Description: Arco indicates that the music should be bowed (as opposed to plucked).
Notation: arco
Comments: It is assumed that a passage is bowed unless marked otherwise. However, once a 'pizz' indication has been given, 'arco' must be indicated for the next bowed passage. Where unusual bowing techniques are used, 'ord' will return the player to normal bowing.
Up and Down Bows
Description: The up bow (traveling from point to frog) has a weaker sound than the down bow, and therefore is often used on on upbeats. The somewhat heavier down bow (moving from frog to point) is then used to emphasise the down beat in the music.
Notation: There is no need to indicate bowing unless a specific pattern of up and down bows is required, in which case the symbols shown are used above the music.
Comments: Experienced players can play up and down bows so evenly that it is often impossible to tell which is which just by listening. However, when a particularly heavy attack is required there is no substitute for a strong downbow.
clip 1 -
Miranda Dale of the Philharmonia Orchestra explains down and up bows.
clip 2 -
Use of the middle of the bow is not normally specified, but it is where the player spends most of their time.
Au Talon
Description: bowed at the frog
Notation: au talon (Germ. Frosch It. tallone)
Comments: works best loud
clip 1 -
Au talon: bowed at the frog...
Punta
Punta d'Arco
Description: bowed at the point
Notation: punta d'arco (Fr. pointe Germ. Spitze)
Comments: good for delicate effects
clip 1 -
punta d'arco...
Heifetz - Bowing Video
Jascha Heifetz is one of the great violinists of the last century and made many superb recordings. As well as one of the great interpreting artists of modern times he was renouned for his incredible technique. One of the links here, to the Internet Archive enables you to download a silent video of Heifetz rehearsing in the Hollywood Bowl in 1931 the other video is from a 1945 performance at Carnegie Hall....[more]