Violin Martelé: A Clear Start and an On-String Stop

Ask your teacher to play the same open D twice: once with an ordinary separate start, then with a prepared martelé start. Keep the rhythm and approximate volume alike. Listen to the beginning of each note, then watch where the bow waits. The second example should give you a distinct beginning followed by released movement and a deliberate stop on the string.

This lesson is for an early-intermediate violinist who already plays reliable separate bows and has a teacher’s approval to begin martelé. You will use one open string, hear the difference between onset and duration, and practice leaving space for the next preparation. Your teacher supplies the movement model; the printed examples organize your listening and timing.

1. Hear the start before you shorten the note

Martelé is an on-string bow stroke with a prepared, accented beginning followed by released movement. Listen for a brief, crisp emphasis at the start, followed by a freer continuation—not the same emphasis pressed through the whole note. A clean ordinary separate bow can begin clearly too; the prepared accent is the distinction in this comparison.

The French name means “hammered”: it describes the articulated character of the beginning. Martelé can give a passage crisp emphasis and contrast with smoother bowing. Violin Online explains the name and accented onset; Music Mark’s right-hand articulation lesson connects bow strokes with musical character. In the version taught here, each separate stroke finishes with the bow stopped on the string. Giora Schmidt’s right-hand workbook treats martelé separately from the following lesson on ordinary détaché. That distinction matters: putting silence after an ordinary note does not, by itself, create the prepared beginning you are learning.

Both rows use open D with the same quarter notes, quarter rests and bow directions. Compare an ordinary separate start with the teacher’s prepared martelé start; the rhythm stays unchanged.

Ask for the comparison again without looking. Describe only what you can hear: “The second beginning was more distinct,” for example. Then watch a demonstration and identify the pause before the next start. A shorter sound is easy to notice; preparation before that sound needs its own attention. Keep those observations separate from the first attempt onward.

For example, one attempt might have a distinct beginning but continue too far into the rest. Another might leave plenty of silence while beginning vaguely. Those are different practice problems. Have your teacher replay the same rhythm after each comparison, so you hear the feature you are changing without introducing a new melody or a new string crossing.

Hear the brief initial accent, then a freer continuation. Keep the written space available.

The Vienna Symphonic Library’s violin reference describes martelé stops with the bow remaining on the string. That is the contact rule for this lesson. A lifted bow might also produce a short sound, but it would change the task. For the written silences, review The Rests: the count continues even when you play nothing.

2. Separate the stroke name from the printed mark

A dot asks for short articulation; it does not name one universal bow action. An accent calls attention to a note’s beginning, but also does not settle how your bow should produce it. Violin Online’s bow-stroke reference explains that martelé can have different printed indications and that the meaning of articulation marks depends on context. Here, the word martelé states the intended technique explicitly.

Dots indicate short articulation; accents emphasize beginnings. The bottom row explicitly names martelé and supplies eighth rests for this study’s preparation.

Use Fermata, Tenuto & Accent to recognize those three marks. Its accent example emphasizes a strong start; this violin lesson adds a particular teacher-demonstrated preparation and release. The sheet’s colorful description of staccato as a “bounce” is not an instruction to lift your violin bow. Read the articulation, then confirm the stroke with your teacher.

Direction symbols answer another question: which way does this stroke travel? The squared symbol means down-bow, traveling toward the tip; the pointed V-shaped symbol means up-bow, traveling toward the frog, the end of the bow near your hand. The MusicXML down-bow reference and up-bow reference identify these as separate technical signs. Neither symbol, on its own, means martelé.

The same rhythm begins down-bow in the upper row and up-bow in the lower row. The direction signs specify travel; martelé names the stroke.

Read each example in three passes: name the note and rhythm, name the direction, then read the technique word. This prevents a common mix-up: seeing a down-bow sign and assuming the beginning must be heavier. Both directions need the prepared start your teacher demonstrates. The symbols organize the sequence; they do not prescribe how much effort to use.

