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Music vocabulary · Performance and Practice

Bowing

Meaning in music, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In music, bowing means: The way a string player uses the bow, including direction, pressure, speed, and phrasing, to shape sound and articulation.

In Turkish: yay tekniği

How it is used

Used in violin, viola, cello, and bass teaching, rehearsal, and score marking. It can mean general technique or specific bow directions.

Example sentences

  1. The section leader wrote in unified bowing before rehearsal so the violins would match articulation during the fast passage.

    Here, bowing refers to shared practical decisions about bow direction and attack, helping a section sound coordinated.

  2. Her tone improved when the teacher adjusted her bowing, reducing pressure near the bridge and lengthening each stroke.

    In this example, the term means physical control of the bow, which directly affects tone quality and smoothness.

Common collocations

  • bowing pattern
  • unified bowing
  • bowing technique
  • stringsThe section of instruments played with a bow, mainly violins, violas, cellos and double basses. It also means the actual strings on an instrument such as a guitar.
  • rehearsalA session in which musicians practise a piece or a show together before performing it for an audience.

More terms: Performance and Practice

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