Dictionary of Music - Birding America

owing 47effects, and heavy percussion. Later compositions ofhis are Anthèmes II (1997) for violin and electronics,and Sur Incises (1999) for three pianos, three harps,and percussion.bourdon (French boo — r dôN′; English boo r′d ə n).1 In music of the seventeenth century, a bass partthat imitates the low, steady sound of bagpipedrones. A bourdon usually consists of two or threenotes that are sounded continuously. 2 French forPEDAL POINT. 3 An organ stop with a droning sound.bourrée (boo — rā′) French. A French dance inrapid tempo and duple meter (any meter having twobasic beats per measure, such as 2/2 or 2/4) with asingle upbeat. Originating in the early seventeenthcentury, bourrées later came to be used purely as amusical form in the eighteenth-century suite. Particularlywell-known examples are found in Bach’sOrchestral Suite No. 1 and his French Suite No. 6(part of the latter is shown in the accompanyingexample).It comes from the tails of white horses and isrubbed with rosin so as to provide friction when itis drawn over the violin strings (without frictionbetween the bow and the strings, the strings wouldnot be made to vibrate and therefore would notsound). The hair is fastened directly to the bow atone end and to a movable frog at the other end; thetension of the hair can be adjusted by turning ascrew that moves the frog. At the frog, the hairpasses through a metal ferrule, which keeps thehair evenly spread.The viola bow is slightly heavier than the violinbow, and the cello bow is both heavier and shorter.The double bass bow is the heaviest and shortest ofall; it also is somewhat thicker and more curved thanthe cello bow.fig. 33 p/u from p. 50bouteillophone (boo — tā′yə fōn) French. Seeunder GLASS HARMONICA.bow (bō). A thin wooden stick, along which isstretched a flat band of horsehairs, which is drawnover the strings of the violin, viola, cello, doublebass, viol, and various other stringed instruments,causing them to sound. Like the instruments themselves,the bow has changed considerably over theyears. Originally it had a deep outward curve, likethe type of bow used to shoot arrows, whichaccounts for its name. The modern violin bowdates from about 1780. It was designed by FrançoisTourte, a Frenchman who is still considered thefinest of all bow makers. This bow has a long,tapering stick, curving slightly inward. The stick isusually made of Pernambuco wood (a kind ofbrazilwood). It is either round or octagonal andmeasures about 29 1 / 4 inches from end to end. Theband of hair, which has a playing length of about25 1 / 2 inches (for the violin), is about 7 / 16 inch wide.fig. 34 p/u from p. 50bowing (bō′ing ). The technique of playing astringed instrument with a bow, the most importantof such modern instruments being the violin, viola,cello, and double bass. There are many ways of usinga bow, some of which are indicated in scores by specialsigns. The two most important are ⎡⎤ (downbow),which indicates that the bow is to be drawnfrom the frog toward the point, and V (up-bow),which indicates that the bow is to be drawn from thepoint to the frog. In general, the down-bow is used onaccented notes and the upbow on unaccented notes.(For special bowing techniques and directions seeBARIOLAGE; COLLÉ; DÉTACHÉ; FLAUTATO; JETÉ;