Welcome to the fifth of a 6-part series on Spiccato. Episode 5, "Sautille", explores the mechanics of the bow stick that naturally activate above 130bpm, and how the arm works to facilitate those mechanics.
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Counting very fast in groups of 5 and 7
Just like in Ribbits, Sautille is comprised of an "active" down bow, and a "passive" up bow. At very fast speeds, I only mentally count the down bows, and change fingers passively on the up bow for odd groupings.
For 7, I count 7 down bows, but put the left finger down on the "And" of 4.
"1 2 3 4AND5 6 7", repeat. On 5s, I change notes on the "And" of 3.
5. The total sequence of mental counting for the whole exercise works like this in my head (capital letters are where I drop my finger, without it affecting the bow stroke)
8: ONE 2 3 4 FIVE 6 7 8
7: ONE 2 3 4 AND 5 6 7
6: ONE 2 3 FOUR 5 6
5: ONE 2 3 AND 4 5
4: ONE 2 THREE 4
3: ONE 2 AND 3
2: ONE TWO
1 oneoneoneoneoneoneoneoneoneoneone
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Spiccato families and tempos of significant orchestra excerpts:
IMPORTANT NOTE #1: All tempos are approximations, subject to the whims of the conductor.
IMPORTANT NOTE #2: All tempos are marked as 16th notes per quarter note. All tempos in compound meter (6/8, 9/8, etc) have been converted to the equivalent bow stroke tempo as measured in 16th notes.
Example: In 6/8 time, Eighth notes @ dotted quarter = 120 is the same speed as 16th notes in 4/4 time at quarter = 90. (compound tempo * 0.75 = simple tempo)
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LIGHT SPICCATO FAMILY
Beethoven 7, 2nd Movement = 66
Verdi La Traviata Act II = 82
Rossini William Tell Overture = 84
Rossini Barber of Seville Overture (Letter A) = 88
Rossini Barber of Seville Overture (Letter B) = 110
Verdi Falstaff, Act III Part 1 = 120
Tchaikovsky 6, 3rd Movement = 120
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MEDIUM SPICCATO FAMILY
Mozart 41 1st movement = 76
Mozart 39, 1st movement = 78
Beethoven 3, 3rd movment = 87
Verdi Die Meistersinger, Act II = 90
Verdi Lohengrin, Act III Scene 3 = 90
Beethoven 9, 2nd movement = 90
Beethoven 7, 3rd movement = 90
Beethoven 3, 1st movement = 90
Mendelssohn 4, 4th movement = 96
Mozart 40, 1st movement = 108
Schubert 10, 4th movement = 108
Mendelssohn 4, 1st movement = 111
Beethoven 9, 4th movement m. 763 = 120
Mahler 5, Finale = 124
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HEAVY SPICCATO FAMILY
Wagner Die Walkure, Overture = 55
Mahler 2, 2nd movement = 60
Beethoven 7, 1st movement scales = 68
Brahms 1, 1st movement = 70
Beethoven 9, 4th movement Letter K = 83
Brahms 2, 1st movement = 96
Wagner Lohengrin, Act 1 Finale = 104
Brahms 2, 4th movement = 106
Wagner Die Walkure, Act II = 108
Beethoven 5, 3rd movement = 114
Schubert 10, 3rd movement = 114
Mahler 5, 2nd movement = 120
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SAUTILLE/FLEX STROKE FAMILY
Haydn 88, 1st movement = 132
Smetana Bartered Bride, Overture = 140 (all notes are active, so it’s more of an on-the-string stroke)
Mozart 41, 4th movement = 140
Mozart 35, 4th movement = 140
Haydn 88, 4th movement = 144
Beethoven 9, final prestissimo = 146
Beethoven 3, 4th movement = 152
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Brought to you with generous support by Houston Luthier and bass maker Joey Naeger. Visit him at joeynaegerbasses.com
Produced and Edited by David Means at "Design with Means": designwithmeans.wixsite.com
designwithmeans@gmail.com
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