Accented Detaché

Through added weight and bow speed at the beginning of the bow stroke, we hear an accent. The notes are still played in their full length, connected and played one bow stroke per note. This bowing technique is a combination of simple detaché and martelé.

Accented Detaché with bite

This is a stronger version of the accented detaché. The note starts with a clear bite. The bite is made by an inflection with the index finger.

Grand Detaché

Large, long and fast bow strokes with a lot of energy and sound. The technique is similar to accented detaché, but it’s more solistic.

Finger Detaché

This technique is done purely with movements in the fingers and a flexible wrist. It gives a very efficient small detaché for extremely fast and light passages.

Detaché Porté

This is a detaché with a slight heavy swelling on the marked notes. There is no ‘click’ sound as in martelé or accented detaché.

Detaché Lancé

This is similar to detaché porté, but uses a martelé like bow speed instead of the heavy swelling produced by the right hand.

Detaché Collé

In this bow stroke you lift the bow at the bow changes, creating a sort of slow motion spiccato with full bow control. Depending on the performance you can find it in the Fuga of Bach’s 1st violin sonata. There’s no special notation of this in the sheet music.

Tenuto

Tenuto means that the notes are played in their full length, but are clearly separated. In sheet music you’ll see a dash above or below the note. Tenuto is opposed to staccato, in which you play the notes shorter. Both are more considered musical articulations than bow techniques.

Son Filé

Son filé is a bowing technique in which you make a deep and full tone, like in the opening of the Bruch violin concerto. There is no special marking. It needs to be derived from the general character of the piece you play.

A weird, but effective, practice tip: while you create a full sound, imagine the back of your violin resonating. Your tone will be deeper.

Flautando

Flautato or flautando is bowing with a high bow speed and little pressure so you get a whistling transparent sound. 

As flautato is often played sul tasto, close to the fingerboard. Sometimes these terms get mixed up. Sul tasto just refers to the contact point, while flautato also refers to a particular sound, bow speed and weight.

Also don’t confuse flautato with harmonics, which also create a whistling sound, but are a left hand technique.

Separated Legato

By changing speed and pressure during a legato bow stroke, one can subtly separate the notes. This gives a flowing, yet rhythmical expression.

Articulated Legato

In long fast legato runs, which are not differentiated rhythmically by the composer, it’s helpful for the listener to subdivide the passage into shorter rhythmic units. In practice you stress them by the bow and in performance you stress them mentally. This improves the articulation of the run. The sheet music indication is just as an example, but this technique is not indicated in the sheet music.

Parlando

Parlando means ‘as we speak’ and is an alternative for portato that can be used at the same marking in the same repertoire. Instead of stopping the bow, keep the bow flow and separate the notes with inflections made by your index finger. Watch this video to learn all about parlando and the differences with portato or louré bow strokes.

Double Stops

When you see two notes above each other in the sheet music, you play on two strings at the same time and sometimes put fingers on two strings at the same time.

Triple Stops

When you see three notes above each other, it can mean chords or triple stops. In a triple stop you play on three strings at the same time. This is not as convenient as double stops. One has to play close to the fingerboard and press down the middle string to make them sound all three at the same time.

Chords

Three or four notes above each other are chords. As it’s inconvenient or impossible to play three or four notes at the same time, on the violin we ‘break the chord’. This means that we first play the lower two notes and then the upper two notes. Because of the resonance of the violin, four notes can sound at the same time without being bowed at the same time.

Quadruple Stops

Feel free to prove me wrong, but with a normal set up it’s impossible to bow four notes at the same time. One needs to either flatten the bridge or use a special bow like a ‘rundbogen’.

Arpeggio

An alternative way to play chords on the violin is to not play the notes one by one and slurred. In the sheet music the notes can look like fast notes on all four strings after each other or exactly like chords.

Gypsy bow stroke

This bow stroke is a mixture of detaché and martelé. It’s a way to play well articulated fast notes with a gypsy feel. The notes are clearly separated and played with a bite.

