Col Legno

Col legno is Italian for ‘with the wood’. As a string playing technique it instructs the performer to strike the string with the wood of the bow rather than drawing the hair across it. The result is a hollow, percussive, distinctly unmusical sound — eerie, dry, almost bone-like.

There are two main forms. Col legno battuto (‘struck with the wood’) involves percussive striking of the string with the bow stick. Col legno tratto (‘drawn with the wood’) involves drawing the wood across the string in the manner of a normal bow stroke, producing a thin, scratchy tone.

The technique is most associated with 19th and 20th-century music. Berlioz uses col legno in the Symphonie Fantastique (the Witches’ Sabbath); Holst uses it in The Planets; Penderecki and Lutosławski use it extensively in late 20th-century works for atmospheric effect.

Italian, ‘with the wood’ — col (‘with the’) + legno (‘wood’), from Latin lignum.

Use the bow lightly. Striking too hard can damage the bow. Some players use a less expensive ‘second’ bow for col legno passages to protect their concert bow.