Up bow or Sull'arco

[acolmanj]

Hi,

I'm playing Prelude Francaise (B. Kelly) which has the "Up bow or Sull'arco" that looks like an elongated "V" .... which is for stringed instruments really I think.

How does one play this marking on a flute ?

Thanks
John.

[pied_piper]

It's breath mark, take one.

[acolmanj]

Hi,

Nope it's not a breath mark - that is between notes.

This marking in on the note, and on lots of them in succession.

Any other thoughts ?

[foreverflutes]

I would probably just play them as accents, but if anyone else knows what they really mean i'll be interested to know

foreverflutes xx

[Zevang]

It's probably a peace written for violin. These "V" markings indicate that the violin player must change the direction of the bow playing it "from the tip", also known as "up bow". The other marking that opposes to this one is the "U" (well, almost like the letter U just that it is acctually square), that indicates the direction as being from the bottom of the bow, or "down bow".

[pied_piper]

Take a look at this page and see if you can find the marking that appears in you music. Hopefully, that will answer your question.

http://www.dolmetsch.com/musictheory21.htm

[acolmanj]

Thanks for the link. This is the relevant entry:

Articulation on Stringed Instruments

An "up-bow" is marked with a V , and the "down-bow" is marked with a down bow .

The modern bow-hold has the bow held between the tips of the fingers and thumb with the palm of the hand facing down towards the floor. "Up" means start at the tip. "Down" means start at the frog which is where your right hand is. On most modern stringed instruments the "down-bow" is stronger than the "up-bow", this due mainly to the greater weight or downward force the player can apply with the bow to the string with the heel (near the frog) as opposed to the tip.

So, trying to translate that to a flute, I'd guess that it's a lighter articulation with some slight marcation on each note... Or of course the more obvious translation is that you are to play the note while sucking instead of blowing Have not quite mastered that trick just yet !

John.

[pied_piper]

LOL!! I know some players who have mastered that technique and just suck all the time!