I can't find out what 'arco' means! I've tried searching the internet, but all that comes up is a weird phobia :s

Any violin/string players know? I have come across this term in the string section of my score and have no clue what it means...

Thank you so much if you could explain it to me!

Edit: sorry I spelt it wrong in the thread title



OK sorry about that, I found out what it was after I spelt it correctly

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/arco


Ignore this thread!

It means played with the bow as opposed to plucked which is written as 'pizz'

This is the definition of arco from Wikipedia - Arco is a directive in music for string instruments to indicate that the hair of the bow should be used to play in the normal way (following a passage played pizzicato, for example).

as opposed to col legno where the wooden part of the bow is used to strike the strings!

That's really rare isn't it? You won't really get much sound from knocking the wood on the strings. Besides, you spoil the bow! Eventually that is...too much rosin build up.

I haven't seen it in any of the music i play - but then again i'm not a classical violinist! I can't remember which peice it was i heard and col legno was used...hmmm

My music teacher at GCSE knew I was an organist, so when he gave us a definitions sheet with "arco" on it, he wrote next to it "the musical term, nothing to do with organs!" (ARCO is also Associate of the Royal College of Organists."

I have played col legno.

I would't say it's used in solo violin playing, too quiet as you say, but when you get an entire string section doing it, it sounds really eerie.

One of the most famous uses of col legno is in Saint-Saens' DANSE MACABRE where the wood of the bow mimics the sound of skeletons rattling in the graveyard...

Col legno is used in prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet suite no 2 but i can't remember which movement. It does add an eerie feeling though. it's amazing what different kinds of techniques there are!

Arco - play with bow...