Arco vs Col legno

Side-by-side comparison of two musical terms.

	Arco	Col legno
Definition	With the bow; resume bowing after pizzicato.	With the wood; striking strings with the bow stick.
Category	articulation	articulation
Pronunciation	AR-koh	kohl LEN-yoh
Origin	Italian	Italian
BPM	—	—
Synonyms	bowed with the bow	With the wood
Antonyms	Pizzicato	Arco
Usage	After four bars of pizzicato, the cellos return to arco for the lyrical theme.	In the finale of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, the violins play col legno to create a skeleton-dance effect.

Definition: With the bow; resume bowing after pizzicato.
Category: articulation
Pronunciation: AR-koh
Origin: Italian
Synonyms: bowed with the bow
Antonyms: Pizzicato
Usage: After four bars of pizzicato, the cellos return to arco for the lyrical theme.

Definition: With the wood; striking strings with the bow stick.
Category: articulation
Pronunciation: kohl LEN-yoh
Origin: Italian
Synonyms: With the wood
Antonyms: Arco
Usage: In the finale of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, the violins play col legno to create a skeleton-dance effect.