VietProDict - Violin terms

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ARCO look up translate image: Italian for bow. Written in after passages of pizzicato (plucked) notes. Means to return to playing with the bow.
ARPEGGIO look up translate image: a musical element of a few notes made by playing the notes of a chord separately rather than simultaneously. Hence the verb "arpeggiate."
ARTICULATION look up translate image: Shape of a note or phrase. Basically three marks (and combinations thereof). The dot ( . ) which is staccato (short); the line ( - ) which is legato (smooth); and the accent ( > ) which is like a little punch at the beginning of a note. (Accent marks are the chevron pointing to the right.) Sometimes in an otherwise more or less staccato passage, the articulation line ( - ) is meant to give the note full length, where it's equivalent to tenuto. Sometimes, in combination with a slur, it means the...(more)
BAR look up translate image: measure; small grouping of musical beats. In musical notation, vertical lines on the staff enclose a bar.
BARIOLAGE look up translate image: A passage, often in Bach but in Brahms and elsewhere, where the fingers are held down over several strings and the bow oscillates between the several strings. The Bach E Major Partita is a notorious example. Very impressive sounding; not so hard once you get the trick of it.

Attachments
artbario.mp3 [714.28 KB]
BARTK PIZZ look up translate image: Also called snap pizz. Right hand pulls the string away from the fingerboard and releases, causing a snapping sound.
BEAT look up translate image: metrical or rhythmic stress, groupings of which constitute the meter or "time" of music.
BOUNCING BOW look up translate image: This is not just spiccato, which is an off-the-string, at-the-sounding-point technique of very small up and down bows, originating from the wrist, but a host of other definitions with very fine distinctions as to their meanings. {Worthy of further study are: saltando, saltante, saltato, saltellato, saltellando, sautell�.}
BOWING look up translate image: the technique of handling the bow or pattern of bowstrokes used when playing a stringed instrument.
BOWSTROKE look up translate image: the articulation of the bow in a single direction to play a note or group of notes; often shortened to "stroke."
BREAKDOWNS look up translate image: instrumental tunes in duple meter (2/4 or 4/4) at a quick dance speed. This general term in the American South is roughly equivalent to the term "reel" elsewhere in the English-speaking world. But it does not imply a particular type of dance; a "breakdown" tune may be used for square dances, longways dances, or other group dances, as well as for solo fancy dancing.
CADENCE look up translate image: the final notes of a strain in a tune, normally resolving on the tonic.
CHORD look up translate image: a group of three or more musical tones sounded together.
CHROMATIC look up translate image: a term referring to the use of all the half-tones in a scale.
CIRCULAR look up translate image: a term for tunes that do not resolve at the tonic at the end of a strain but move continuously into the next strain.
COL LEGNO look up translate image: Passage where the sound is produced by striking the wood of the bow against the string(s). One should not use one�s best bow in this type of passage, particularly if the bow is expensive.
COMPASS look up translate image: the range of pitches between a tune's lowest and highest notes, expressed here as the number of notes in the diatonic scale. Thus a tune with the range of an octave would have a compass of 7.
CON SORDINO look up translate image: With mute. Passages with mute end with the phrase "senza sordino" which means to remove the mute. There are several varieties of violin mute. One is a "Sihon" or slide-on mute, often used by students, which slides up upon the bridge, from between the end of the tailpiece and the bridge. Costs about $2-$3US. There is the Tourte mute, which also can hang behind the bridge in that area. There is a Heifetz mute, which clips on rather snugly and has to be put on by hand. There is also the heavy practice mute of silver or gold, which is not used in orchestral studies, but to practice without disturbing neighbors or roommates.

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Sihon.jpg [4.92 KB]

heavypracticemute.jpg [7.21 KB]

