''Martelé'' (; literally meaning "hammered") is a percussive

bow stroke On a bowed string instrument, a bow stroke is the movement of the bow back and forth perpendicularly across the string, from the frog to the tip and from the tip to the frog, producing sound. Multiple notes in one bow stroke are indicated by th ...

used when playing bowed

string instruments String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the Str ...

, though the Italian ''martellando'' and ''martellato'' are also applied to

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

and vocal technique, and even (by

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

) to the organ. The effect is usually produced by holding the bow against the string with pressure, then releasing it explosively to produce a sharp, biting attack with a rest between strokes.

History

Bows made in the 18th century and earlier, due to their lack of a

ferrule A ferrule (a corruption of Latin ' "small bracelet", under the influence of ' "iron") is any of a number of types of objects, generally used for fastening, joining, sealing, or reinforcement. They are often narrow circular rings made from me ...

, were unable to support the pressure needed to perform the martelé stroke. It wasn't until

François Tourte François Xavier Tourte (1747 – 25 April 1835) was a French bow maker who made a number of significant contributions to the development of the bow of stringed instruments, and is considered to be the most important figure in the development of ...

made changes to the bow between 1785 to 1790, including the addition of a ferrule, that the bow was suited for supporting that kind of pressure. Typically, martelé is notated with triangular wedged accents, but throughout history they have been notated with combinations of staccato markings and accents, as well as implied through indications of sforzando markings.

Technique

Martelé is a form of

détaché Playing the violin entails holding the instrument between the jaw and the collar bone (see below for variations of this posture). The strings are sounded either by drawing the bow across them ('' arco''), or by plucking them (''pizzicato''). Th ...

, which is a term for any bow stroke that is separate from those adjacent to it. To perform the martelé stroke on a string instrument, the player begins by using their index finger to apply pressure to the string. Then the pressure is released, and the wrist moves to perform a short détaché stroke before stopping on the string. A pause is given before proceeding to the next stroke. Due to the pause and need for preparation between strokes, martelé is unable to be performed on passages of exceptional speed.

References

Articulations (music) String performance techniques {{Music-theory-stub

History

Technique

See also

References