In music for bowed string instruments, col legno, or more precisely col legno battuto (Italian for 'with the wood [being hit]'; pronounced[kolˈleɲɲobatˈtuːto]), is an instruction to strike the string with the stick of the bow across the strings.
A viola being played col legno.col legno performed on a violin: 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
The earliest known use of col legno 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]
Soundedit
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 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"). This is much less common, and the plain marking col legno is invariably interpreted to mean battuto rather than tratto. The sound produced by col legno tratto 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.
Equipmentedit
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.[2] Some players tap the strings with pencils instead of bows, producing a further percussive, lighter sound.[3]
Referencesedit
^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
^Strange, Patricia; Allen Strange (2001). The Contemporary Violin: Extended Performance Techniques. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 108. ISBN978-1-4616-6410-9.
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January 01, 1970
legno, confused, with, collegno, music, bowed, string, instruments, legno, more, precisely, legno, battuto, italian, with, wood, being, pronounced, ˈleɲɲo, batˈtuːto, instruction, strike, string, with, stick, across, strings, viola, being, played, legno, sourc. Not to be confused with Collegno In music for bowed string instruments col legno or more precisely col legno battuto Italian for with the wood being hit pronounced kol ˈleɲɲo batˈtuːto is an instruction to strike the string with the stick of the bow across the strings A viola being played col legno source source col legno performed on a violin 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 Contents 1 History 2 Sound 3 Equipment 4 ReferencesHistory editThe earliest known use of col legno 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 Sound editThe 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 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 This is much less common and the plain marking col legno is invariably interpreted to mean battuto rather than tratto The sound produced by col legno tratto 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 editSome 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 2 Some players tap the strings with pencils instead of bows producing a further percussive lighter sound 3 References edit 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 Strange Patricia Allen Strange 2001 The Contemporary Violin Extended Performance Techniques Berkeley University of California Press p 108 ISBN 978 1 4616 6410 9 nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Col legno Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Col legno amp oldid 1194828349, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
