Which term literally means 'with the wood' in bowed string technique?

Which term literally means 'with the wood' in bowed string technique?

• A. Loure
• B. Col legno
• C. Detache
• D. Spiccato

Answer: (B)

Col legno describes a bowing approach where the player uses the wood of the bow to strike or draw on the strings, rather than the hair. That choice of contact creates a distinctive dry, percussive timbre and is used for color or special effect in rhythmically driven passages. The phrase literally means “with the wood,” which is exactly why it fits this question. The other terms refer to different ways of using the bow hair on the strings—detache is a clean, separate stroke; spiccato is a light, bouncing stroke; loure is a smooth, lightly detached legato—so they describe hair-on-string articulation, not wood.

Col legno describes a bowing approach where the player uses the wood of the bow to strike or draw on the strings, rather than the hair. That choice of contact creates a distinctive dry, percussive timbre and is used for color or special effect in rhythmically driven passages. The phrase literally means “with the wood,” which is exactly why it fits this question. The other terms refer to different ways of using the bow hair on the strings—detache is a clean, separate stroke; spiccato is a light, bouncing stroke; loure is a smooth, lightly detached legato—so they describe hair-on-string articulation, not wood.