Return to the bottom row of the dots-and-accents comparison and cover the word martelé for a moment. The eighth notes and rests still tell you when to play and wait, but they no longer explicitly request the prepared stroke. Uncover the word and explain what it adds. This reading check keeps a familiar-looking rhythm from replacing the actual sound goal.

3. Watch preparation, movement and stopping

Have your teacher show one slow, isolated stroke while you watch three moments: the bow ready on the string, the start released into movement, and the stopped bow afterward. Ask the teacher to identify the transition you should notice. “Prepared” must not become a command to grip the bow or keep pressing throughout the note.

Here, release means letting go of the preparatory hold as the bow begins moving. It does not mean lifting the bow or ending the note. Your teacher demonstrates that transition; the bow then continues on the string until the written stop.

Prepare before movement; release the preparatory hold as movement begins; stop on the string afterward. All three states retain contact.

The three labels are a practice map. They leave the physical details to your teacher, who can choose a comfortable bow region and movement for you. There is no required travel distance or force value to copy from a picture. If your attempt becomes tight or uncomfortable, stop and have the teacher reset the task before continuing.

Music Mark’s strings curriculum places bow articulation within a broader progression of string skills. Use that perspective here: recognizing a symbol and being ready to execute its associated stroke are different achievements. You can count, point to a preparation window and describe the sound before trying a longer playing pattern.

Hear one model, try one stroke, then name an observation before deciding what to change.

On Start Clearly, Stop on the String, follow the preparation, sound and stop strip with your teacher. Say the state names as the teacher demonstrates, then try one stroke yourself. Your first useful result may be an accurate observation about the attempt. “I kept contact but the beginning was unclear” gives a specific next step.

4. Make one open-D start and stop

Use the open D string so a changing left-hand note does not compete for attention. The standard open string sounds D4, as listed in the VSL violin reference. In treble clef, that D sits in the space immediately below the staff. Keep every example on that same string unless your teacher changes the assignment.

Prepare before beat 1. Play the down-bow quarter note, then stop on the string for the three remaining beats.

Before entering, give yourself a counted lead-in with the bow already prepared. Play the quarter note on beat 1; stop travel as beat 2 begins. Count beats 2, 3 and 4 without lifting the bow. The rests give you time to notice the result. They are not a signal to hurry into another sound or return silently through the air.

Listen first to the beginning. Was it recognizable against the teacher’s model? Then review the stop: did the bow remain in contact, and did you keep the count? Avoid trying to repair the stroke halfway through by adding a second accent. Finish this attempt, describe it, and let the teacher choose one change for the next.

The isolated up-bow has the same pitch and timing as the down-bow example. Give it its own preparation before beat 1.

Try the same isolated task beginning up-bow when your teacher approves it. Prepare before beat 1 again. An up-bow is not merely the return trip after a down-bow: in this exercise it begins its own note and needs its own preparation. Compare the two starts without demanding identical loudness or treating one direction as the stronger one.

Keep The Rests beside the isolated examples if you tend to stop counting when the bow stops. Its counting task transfers directly: silence still occupies musical time. Once the single stroke is comfortable and recognizable, the next problem is preparing the opposite direction within a measured space.

5. Alternate bows without losing the preparation space

Equal eighth notes and eighth rests are the timing pattern for this study, not a universal sound-to-silence ratio for martelé. In music, note length and the available preparation time depend on the passage and your teacher’s interpretation. Laurel Thomsen’s martelé lesson in Strings describes that variable balance of sound and silence.

Count “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and.” Play on each number and stop for each “and.” In these 4/4 examples the quarter note is the beat, so an eighth note and an eighth rest each occupy half a beat. The Eighth Note introduces that division; Open Music Theory’s rhythmic-values lesson explains matching note and rest durations.

Sound on each number; stop and prepare on each and. Prepare the first down-bow during the counted lead-in.

