Col legno tratto

As Printed on a Score

Printed over a string part, almost always in full, since a bare col legno is read as struck. It stays in force until arco or ordinario; the notes are written normally, often as long values or under slurs that make the drawn stroke plain.

How Composers Use It

Drawing the wood along the string gives a thin, airy, barely pitched whisper, far quieter than the struck form. It is largely a 20th-century colour, used for ghostly sustained textures. Keep the dynamic soft and the surrounding scoring bare, since it cannot project over winds, and say in a footnote whether some hair may join the wood for a clearer pitch.

Related Terms