Archet

As Printed on a Score

Rarely printed alone: it appears in bowing phrases above string parts — à la pointe de l’archet (at the tip), au talon (at the frog), tout l’archet (whole bow), avec le bois de l’archet (col legno). Each lasts until a new bowing direction or a return to normal playing.

How Composers Use It

Naming where and how the bow is used shapes the sound more than dynamics alone: the tip gives lightness and delicacy, the frog weight and bite, the whole bow a broad, singing stroke, the wood a dry, clicking colour. Use these phrases where the player’s default would be wrong, not as routine decoration, and pair them with slurs or bowing marks so the stroke can be planned.

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