The first attack is down-bow, the second up-bow, the third down-bow and the fourth up-bow. Prepare during each rest for the next opposite direction. Before the first note, preparation belongs in the lead-in. After the last note, count the final rest too. A rest contains time for readiness, not an extra, uncounted pause before the next beat.

Each column lasts half a beat. Sound and movement align with the numbers; rest and stopped contact align with the ands.

Tap or speak this rhythm before bowing it. If the half-beat space feels crowded, return to the isolated quarter-note version or let your teacher choose a slower pulse. Do not erase the rests to keep the pattern going. The point is a clear start with available preparation time, rather than reaching a tempo or completing a fixed number of repetitions.

Try a silent reading pass: point to each note as you say a number, then point to its rest as you say “and.” Name the next direction during that rest. If saying the direction disrupts the count, read the directions in a separate pass. Combine the two only when you know where each next attack belongs.

The four-bar pattern on Start Clearly, Stop on the String repeats the same cell sixteen times. Each bar contains four eighth-note D sounds and four eighth rests. Across four bars, that is eight quarter-note beats of written sound and eight of written silence: sixteen beats altogether. Directions alternate through the barlines, so bar 2 begins down-bow again.

On the exercise, the final rest also asks you to plan the next direction: attack 16 is up-bow, so the imagined attack 17 is down-bow. You need not add that note to the four-bar handout. Naming it checks whether you continued the alternation through the final preparation window rather than treating the barline as a reset.

Four attacks per bar make sixteen in all: eight quarter-note beats of notes and eight of rests. Each bar starts down-bow; the final attack is up-bow.

Start with one bar if that is enough for a useful observation. Later, follow all four bars while your teacher compares the beginning of bar 4 with the beginning of bar 1. At a reference pulse of quarter note equals 60, each eighth-note slot lasts half a second. That calculation explains the worksheet’s timing reference; it is not a required practice speed.

The sheet’s neutral piano tracks help you hear regular starts and compare longer and shorter spacing. Piano release tails may ring into rests, and playback slightly shortens notes; your teacher models the exact bowed endings. These tracks do not demonstrate martelé tone, preparation or bow contact. Use the tracks as timing references only after hearing your teacher’s violin model. If your timing matches while your start remains unclear, record those as two different results instead of calling the entire attempt either successful or unsuccessful.

6. Tell a stopped bow from a moving or airborne bow

Ask two questions: is the bow touching the string, and is it traveling? On-string moving, on-string stopped and airborne are different states. For the rests in this lesson, the requested state is on-string stopped. The sound alone cannot reliably answer both questions. Watch the bow as well as listening, especially when checking a quiet preparation window.

Ask about contact and travel separately. For this study’s rests, the requested state is on-string stopped.

Stop, Lift, or Keep Moving? turns that distinction into illustrated state cards before asking you to follow score strips. Use the printed legend, including any motion arrow or label. The six cards use S for on-string stopped, M for on-string moving and A for airborne. For each card, find the evidence for contact first, then look for the stated movement. Cover the printed key while labeling them. If you miss a card, explain which of those two questions you answered differently before changing the letter. A still picture of contact does not reveal travel by itself. Name the state first, then check whether it belongs in the sound or rest portion of this task.

Both rows start notes on the numbered beats; only the lower row reserves half of each beat for a rest. A neutral timing track can compare the two patterns, although its piano release tails do not reproduce exact bowed endings.

The connected timing comparison has starts on the same numbered beats as the eighth-note/rest version, but its quarter notes occupy the full beat. Use it to hear the difference in written duration. The upper row asks for ordinary separate bows with full-beat notes. It supplies a duration comparison; it is not the martelé assignment. Returning to the rest pattern restores the explicit space where this lesson asks you to stop and prepare.