Harmonics

Harmonics (or flageolets) are sounding overtones when lightly putting a finger on the string without pressing it down creating a whistling sound. This is a left hand technique, but requires good bowing to make it speak.

The bow stroke in harmonics should be heavy, of sufficient length and with a sounding point near the bridge. To learn more about violin harmonics check out my easy guide right here and 6 bowing tips for harmonics right here.

Collé

Collé is a technique where the fingers and wrist make a circular motion resulting in an active off-the-string bow stroke with a firm sound.

Martelé Collé

This is an off-the-string martelé: lift the bow off the string at the bow changes making a U shape with the bow. One can see it as a slow motion spiccato, but this is an active bow technique usually close to the frog. It can be done with or without accent on the string.

Martelé Porté or Sustained Martelé

After the martelé ‘click’ one usually just lets the bow travel without weight. In Martelé porté one sustains the note, but doesn’t play it in full length. You can also see this as a ‘normal’ bow stroke with a martelé start.

Martelé Lancé

This is a somewhat longer martelé note or a somewhat shorter detaché note. The bow speed is faster at the beginning of the note to create clearly separated notes, but there’s not a firm accent.

Viotti bow stroke

Mostly it refers to a martelé applied in a musical context of a whole-bow stroke starting in a weak beat followed by a shorter note and after that a rest.

Kreutzer bow stroke

The Kreutzer stroke refers to two notes on one bow stroke of which the second note has a martelé accent.

Flying Staccato

This can be seen as multiple spiccato notes on one bow stroke where the bow travels. It’s a solid staccato, but with jumps between the notes.

Down-bow staccato

Doing several staccato notes on one bow-stroke requires a slightly different technique. The bow technique is more passive and looks a bit like ricochet. You release the bow as much as possible with your hand.

Marcato

Marcato means ‘marked’. The way to mark bow strokes is to clearly separate them, start the note with an accent or attack and play a descrescendo on each bow stroke. Usually marcato has not such a distinguished accent like staccato or martelé.

Jeté lent

A quick up-bow movement done at the frog. It starts on the string and ends in the air. It’s not a bounce of the bow, but a controlled movement of the bow arm. 

Jeté vite

This is the same as jeté lent, with the only difference that it starts from the air. Usually this is done in sequences of two or more notes.

Fouetté 

Whipped bow stroke

Accent the bow stroke by lifting the bow and ‘whipping’ it quickly back onto the string. It’s the middle between a spiccato on the string and accented detaché.

Slap stroke

This is a down-bow or up-bow usually at the frog starting with a quick vertical slap. The note after it is sustained, detaché. The note is played in it’s full length.

Simple brushed spiccato

Large, heavy and slow bow strokes near the frog with a firm hand. This is an active bowing technique.

Brushed spiccato

Brushed spiccato is a light on-the-string spiccato. It’s close to detaché, but the bow has some bounce and this gives lightness to the sound.

Bouncing ball bow stroke

A forceful and aggressive spiccato made by the fingers making a vertical motion that is a bit like bouncing a ball. 

Lyric spiccato

This is an elegant spiccato, mostly done with the side of the hair. The notes are played almost in their whole length and the bounce is minimal.

Crisp spiccato

Clearly articulated spiccato with a subtle bite.

Dramatic spiccato

A large spiccato movement with a full sound, low tempo and relatively high bounce. The bow stroke is almost fully actively controlled by the hand.

On-the-string spiccato (spiccato sulla corda)

This is a fast and firm spiccato. The bow doesn’t leave the string, but bounces within the spring system of the bow and the hair.

Chopped spiccato

Similar to spiccato, but heavier and slower. This is done when a spiccato sound is asked for, but the dynamic is too loud or the tempo is too low for a real spiccato.

Frappé bowing technique

This is used in a context where a sautillé is indicated in the sheet music, but for the sake of articulation one plays a firm on the string detaché with very short bow strokes. The result is that it sounds like sautillé, but it’s louder, more clearly articulated and you have more control over the bow. This is a great hack for fast passages.

