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

bow stroke BOW as an acronym may refer to: * Bag of waters, amniotic sac * Bartow Municipal Airport (IATA:BOW), a public use airport near Bartow, Florida, United States * Basic operating weight of an aircraft * BOW counties, made of Brown, Outagamie, and ...

used when playing bowed

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

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

and vocal technique, and even (by

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

) 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, were unable to support the pressure needed to perform the martelé stroke. It wasn't until François Tourte made changes to the bow between 1785 and 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, 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