Essay #3 Basic bow strokes: Détaché, Martelé, Spiccato.

Enzo Cypriani

The cello bow is a musical tool that can be used to produce many kinds of distinct kinds of
sounds, often referred as bow strokes. These produce variety of articulation and character in
music and being versatile in their use is essential when mastering the instrument’s technique and
it’s repertoire. Although there are many different bow strokes (authors often categorize 24 or 25
of them), three bow strokes are widely regarded as the most essential ones, most often used and
from which many others derive. These are the Detaché, Martelé and the Spiccato. Is worth
considering that many bow techniques function similarly in different string instruments, and
therefore for the purpose of this essay, many sources originally written for the violin will be
used.

The Detaché is the result of moving the bow in an up-bow and down-bow motion in the most
continuous form possible. The best result is often acquired when using the middle of the bow,
where it requires less physical effort. According to Mariana Isdesbski Salles, former student of
the renowned violinist Paulo Bosisio and author of the influential “Arcadas e Golpes de Arco”,
“The Detaché is, without any doubt, the most important basic bow stroke in the entire violinist
repertoire. A kid, for example, when getting a violin and a bow, intuitively do the driving
movement that originates the Detaché, it is, the ‘come-and-go’ of the bow. It is important since,
without this characteristic ‘come-and-go’, it’s possible to say that it is basically impossible the
execution of any other kind of bow stroke. The total control of the Detaché is a pre-requirement
for a good bow technique.” Some characteristics of this bow stroke, according to her, are that
“each note is executed by a single bow motion, in the opposite direction of its precedent, in a
movement of extension and flexion of the forearm.” The aural result the student wants is a
sequence of connected notes, even though the bow changes direction. There is an inevitable
articulation when the bow stroke changes direction, but the absence of pauses is the most
fundamental element of the bow stroke. Pressure and speed should be constant.

According to Salles, the observance of many points is extremely necessary for the proper
realization of the bow stroke. The faster the tempo is, the more the bow must be positioned close
to the fingerboard. The inclination of the stick to the fingerboard must also be considered. The
flexibility of the fingers and wrist are also extremely important for a good sonority: the faster the
tempo is, the more activity in the fingers and wrist.

From the Detaché, many different bow strokes can be derived by varying the bow pressure, the
form of attack and the amount of bow used. Some of these bow strokes include the Grand-
Detaché acentuado, Detaché with whole bow, Portato or Louré – also known as Detaché porté,
the Lancé and Fouetté.

The Martelé is very distinct from the Detaché. It is a bow that starts and stays on the string,
where every note is preceded by a percussive initial accent – simulating a similar sound to the
letters P or T, and there are pauses between the notes. This initial accent is provoked by the
pronation of the forearm, done before the horizontal motion of the bow. After the sound is
produced, any exceeding pression should be released. The Martelé is a modern bow stroke since
the historical bows the came before the modern bow produced by Viotti-Tourte were incapable
of producing this kind of initial accent. In baroque music, the Martelé must therefore be avoided.
In these cases, the Portato can be used in its place.

The stroke is initiated, according to Flesch, by a preparatory “pression pause”, so that the accent
(“pression accent”) can be produced by pression executed in the stick of the bow (due to the
pronation of the right arm). This great pressure is conserved until the beginning of the horizontal
bow motion, and producing the sound. Immediately after the sound is produced, the bow is
stopped and another pression pause begins for the next note. According to Ivan Galamian, the
pre-requisite of a pression pause makes the execution of the Martelé only possible when the
tempo is not very fast. To solve this problem, Salles suggest that when a Martelé passage must
be played in a tempo that exceeds the practical limit of speed, the bow stroke should be replaced
by a different bow stroke, namely the staccato preso, Collé, fouetté or Detaché acentuado.

Sometimes confused with the Sautillé, the Spicatto is a separate bow stroke, in which, according
to Salles, a combination and gradation of vertical and horizontal movements of the bow is
necessary. Each note is in the opposite direction of the preceding one, executed in a way in
which the bow describes the motion of a half-circle, starting and ending off-the string. Salles
mentions that the defining characteristic of the Spiccato is the necessity of voluntary impulses for
each note to produce a “springing” quality. It can be done in any part of the bow, but the
recommend usage is in the balance point of the bow or other placements in the lower two thirds
of the bow. Salles adds that “one of the most common mistakes while playing it is to lift the bow
too much from the string.”.

Yet another description of the Spicatto can be found in Alexanian’s Complete Cello Technique:
“a fluttering of the bow, light rapid and dainty (…) that the voice could reproduce faithfully by
the emission of a rapid succession of d’s. The spiccato can be obtained only by means of a
‘putting in action’, a ‘launching’ of the bow. It proceeds really from centrifugal force, and the
speed acquired has a great deal to do with the equilibrium of its regularity: thus, in order to stop
it or to slow it down, a special and indispensable effort is required”.

Clayton Haslop, renowned violinist both as soloist and orchestral musician, suggest that the
foundation of a good Spicatto lies on the perfection of the Detaché. His remarks about this bow
stroke are very relevant: “Yet the point of my telling you these things is to get you to relax and
stop trying to force it to happen, if this is the predicament you’re facing at the moment. An
effective, pliant spiccato is cultivated over time, and finessed into action. It does not arise from
‘man handling’ the bow, as some would believe.
Ok, so now let’s assume you’ve got the makings of a fine Detaché in place, and you do want to
begin making the bow ‘jump.’
The first thing to bear in mind is that the bow jumps, or bounces, as a result of the surface
tension formed and broken at bow changes.
It is not something produced by making vertical motions with your hand or arm.” Is worth
noticing that here, the author breaks from the convention, that states that the difference between
spiccato and other bouncing stokes is exactly the fact that every note is played actively.
According to Rok Klopcic for the Strad magazine: “As Galamian puts it: ’The bow is thrown
down on the string for every single note and lifted up again’ and ’there always has to be an
individual impulse for every tone’. Whereas in Sautillé ’the task of jumping is left principally to
the resiliency of the stick’. According to Flesch, in spiccato the player is active and the bow is
passive: in Sautillé the player is passive and the bow is active.”

Haslop proceeds: “Yes, there is something called a ‘brush’ stroke, in which you do drop and lift
the bow purposefully. Yet that kind of CONTROLLED movement is a distant relative to the
stick-generated stroke I’m talking about here.
What you want to do to get surface tension working for you, is, without altering your Detaché
form in the least, to narrow the travel of the bow down to the smallest amount possible on each
note. In other words, to concentrate the Detaché much like they do the orange juice sitting in
supermarket freezers.
Now remember, this is happening right around the middle of the bow; a little below, in slower
tempi; a little above in very fast ones.”

References:

Haslop, Clayton. “How to Master that Elusive Spiccato” December 9, 2009.

https://www.violinist.com/blog/claytonhaslop/200912/10725/

Salles, Mariana. Arcadas e Golpes de arco, Rio de Janeiro: Thesaurus Editora, 2004.

Alexanian, Diran. Theoretical and practical treatise of the violoncello. Paris: A. Z Mathot, 1922.

Klopcic, Rok. “Spiccato and sautillé - two important bow strokes which are often confused”
November 11, 2021. https://www.thestrad.com/improve-your-playing/spiccato-and-sautille-two-
important-bow-strokes-which-are-often-confused/13970.article