Tourtemutesmall.jpg [4.40 KB]
CONTACT POINT look up translate image: Also called sounding point, the explicit part of the bow hair which touches the string. In Suzuki parlance, related to the "Kreisler Highway," or the effort to play perfectly parallel between the end of the fingerboard and the bridge at the optimal spot which will produce the best sound.
DTACH look up translate image: Impossible to define this, as there are so many varieties. Basically, up and down; a change of bowing direction with some articulation. Does not necessarily mean staccato (though sometimes defined as such); can be heavily accented or not
DIATONIC look up translate image: a term referring to the standard seven-tone scale.
DOMINANT look up translate image: the fifth degree of the diatonic scale, measured upward from the tonic.
DOUBLE STOP look up translate image: two musical tones noted together. On the fiddle, a double stop is technically two notes created by using fingers simultaneously on two strings, but the term is sometimes used when one or both of the notes are open strings.
DOWN BOW look up translate image: If the bow is on the sounding point in the middle of the bow, if you pull down toward the right, that is a down bow. Up bow is the opposite.
DRONE look up translate image: a single tone sounded continuously along with other melodic tones. On the fiddle, the term is sometimes used to refer to the practice of sounding open strings simultaneously with adjacent strings on which the melody is being played.
DUPLE look up translate image: occurring in groups of two; used to refer to rhythmic patterns such as 2/4 or 4/4.
FLAUTANDO look up translate image: Flute-like sound produced by deliberately playing over the fingerboard.
FROG look up translate image: the small apparatus attached to the fiddle bow stick near its base, to which the hairs of the bow are attached.
GENRE look up translate image: an artistic category characterized by a particular style, form, or content. Most genres of instrumental music are also genres for dancing or marching.
HARMONICS look up translate image: Bell-like tones created by lightly touching the string with the flat part of the left finger, which breaks the string into partials. The first harmonic learned by students is the one mid-way between the nut and the bridge, at about an inch or so above (towards the bridge) where the body of the violin begins. Indicated by a 4 and a 0 fingering. Used by composers for affect.
INSTRUMENTALS look up translate image: tunes designed for and performed on a musical instrument without use of the voice.
JET look up translate image: Individually produced or "thrown" series of notes, produced at the same part of the bow.
KEY look up translate image: the tonality of a scale; the organization of the pitches of a piece of music around a tonal center, or tonic.
LEFT HAND PIZZICATO look up translate image: pizzicato created by a sharp plucking of the string with the violin (left) hand. Common in Paganini.
LEGATO look up translate image: Smooth, tied together. May be indicated by a slur mark.
MARCATO look up translate image: Unclear term. Accentuated in some fashion, as d�tach� or martel�.
MARTEL look up translate image: Staccato (short) with heavy accent.
MEASURE look up translate image: bar; pattern of musical beats. In musical notation, vertical lines on the staff enclose a measure.
MELODY look up translate image: tune; for instrumental music, an arrangement of notes typically comprising at least two strains, each of which is repeated.
METER look up translate image: "time" in music; a pattern of regularly recurring rhythmic pulses or beats, whether heard or imagined.
NOTATION look up translate image: transcription; the system of writing used to represent music.
NOTE look up translate image: a single tone, the smallest musical unit in a melody or tune. In notation, a note is the symbol indicating the duration and pitch of a musical sound by its shape and position on the staff.
NUT look up translate image: the screw at the base of the fiddle bow stick that tightens the bow hairs.
PHRASE look up translate image: a short musical expression, several of which comprise an entire tune or melody. The phrase structure provides insight into the shape, aesthetics, and psychodynamics of the tune. The fiddle tunes in this collection typically have two strains, each of which is composed of four phrases or eight subphrases. In the Musical Features section of the bibliographic record for each tune, phrases are indicated by capital letters and subphrases are in parentheses in lowercase letters. Thus a phrase structure...(more)
PITCH look up translate image: the highness or lowness of sound or intonation; the frequency of sound waves producing a sound. Thus an A-string, if tuned to the current standard for the pitch of A, would vibrate at a pitch with the frequency of 440 cycles per second.
PIZZICATO look up translate image: Usually written as "pizz" in the parts, and "arco" when the pizz section is meant to end. Plucking the string with the right hand. Technique may be done in several ways with respect to the holding of the bow in the right hand: (a) for very quick notes in pizz, the right index finger may be extended, and the pizz done without much changing the shape of the bow hold; (b) the bow may be grasped by the fist and the thumb balanced against the corner of the fingerboard with the index finger pizzing; and...(more)
PONTICELLO look up translate image: Orchestral technique of playing on the bridge (sul ponticello). "Dietro il ponticello" is playing behind the bridge. These and much more unorthodox techniques may be found in Penderecki�s "Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima." End of ponticello passage may be indicated by "ordinario," often written as "ord."
PORTAMENTO look up translate image: An audible slide from one position to the next. As modern stringed instrument technique developed in the later part of the 20th century, players tended to be less and less "smaltzy," and portamento used more carefully. But in the performances of Yo-Yo Ma (for example) you will be surprised to discover a lot of portamenti, but they do not sound syrupy at all. This is a matter of "taste," that longed for but often hard to define characteristic of great string playing.
RENDITION look up translate image: the pattern in which strains are arranged within a particular performance of a tune. Most, but not all, strains in this collection are repeated, and there may be variation from performance to performance in whether a strain is repeated. In the Musical Features section of the bibliographic record for each tune, the strains are numbered (1, 2, etc.), and "r" indicates that the strain is repeated.
RHYTHM look up translate image: the pattern of musical movement through time.

Violin terms

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Created by	admin
Created on	2011-05-04 18:28:51
Number of terms	69
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Sources

Common Violin Terminology

cnx.org

Glossary

www.angelfire.com

Minugia - Glossary for violin, viola, cello

www.minugia.it

Terms and words used in the bowed instruments field, and for violin, viola and violoncello in particular

Music Glossary and Musical Definitions for your Music Lessons

www.musicglossary.com

A Music Glossary of all Music Terms and Music Definitions for your Lessons. Find resources on Music Lessons, Musician Gifts, Music Tshirts, Music Gifts, Music Party Favors, Gifts for Musicians, and more! A virtual Music Dictionary at your fingertips.

Violin Online - Violin Basics - Music Glossary

www.violinonline.com

Violin terms