# Col leg trato - what is it?



## RonOrchComp (Mar 18, 2020)

I saw a forum member make mention of strings playing _col leg trato _elsewhere, but I didn't want to derail that thread.

I know what col legno is - playing with the wood instead of the hair. A web search for "trato" didn't turn up anything that relates to music and string playing. 

So, what exactly is _col leg trato_?

Thanks!


----------



## gussunkri (Mar 18, 2020)

Dragging the wood of the bow across the strings.


----------



## ptram (Mar 18, 2020)

The ordinary expression "col legno" is short for "col legno battuto", that is "beaten with the wood".

Rarer (because it can damage the bow) is "col legno tratto", that is "pulling with the wood".

Paolo


----------



## RonOrchComp (Mar 18, 2020)

ptram said:


> The ordinary expression "col legno" is short for "col legno battuto", that is "beaten with the wood".
> 
> Rarer (because it can damage the bow) is "col legno tratto", that is "pulling with the wood".



Ah, _tratto_ not_ trato. _That's why I couldn't find anything. The other guy misspelled it. 

From wiki:

_Col legno tratto_ is often executed with both the stick of the bow and the edge of the hair touching the string, which gives a more "tonal" sound. (so the bow is not turned 180 degrees, but only 90.) Sometimes this is called "1/2 legno tratto", if the composer wants to differentiate it from "full" legno tratto.

So, _col legno _is playing with the wood (as in musical passages), and _col legno battuto _is beating the strings with the wood, and _col legno tratto _is pulling with the wood? So, what exactly is "pulling"?


----------



## NoamL (Mar 18, 2020)

The indication _col legno _alone is always interpreted as ..._battuto_, i.e., hitting the string with the wooden side of the bow as if it were a drumstick.

_Col legno tratto_ means _bowing_ the string with the wooden side of the bow. The technique is rare for a reason. It damages the bow (most musicians will instead use a pencil or a wooden ruler), and it really doesn't create a sound that is either appealing or loud enough to matter in most musical contexts.


----------



## prodigalson (Mar 18, 2020)

RonOrchComp said:


> Ah, _tratto_ not_ trato. _That's why I couldn't find anything. The other guy misspelled it.
> 
> From wiki:
> 
> ...



Col Legno Battuto is generally understood to be the same thing as Col legno. i.e. hitting with the back of the bow. the tratto simply means "pulling" as in drawing the bow across the strings. so simply bowing with the back of the bow.


----------



## ptram (Mar 18, 2020)

"Col legno" should only mean beating the string with the wood of the bow (usually in the 'half' position you describe).

"Col legno tratto" is a sustaining note. "Pulling", in the sense of moving the bow on the string (the inventor of this articulation may have been thinking to a down-bow).

Paolo


----------



## prodigalson (Mar 18, 2020)

NoamL said:


> The indication _col legno _alone is always interpreted as ..._battuto_, i.e., hitting the string with the wooden side of the bow as if it were a drumstick.
> 
> _Col legno tratto_ means _bowing_ the string with the wooden side of the bow. The technique is rare for a reason. It damages the bow (most musicians will instead use a pencil or a wooden ruler), and it really doesn't create a sound that is either appealing or loud enough to matter in most musical contexts.



beat me to it


----------



## NoamL (Mar 18, 2020)

the rare triple post


----------



## prodigalson (Mar 18, 2020)

NoamL said:


> the rare triple post



There are few who love a semantic clarification as much as the members of VI Control...


----------



## Nick Batzdorf (Mar 18, 2020)

I believe it's Latin for "String players will kick you hard in the rear if you write it."


----------



## ptram (Mar 19, 2020)

Stravinsky asked the player to let a tambourine fall flat on the ground in Petrouchka. Maybe I can ask the same with a Stradivari?

Paolo


----------



## Jimmy Hellfire (Mar 19, 2020)

It's basically nothing.


----------



## bryla (Mar 19, 2020)

I used it once and the players started playing battuto. Most of them have never seen it before.


----------



## Maximvs (Mar 19, 2020)

This may be a useful:



Cheers, Max T.


----------

