to describe this practice, so some clarification is often needed or the section willstill bow the line all together. If you just have a phrase mark and no indication, theplayers will follow the principal.

As previously mentioned, there are many things that effect how many notes can(physically) or should (musically) go under each bow, and even the most experiencedorchestrator cannot get it right all the time. Lucky for us, we are writing for humans,not computers. They can make judgement calls and adapt the bowing to suit the mu-sical situation. So if you do screw it up, don’t worry, you are still giving the sectioninvaluable clues as to what you are looking for.

Watching and listening is the best way to learn how to bow.

Useful articulations

a. No emphasis, no space between notes.b. Slight emphasis, very small space due to the bow recharging for the emphasis.

c. Detached, bow stops between strokes.d. Heavy attack with a drop-off to a little space as the bow recharges for the next at-tack. You can add a tenuto to limit the space, but the accent will be less.e. Louré, all notes under one bow. The bow pulses the notes by slowing, releasing thepressure then applying and speeding up again.f. As above but the bow pauses between notes.

If you want an extra smooth bow change, mark it sostenuto. This is the string equiva-lent to legato tonguing on a wind instrument.

NotationAs stated, the default is to play on the string, so no special notation is required if thatis what you want. But now we get into territory where the string terms start to meanone thing to the players, but another in notation. Staccato, when used in the score,refers to the length of the note and it does not necessarily mean to play thestaccato bow stroke.

One also must be mindful when using the word legato. While generally it means tojust connect the notes, it is often interpreted as meaning to slur. In Europethe legato means to slur. In reality, if you go with the default and have no markings,you will get legato, meaning connected not slurred.

In my scores, if I want off the string I mark it staccato (with dots or the word stacc.). Iprefer to use the word not the dots. It is cleaner, easier to change if we want to play itdifferently, and it keeps the notes clear for when you want to add accents. See howmuch less cluttered b. looks and how it could be changed to ‘on the string’ by just tak-ing out the word stacc.

If strings are playing eighth notes at light dynamics they will play spiccato and as thedynamic gets higher or more intensity is required they will go into the ‘off-ish’ style Idescribed above. The players adapt the bow style to the dynamic and intensity of themusic, and I do not need to micro-manage them.

If I want it heavy I label it stacc. e marc. If you accent every note you have no way ofgetting an accent when you really want one. This is the notational equivalent to ‘cry-ing wolf.’

I rarely use the word ‘On’ or ‘Off’ in a score; the default or the notation above implieshow it should be played. If I had labeled staccato and the next section is not, I just usesome tenutos or if it is repeated notes, it is safe to use legato. Have faith in your play-ers. Provided you give them a clear starting point, they will then also listen to what isaround them and come up with the best stroke for the musical situation. It often endsup that you have a combination of different strokes. This random, often unintentionalblend is what gives life to the music, something that cannot be replicated with sam-ples.

These simple indications have gotten me through hundreds of sessions, from thelightest happy cues to the loudest agressive boss battles.

AccentsAccents are performed by adding pressure, speed, and duration to the contact of thebow and string. In the example below, the accented notes will be a little longer thanthe unaccented ones.

This sounds very natural and is easy to play at slow and medium tempos, up to 130bpm or so. But when it gets faster, or if this were sixteenth notes, the effort needed tomake the accents can make it difficult to keep the unaccented notes smooth and met-ric. When I hear this problem in the studio, I have the players only think about the ac-cents. But it is always good to think ahead and orchestrate around this problem.

One would not think that a pattern like this would cause any trouble, and maybe tosome it does not, but being a drummer, I want everything as even and metric as pos-sible, and when I hear the violins play this the time will slightly push and pullaround the accents. There are several solutions to this problem. In this case, as the ac-cented notes are a different pitch, they will stick out anyway, so recently when thiscame up at a session, I just had them ignore the accents. But let’s imagine that every-thing is the same pitch, or the composer really wants big accents. Here is what youdo -

I have taken the accents out of the first part and the seconds are just playing the ac-cented notes. You will not miss the seconds on all the notes, and the firsts will actual-ly be able to play more heavily now as they do not have to allow for the accents. Fi-nally, the timing will also be perfect. The finished product will sound much betterand be easier to play. If there are more than strings in the orchestra one could alsoadd some woods, perhaps an oboe with the seconds. Percussion can also help. In factif you have percussion and brass hitting the accents, you do not need them in thestrings at all, as the overall result will sound accented.

Labeling Bow Direction and Bow Position99% of the the time this is not needed. String players have been bowing since theywere four years old, and choosing to start with an up- or down-bow is second nature.In general if a phrase starts on a weak beat (a pickup, for example) that will be an up-bow. If it starts on a strong beat, that will be down, simple as that. Long notes at softdynamics start on an up-bow as that is the easiest way to start softly. The one time itis common to label is when you want a series of heavy attacks, in which case youmark all down-bows. In reality, players are pretty good at a heavy attack in either di-rection, but what a series of down-bows does is ensures there is a gap between notesas the player has to retake between each one. They will also play at the frog. Morethan half the time I have seen a series of down-bows written it has been ignored bythe players!

The bow is held at the frog, so this is the easiest place for the player to exert the mostpressure on the string. The tip is the furthest point from the hand, so consequently itis the easiest place to play with the least pressure, producing the lightest tone. Someorchestrators mark to play at the tip or frog. Just like direction, I have found the play-ers tend to pick the best position with no input other than a dynamic. They will playa quiet tremolo at the tip, and a ff stab at the frog, because it is second nature. Butshould you wish to break this default, then mark it otherwise.