Ricochet tremolo

Two down-bow bounces followed by two up-bow bounces. It’s to replace the single spiccato notes in high tempo and long duration.

Tapping bow stroke

This is a light tapping motion to play several notes on one bow stroke. It’s softer and more subtle than flying staccato.

Standing spiccato

This is similar to the tapping bow stroke and the sound is also similar. In the standing spiccato the notes are played on the same spot of the bow. Circular motions with the wrist and finger ensure that the bow ‘stands’ on the same place.

Measured Tremolo

The same technique as the standard tremolo, but it needs to be played in a precise rhythm.

Col legno tratto

Tratto means dragged. You play with the stick of the bow instead of the hair and make actual bow strokes. Don’t do this often and be very careful.

Sul tasto

French: sur la touche

Play with the contact point near the fingerboard. This creates a soft muffled tone. With a high bow speed, one gets a flute-like tone.

Sul ponticello

Play with the bow on the bridge or near the bridge. One hears the overtones and not the main tone. This creates a whistling, glassy and spooky sound.

Punta d’arco

This means playing at the extreme tip of the bow. It creates a soft tone.

Au talon

This means to play at the frog of the bow. This creates a firm tone.

Staggered or free bowing

This is the effect of changing the bow direction within one note randomly to create the effect of a continuous sound.

Hooked bowing

This is not a bow technique as such, but the practice of connecting a series of uneven note values in order to avoid unintended accents. This can be applied with detaché lancé, martelé, staccato or portato strokes.

Classical motif

This terms is not a separate bow technique, but more the practice to play series of one longer bow stroke and two shorter bow strokes as down up up instead of down up down. This is easier to play in a high tempo and the articulation is cleaner and crispier.

Seufzer motif

Two equal notes, where the first is emphasized and the second is softer and shorter. This creates the sound of a sigh. We hear this a lot in Mozart, orchestral as well as solo repertoire, and other composers from the classical era.

Smorzando or Morendo

Extinguishing or dampening; a drop in dynamics from soft to nothing. This is done with a very slow bow in the direction of the tip while taking weight off the bow.

Dragging the Bow

Classic jazz and Western swing players would play quadruple stops by completely unscrewing the bow and wrapping the hair over all four strings.

Shuffle

Shuffles, like the Nashville (picture) and Georgia shuffle, are bowing patterns in fiddle music. These are alternative ways to play the same tune or sequence of eighth notes.

Chops

This is a fiddle bow technique, where you make percussive sounds by vertically landing (chopping) the bow usually on two strings. This is done at the extreme frog of the bow. By using a different angle of the bow, one can change the sound.

Drone

A drone is a specific type of double stops in fiddle bowing, where you play the melody on one string together with a lower open string. The lower string is the ‘drone’. Mostly drones are not indicated in the sheet music, but added by the performer.

Bow screw glissando

Hold the bow vertically above the string with the screw against a string. Now pizz with your left hand and drag the bow screw up and down the string.

Bowing on the violin body, bridge, tailpiece or pegs

So old fashioned to bow on the strings! In modern music pieces are composed in which you’re supposed to bow on the body, bridge, tailpiece and even the pegs.

Bow behind the bridge

This is bowing on the short string length between the bridge and the fingerboard. The sound is very high and squeaky.

Pizz without bow

In longer sections or even whole movements of pizzicato, the orchestra violinists put their bow on the music stand and have their right hand free for pizzicato.

Pizzicato chording

We can arpeggiate the strings with pizzicato as well. This is similar to the strumming.

Pizzicato tremolo

The finger moves back and forth to create a fast pizzicato. 

Snap (‘Bartok’) pizzicato

The string is pulled so far that when it’s released it snaps against the fingerboard. One hears a ‘snap’ more than the actual note. This is a percussion technique.

Fingernail pizzicato

Very hard for violinists as we tend to keep our nails short. The strings are plucked with the fingernail of the right hand.

Quasi guitar

The violin is held like one holds a guitar and one plucks with the thumb instead of the index finger.

Strumming

One holds the violin like a guitar and in one move with the hand multiple notes are played.