Gewöhnlich

As Printed on a Score

Printed over a part to end a special effect — after am Steg or am Griffbrett, after special sticks, after any unusual tone production — returning to the normal way of playing. It is often inflected to name what returns (“gewöhnliche Schlägel”, ordinary sticks).

Also spelled: gewoehnlich, gewöhnliche

How Composers Use It

Every special technique needs a way back, and gewöhnlich is the German one (ordinario, naturale and ord. elsewhere). Write it at the exact note where normal playing resumes; leaving the cancellation implicit forces players to guess. Mahler and Schoenberg use it constantly. If several effects are active at once, say which one ends.

Example

Mahler, Symphony No. 5, third movement (Scherzo), timpani, m. 782: “gewöhnliche Schlägel.” — ordinary sticks again, eleven bars after “mit Holzschlägel.”

Related Terms