''Spiccato'' is a bowing technique for

string instrument In musical instrument classification, string instruments, or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer strums, plucks, strikes or sounds the strings in varying manners. Musicians play some ...

s in which the bow appears to bounce lightly upon the string. The term comes from the past participle of the Italian verb ''spiccare'', meaning "to separate". The terms '' martelé'', '' saltando'', and '' sautillé'' describe similar techniques.

Technique

In typically consistent rhythms (of

quaver 180px, Figure 1. An eighth note with stem extending up, an eighth note with stem extending down, and an eighth rest. 180px, Figure 2. Four eighth notes beamed together. An eighth note ( American) or a quaver (British) is a musical note play ...

s or semiquavers, or quicker repeated sounds), the bow is held in a more relaxed manner and allowed to bounce, resulting in a series of short, distinct notes. This occurs because of the elasticity of the string and the natural springiness of the bow. The ability to create the effect is largely tempo-dependent. In slower tempos, a ''spiccato'' can also be manufactured using the fingers and wrist to deliberately manipulate how the bow falls to the string. The speed with which the ''spiccato'' is performed depends on bow placement. At the balance point – about a third from the

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

– the ''spiccato'' will be slow, while above the middle of the bow the speed will increase. The speed can also be controlled by varying the height of the bow above the string: the higher the bow bounces, the longer the time required for the bow to return to the string, and therefore the slower the resulting ''spiccato''. The character of the ''spiccato'' can be varied by altering the tilt and placement of the bow to use more or fewer hairs. When using the full bow hair, the bow bounces more and has a shorter character, while when the bow hair is angled, the character of the ''spiccato'' becomes more mellow and longer.

History

According to David Boyden and Peter Walls in ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and t ...

'', the terms ''spiccato'' and ''

staccato Staccato (; Italian for "detached") is a form of Articulation (music), musical articulation. In modern notation, it signifies a note of shortened duration, separated from the note that may follow by silence. It has been described by theorists and ...

'' were regarded as equivalent before the mid-18th century. They cite, for example,

Sébastien de Brossard Sébastien de Brossard (; 12 September 165510 August 1730) was a French music theorist, composer and collector. Life Brossard was born in Dompierre, Orne. After studying philosophy and theology at Caen, he studied music and established himself ...

's ''Dictionnaire de musique'', 1703, and Michel Corrette's ''L'École d'Orphée'', 1738. ''Spiccato'' meant, they write, "simply detached or separated as opposed to legato." The distinctive use of the term ''spiccato'' for the bouncing bowstroke emerged in the later 18th century. Although it was an important technique for 19th-century violinists, its use increased significantly in the 20th century. The ability to perform ''spiccato'' was facilitated by the development of the Tourte bow – the modern bow, in which the bow had a

concave Concave or concavity may refer to: Science and technology * Concave lens * Concave mirror Mathematics * Concave function, the negative of a convex function * Concave polygon A simple polygon that is not convex is called concave, non-convex or ...

curve, developed by François Tourte partly in collaboration with

Giovanni Battista Viotti Giovanni Battista Viotti (12 May 1755 – 3 March 1824) was an Italian violinist whose virtuosity was famed and whose work as a composer featured a prominent violin and an appealing lyrical tunefulness. He was also a director of French and Italia ...

References

{{Violin family Articulations (music) String performance techniques Italian words and phrases