A bow that lifts has changed contact state. That observation does not explain why it lifted or tell you how to fix the movement. Have the teacher show the on-string stop again. Avoid adding an airborne return to solve the problem. Keep bowing the same open D string. During each rest, stop the bow on the string and prepare the opposite direction.

Listen, watch and count during the exercise’s teacher-observation checklist. Timing audio cannot establish bow preparation or contact.

Use the answer key to check the state-card letters and next bow directions. Have your teacher assess the playing attempts. For strips 7–10, circle every eighth rest and write the next attack’s D or U in the box aligned below that rest. D means down-bow and U means up-bow. With the supplied down-bow first, the next directions are up, down, up, down in every strip. Those answers follow the printed alternation; they do not judge your tone. Check the direction after a rest by looking forward to the next attack, rather than copying the direction of the note just finished. A correctly named state card cannot certify an articulated beginning, and a neat rhythm recording cannot certify retained contact. Gathering the right evidence makes the exercise useful without asking it to judge more than it shows.

7. Assess the beginning separately from the note length

For a short review, choose one bar of the eighth-note/rest pattern. Agree on the lead-in and first direction before playing. Ask your teacher to focus first on the start, then on the stopped contact. You keep counting. Record the beginning, the release of the preparatory hold as movement begins, the on-string stop and the continuing pulse separately. Your teacher checks the release while you keep counting.

The lower row delays every attack by half a beat. Follow the engraved counts: numbers align with target notes above and with rests below.

The delayed line demonstrates why a clear attack alone is not enough. Its notes begin on the “ands,” half a beat after the target starts. If you hear that displacement in your playing, practice speaking or tapping the target rhythm with The Eighth Note before combining it with preparation again. Do not compensate by rushing the following note.

The two attempts have identical music: eight open-D attacks across two bars. Listen to the onset in A; watch the stopped contact in B. Use one bar per attempt when following Exercise 168.

Keep the written task the same for two teacher-observed attempts. In the first, listen especially to the beginning; in the second, let the teacher watch contact during the rests. You can use the two attempts on Stop, Lift, or Keep Moving? for that conversation. On the sheet, play strip 7 once, pause to discuss it, then play the same strip again. The spaced track plays all four strips, 7–10, without a count-in; listen first and give yourself a separate counted lead-in before playing. A second attempt is a comparison, not a demand to improve every feature at once.

Choose a revision that fits the observation: hear a model, speak the rhythm or recheck contact with your teacher.

Choose the next step from the observation. An unclear onset calls for another teacher model and an isolated start. A lost pulse calls for counting away from the instrument. A lifted bow calls for the teacher to recheck the stopping action. If the movement becomes uncomfortable, pause the playing task. More repetitions are not a substitute for knowing what you are changing.

Extend the task when your teacher confirms a clear prepared beginning, release of the preparatory hold as movement begins, a counted on-string stop and comfortable movement. Keep those criteria separate as you progress. A Tissimo violin teacher can listen and watch in a live lesson, then help choose the next version of the exercise.

Free worksheets for this lesson

• Start Clearly, Stop on the String — follow the state strip, open-D comparison and four-bar alternating pattern.
• Stop, Lift, or Keep Moving? — identify supplied contact states, read preparation windows and review teacher-observed attempts.
• Fermata, Tenuto & Accent — recognize articulation marks while keeping them separate from stroke names.
• The Eighth Note — divide a quarter-note beat into two equal parts.
• The Rests — count written silence while the pulse continues.

Sources

• Right Hand Technique, Lessons 4–5 — Giora Schmidt / tonebase
• Strings curriculum — Music Mark, A Common Approach
• Violin Bow Strokes — R. K. Deverich, Violin Online
• Violin — Vienna Symphonic Library Academy
• Down-bow technical symbol — W3C MusicXML 4.0
• Up-bow technical symbol — W3C MusicXML 4.0
• How to Master Martele — Laurel Thomsen, Strings
• Right-hand articulation, Programme 3 — Music Mark
• Rhythmic values — Open Music Theory