Sautillé

"A characteristically rapid, and alternating down and upbow bouncing stroke."
- Dictionary of Bowing and Pizzicato Terms

Sautillé is a reflex action

It is a rebound bowing in that the down-bow is active and the up-bow is passive. This passive reaction is described by Paul Rolland (1974) "Balance in Repetitious Movements", where he moves a pencil in a 'click board'.

Sautillé is different from spiccato

Although it is sometimes referred to as spiccato, the sautillé stroke is mechanically quite different to spiccato. Spiccato has a separate beginning and end for each stroke, and consequently has a slower speed limit. Sautillé gives us two notes for one impulse and consequently can go faster.

When developing the stroke do not choose too fast a tempo

Develop your sautillé stroke on open strings at a moderate tempo of 120-132 for 4 notes per beat. As you gain control, slow down to about 108, as well as increasing the speed to about 144.

• Each component of a passage should be comfortable in its own right.
• The left hand needs to be secure. Do not unfairly criticise your sautillé stroke; your left hand needs to be accurate in détaché at tempo before trying sautillé. Practise slurred to check left hand evenness.
• Make sure your string crossing is coordinated with the bowstroke. Practise adding the string-crossing action when playing open strings. Keep your upper arm free and cross strings as smoothly and gradually as possible.
• Make sure shifts are in time.

Your body use may need attention

There is a temptation to tighten the biceps in the right arm to make the stroke work. Instead, feel the outside of your right arm lengthen away from the body.

Students often try too hard when playing fast and consequently tighten muscles too much. It can be useful to watch slow motion video of expert players to see their ease.

Make sure that your body is supporting the sautillé stroke. Open your chest and feel your feet on the floor. Remember that sautillé can be easier for the body than fast détaché when playing fast passagework such as Moto Perpetuos. If we play fast détaché we need to work at keeping the bow in the string, if we play sautillé it is less tiring in that we can allow the bow to rebound.

Start with the bow 'on the string'

Sautillé is an on-string bowing that generally starts with the bow touching the string. There are times when we start sautillé from the air (to give special emphasis or as a visual cue when leading) but usually we start on the string. In ensembles we always start on the string.

There are two ways of playing sautillé

• One uses a forearm action
• The other uses a hand action

In both types of sautillé there is a passive balancing motion in the upper arm.

Playing sautillé triplets (as in the third movement of the Barber concerto) is a challenge. The rebound action of sautillé suits the duplet rhythm where the accent always falls on a down-bow, whereas in triplets every second accent falls on the up-bow.

Try thinking in 6 (if practical) or adding an extra upper arm impulse to the up-bow to keep the passage rhythmically clear. When practicing 3 bows per note also try to think of 6’s.

When playing sautillé passages with many string crossings (Novacek, Moto Perpetuo) the string-cross action itself gives much of the impetus for sautillé and we do not need to add much vertical action.
See Simon Fischer and Violin Bow Technique

AMEB exercises

Grade 6 - p19
Exercise 1

• Check bow hold: released 1st finger, 3rd finger pad contact, practice 2 and 3rd (for more vertical action) and 1st and 3rd (for more horizontal action)
• Practice detache with mixed rhythms, Coordination needs to be settled at tempo and above before trying sautillé
• Practice 4, 2, 3 bows per note
• String cross is gentle whole arm action

Grade 7 –p 26
Exercise 2 c) (i) Sautillé at around crochet =72

• String crossing needs to be in time and fluid -aim for a smooth action
• Left fingers need to lift at the right time-‘Block’ the left hand chords

Grade 8 –P 61
Exercise 2c) Sautillé at around crochet =132-138

Practice ‘gritty’ detache with small amount of bow

Practice mixed rhythms with

• ‘Release’
• Half tempo/tempo (Robert Gerle)
• Practice 2 bar units with 2 bows per note (tempo for bow, half tempo for left hand) then 1 bow per note tempo for both
• 8+1, 16+1. always at least three beats rest in between, always repeat until ‘good enough’ 2 times at least

Collé

"A bowing in which the sound is produced by placing the bow on the string
with a 'light pinch' at the beginning of the stroke and immediately lifting it to prepare the next note."
- Dictionary of Bowing and Pizzicato Terms

• Collé is a component of various bowstrokes such as martelé, down-bow retakes and three-note chords. It is one of the few strokes with an active finger movement.
• Opinions vary about whether collé is a finger action only, with no hand involvement, and whether it starts only on or only off the string. I take an inclusive approach and believe it is useful:
• Starting both on and off the string
• Involving the hand as well as just fingers.


