Editing Violin (section)

===Right hand and tone color===

The strings may be sounded by drawing the hair of the bow held by the right hand across them (''arco'') or by plucking them (''[[pizzicato]]'') most often with the right hand. In some cases, the violinist will pluck strings with the left hand. This is done to facilitate transitions from pizzicato to arco playing. It is also used in some virtuoso showpieces. Left hand pizzicato is usually done on open strings. Pizzicato is used on all of the violin family instruments; however, the systematic study of advanced pizzicato techniques is most developed in [[jazz bass]], a style in which the instrument is almost exclusively plucked.

The right arm, hand, and bow and the bow speed are responsible for tone quality, [[rhythm]], [[dynamics (music)|dynamics]], [[articulation (music)|articulation]], and most (but not all) changes in [[timbre]]. The player draws the bow over the string, causing the string to vibrate and produce a sustained tone. The bow is a wooden stick with tensioned horsetail hair, which has been rosined with a bar of [[rosin]]. The natural texture of the horsehair and the stickiness of the rosin help the bow to "grip" the string, and thus when the bow is drawn over the string, the bow causes the string to sound a pitch.

Bowing can be used to produce long sustained notes or melodies. With a [[string section]], if the players in a section change their bows at different times, a note can seem to be endlessly sustainable. As well, the bow can be used to play short, crisp little notes, such as repeated notes, scales and arpeggios, which provide a propulsive rhythm in many styles of music.

====Bowing techniques====
The most essential part of bowing technique is the bow grip. It is usually with the thumb bent in the small area between the frog and the winding of the bow. The other fingers are spread somewhat evenly across the top part of the bow. The pinky finger is curled with the tip of the finger placed on the wood next to the screw. The violin produces louder notes with greater bow speed or more weight on the string. The two methods are not equivalent, because they produce different timbres; pressing down on the string tends to produce a harsher, more intense sound. One can also achieve a louder sound by placing the bow closer to the bridge.

The sounding point where the bow intersects the string also influences timbre (or "tone colour"). Playing close to the bridge (''sul ponticello'') gives a more intense sound than usual, emphasizing the higher harmonics; and playing with the bow over the end of the fingerboard (''sul tasto'') makes for a delicate, ethereal sound, emphasizing the [[fundamental frequency]]. [[Shinichi Suzuki (violinist)|Shinichi Suzuki]] referred to the sounding point as the ''[[Fritz Kreisler|Kreisler]] highway''; one may think of different sounding points as ''lanes'' in the highway.

Various methods of attack with the bow produce [[playing the violin#Bowing|different articulations]]. There are many bowing techniques that allow for every range of playing style. Many teachers, players, and orchestras spend a lot of time developing techniques and creating a unified technique within the group. These techniques include legato-style bowing (a smooth, connected, sustained sound suitable for melodies), [[collé (violin)|collé]], and a variety of bowings which produce shorter notes, including ricochet, [[Sautillé (bow stroke)|sautillé]], [[Martelé (bowstroke)|martelé]], [[spiccato]], and staccato.

====Pizzicato====
A note marked ''pizz.'' (abbreviation for ''[[pizzicato]]'') in the written music is to be played by plucking the string with a finger of the right hand rather than by bowing. (The index finger is most commonly used here.) Sometimes in orchestra parts or virtuoso solo music where the bow hand is occupied (or for show-off effect), ''left-hand pizzicato'' will be indicated by a + (plus sign) below or above the note. In left-hand pizzicato, two fingers are put on the string; one (usually the index or middle finger) is put on the correct note, and the other (usually the ring finger or little finger) is put above the note. The higher finger then plucks the string while the lower one stays on, thus producing the correct pitch. By increasing the force of the pluck, one can increase the volume of the note that the string is producing. Pizzicato is used in orchestral works and in solo showpieces. In orchestral parts, violinists often have to make very quick shifts from arco to pizzicato, and vice versa.

====Col legno====
A marking of ''[[col legno]]'' ([[Italian language|Italian]] for "with the wood") in the written music calls for striking the string(s) with the stick of the bow, rather than by drawing the hair of the bow across the strings. This bowing technique is somewhat rarely used, and results in a muted percussive sound. The eerie quality of a violin section playing ''col legno'' is exploited in some symphonic pieces, notably the "Witches' Dance" of the last movement of [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz's]] [[Symphonie Fantastique]]. [[Saint-Saëns]]'s symphonic poem [[Danse macabre (Saint-Saëns)|''Danse Macabre'']] includes the string section using the ''col legno'' technique to imitate the sound of dancing skeletons. "Mars" from Gustav Holst's "[[The Planets]]" uses ''col legno'' to play a repeated rhythm in {{music|time|5|4}} time signature. [[Benjamin Britten]]'s ''[[The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra]]'' demands its use in the "[[Percussion]]" Variation. [[Dmitri Shostakovich]] uses it in his Fourteenth Symphony in the movement 'At the Sante Jail'. Some violinists, however, object to this style of playing as it can damage the finish and impair the value of a fine bow, but most of such will compromise by using a cheap bow for at least the duration of the passage in question.

====Detaché====
A smooth and even stroke during which bow speed and weight are the same from beginning of the stroke to the end.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Fischer|first=Simon|date=1999|title=Detache|journal=Strad|volume=110|pages=638|via=Music Index}}</ref>

====Martelé====
Literally ''hammered'', a strongly accented effect produced by releasing each bowstroke forcefully and suddenly. Martelé can be played in any part of the bow. It is sometimes indicated in written music by an arrowhead.

====Tremolo====
[[Tremolo]] is the very rapid repetition (typically of a single note, but occasionally of multiple notes), usually played at the tip of the bow. Tremolo is marked with three short, slanted lines across the stem of the note. Tremolo is often used as a [[sound effect]] in orchestral music, particularly in the [[Romantic music era]] (1800-1910) and in opera music.

====Mute or ''sordino''====
[[File:Two mutes.jpg|thumb|left|''Ad hoc'' clothespin mute and a rubber practice mute]]
Attaching a small metal, rubber, leather, or wooden device called a ''[[mute (music)|mute]]'', or ''sordino'', to the bridge of the violin gives a softer, more mellow tone, with fewer audible [[overtone]]s; the sound of an entire orchestral string section playing with mutes has a hushed quality. The mute changes both the loudness and the [[timbre]] ("tone colour") of a violin. The conventional Italian markings for mute usage are ''con sord.'', or ''con sordino'', meaning 'with mute'; and ''senza sord.'', meaning 'without mute'; or ''via sord.'', meaning 'mute off'.

Larger metal, rubber, or wooden mutes are widely available, known as ''practice mutes'' or ''hotel mutes''. Such mutes are generally not used in performance, but are used to deaden the sound of the violin in practice areas such as hotel rooms. (For practicing purposes there is also the [[mute violin]], a violin without a sound box.) Some composers have used practice mutes for special effect, for example, at the end of [[Luciano Berio]]'s ''Sequenza VIII'' for solo violin.