StylesOrdinale (ord.) – The default, use ord. to cancel any of the following. The bow is in aneutral position, the ‘sweet spot’ between the fingerboard and the bridge.

Sul Tasto - On the fingerboard. The bow plays over the end of the fingerboard, pro-ducing a softer tone with a less edgy attack and less high harmonics. See below formore discussion on this technique.

Sul Ponticello (Sul Pont.) – On the bridge. Opposite sound of Sul Tasto. The bow movescloser to the bridge producing a raspy, edgy tone. There is less fundamental andmore high harmonics to the sound. If you go extremely close to the bridge you cancompletely lose the fundamental and will only get harmonics.

Flautando – The bow moves faster than normal with a very light pressure producing apure, flute like tone.

Col Legno – ‘With the wood.’ There are two types of col legno. Tratto is where you bowthe string with the wooden part of the bow. Battuto is where the wood strikes thestring. The default is battuto. Keep in mind, the sound of col legno samples is neverreplicated in the real world. Players do not like smashing their $10K bow into their$200K instrument. Sometimes the players might get out their 2nd, not so preciousbow or I have heard of people asking them to play with rulers or pieces of dowel. Itdoes not matter, they will hit the instrument ‘that’ hard with anything. In scoreswhere the composer wants loud, unrealistic col legno, we usually just use the samplesand don’t even try to play it. If the passage is only some isolated notes, you can sub-stitute snap pizz. When it comes to Tratto, it hardly makes any noise, and what noiseit does is not very pitched. To make this work, players usually let a little bit of bowhair contact the string. That recording where you thought you heard col legno tratto,maybe not!

Ricochet and jeté are off the string strokeswhere the bow plays multiple notes in one di-rection by bouncing. I have found these im-practical for studio work unless it is just an ef-

fect. Multiple bounces are just not precise enough for what we need in modernrecording. I sometimes hear a player suggesting it as a way to play a fast, light figureand will nicely ask them to play it with separate strokes.

The Left HandApart from the lowest notes on the lowest string, and the highest notes on the higheststring, all other notes can be played in more than one position. The higher up thestring the position is (within reason), the darker and less edgy the timbre will be. Thiscan be notated: Sul G (‘on the G string’) passages are very common on the violin, butin many other cases this is the sort of judgement call a player will make based on themusical situation. While this has nothing to do with the bow, it affects the sound ashigher positions mean shorter strings.

Sul Tasto — Not So FastoI have noticed from the podium that when the violins have been asked to play sul tas-to, they do not appear to be playing over the fingerboard. It was not until researchingthis article that I learned what was really going on. There are some technical and son-ic considerations when playing over the fingerboard. I have heard different takes onwhat is happening when performers see this indication, but one thing is for sure: sultasto is not as cut and dried as any of the books would have you think.

In the case of the violin, the strings on are relatively short, so the ‘sweet spot’ wherethe bow makes the best sound is quite small. Move away from this toward the finger-board and it becomes much harder to make the string vibrate and produce a full tone.The true sound of sul tasto on the violin is a thin and wispy tone.

At the bridge or in the normal position, the strings are in a nice arcthat allows the player to play any string without touching the otherones with the bow. If you are playing in anything other than first posi-tion and the bow is close to or on the fingerboard, pressing the stringsflattens this arc and it becomes much harder (sometimes impossible)to avoid sounding the other strings. On some violins, and the violatoo, it is possible for the bow to hit the body of the instrument whenplaying on the outer strings. In the normal position, the bow fallsright into the cutout of the body, but when you move over the finger-board, the shape of the instrument no longer works in your favor.

In most cases, what we are really asking for with sul tasto is a softer,less edgy tone, as it is on the cello and bass. Some would call it muted,

but the actual sound of con sordino playing and sul tasto are not the same. There are anumber of ways to create this sound. The violinists accomplish the sul tasto effect byusing a combination of light bow pressure and slow bow speed. They may indeedmove closer to the fingerboard depending on the pitch, but not always. As the instru-ments get bigger, so too does the sweet spot, and actually playing on the fingerboardbecomes no problem at all. It can be done a little on the viola, and fully on the celloand bass. Other techniques players use to make a softer tone include playing in ahigher position on a lower string and using less hair on the string.

In the studio, players make a judgment call in order to create a fuller sound thatblends with the other instruments and projects well for the microphones, all whilecatching the essence of sul tasto and avoiding the technical difficulties.

Talk to players, and you’ll discover a range of opinions about this technique. In theconcert hall, violinists will try for a more literal sul tasto than they do in a recordingstudio. As one player put it, “I would try to play a little bit over the fingerboard, justnot as extreme as a conductor may want to see.” The same player also noted thateveryone’s instrument is a little different, so their approach may need to be differenttoo. The situation here seems to be similar to that of double stops or divisi, wherewhat actually goes on has not quite filtered back to the authors of the text books.

Based on the musical surroundings, players may play sul tasto (or fake it) without be-ing told. In fact, they are always making little adjustments, as depending on pitch,volume and context, the sweet spot may be in a different place for every note. Thehigher the note on the string, the closer to the bridge that sweet spot will be.

With this in mind, you will see that sul tasto is type of color or effect, and not neces-

sarily just the technique of bowing over the fingerboard.