• Collé involves a short quick action that requires a clear connection and then leaving of the string so that the note will ring on after the bow leaves the string. Because of this it is often likened to pizzicato.
• In the repertoire, collé is rarely used on its own as a bowstroke. It is useful as a practice technique and as a component of various bowstrokes, such as:
• Martelé
• Down-bow retakes
• Three-note chords.
• These can also be done with a bow change action that is the hand and especially base knuckles give on contact (like a down bow change) and slightly raise (like a up bow change) as the arm is lifted.
• These two approaches can alternate like in spiccato and sautillé. In any case the use of collé as a preparation in slow practice can be useful


• Collé is a good way to add articulation to the beginning of a stroke. It is also good for the bow hand to feel that it could be ready to play with a collé articulation at any time, for instance to articulate a string crossing or to help left-hand clarity in a slurred passage.

Ricochet

"Rebounding bow: two or more notes per bow, the bow rebounds between each note during the same bow as a result of the initial attack."
(Robert Gerle 1991)

• Tempo. When playing ricochet the amount of bow and place in the bow depends on the tempo. The slower the tempo the lower in the bow, the faster the tempo the higher in the bow. If you need to slow the stroke down, use more bow. You can use your first finger to help control tempo. If you increase pressure with the first finger the stroke will speed up, if you take off the first finger the stroke will slow down.
• Practice 6 notes ricochet with 1st finger on for 3, 1st finger off for 3
• A soft and open bow hold. Ricochet is vulnerable to gripping too strongly with the bow hand. Set the bow bouncing and experiment by gripping with the bow hand to see how it immediately stops the bounce.
• Each component of a passage should be comfortable in its own right. Add the left hand and string-crossing variables one by one.
• Re-energize the stroke when playing long passages without a chance to lift and redrop the bow (as in the cadenza of the Mendelssohn e minor concerto). As the bouncing begins to dissipate, re-energize the stroke with a downward flick of the right hand, especially with the base joints and the wrist.

AMEB exercises

Grade 5 -p 13
Exercise 3 e)

Practice ricochet exercise
(see Violin Bow Technique and Sassmanshaus)

• Practice on open A and D strings with a collé action on the up bow
• Use enough bow on up bow
• Use enough of bow
• Practice without first finger on the bow
• Lastly add string cross action (whole arm or pivot)

Grade 7-p 26
Exercise 2 d, 1) Ricochet

• Practice on open A and D strings and open E and A strings with a collé action on the up bow

Exercise 2 f) Ricochet (springing bow)

• Learn on 4 strings
• 1 impulse for every six notes
• Re energize with action in the hand (base knuckles)

Watching and Reading

Fischer, S. Basics London: Peters 1997.
Gerle, R. The Art of Practising the Violin. London: Stainer and Bell 1983.
Gerle, R. The Art of Bowing Practice. London: Stainer and Bell 1991.
Murphy, F. Violin bow Technique, DVDROM: Melbourne, Twofold Media 2008
Murphy, F. Violin Alive CDROM: Melbourne, Twofold Media 2002-2007
Rolland, P. Action Studies. Urbana: Illinois String Reseach Association, 1974.
Sassmanhaus, - http://www.violinmasterclass.com/
Zweig Mimi StringPedagogy.com [electronic resource] CD Rom
Violin and Viola Bloomington, Indiana : Mimi Zweig StringPedagogy.com ; [Japan] : RIAX Corporation, 2004.