Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A technique of bowing in which the bow is made to bounce slightly from the string.
  • adjective Of or employing spiccato.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In music, same as picchetato.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective (Mus.) Detached; separated; -- a term indicating that every note is to be performed in a distinct and pointed manner.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective music detached; separated; with every note performed in a distinct and pointed manner

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun bowing in such a way that the bow bounces lightly off the strings

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Italian, past participle of spiccare, to separate : s-, from; see sfumato + piccare, to pierce, impale (from Vulgar Latin *piccāre; see pick).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Italian, past participle of spicare to detach, to separate.

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Examples

  • The word spiccato comes from an Italian verb which means "to separate".

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] 2009

  • Before the mid-1700s, the terms spiccato and staccato where used interchangably to mean notes that where separated.

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] 2009

  • And now we're going to hear what's called the spiccato bowing.

    The Importance of the Bow 2006

  • He dazzled on the notorious trill passage in the Scherzo of the Mendelssohn Octet, but elsewhere he landed on the low side of a few notes, and his spiccato remains too much in the string.

    Juilliard quartet newcomer Joseph Lin challenged by lack of gravitas 2011

  • Though her bow-arm is fluent, she doesn't produce a natural, biting spiccato stroke, and she will sometimes push the vibrato on climactic notes rather than let the phrase bloom as an organic whole.

    Violinist Chee-Yun plays lovely Bach, Messiaen, Saint-Saens at Kennedy Center Post 2010

  • His herky-jerky bow destroyed any semblance of legato, and he could not execute a proper spiccato.

    In review: Henschel Quartet 2010

  • "You actually need to shift in places from a spiccato to a d'tach-," Bodine rapidly talking a Corporate Wife of some sort across the room toward the free-lunch table piled with lobster hors d'oeuvres and capon sandwiches - "less bow, higher up you understand, soften it-then there's also about a thousand ppp-to-fff blasts, but only the one, the notorious One, going the other way. ..."

    Gravity's Rainbow Pynchon, Thomas 1978

  • He readied himself and then poured his heart into playing that tune -- he worked it around, swished it a few times, tried some variations, caught the fever, and finished off with a fast spiccato variation.

    Violists Richard McGowan

  • In a very broad _spiccato_, the arm may be brought into play; but otherwise not, since it makes rapid playing impossible.

    Violin Mastery Talks with Master Violinists and Teachers Frederick Herman Martens 1903

  • The _martellato_, a _nuance_ of _spiccato_, should be played with a firm bowing at the point.

    Violin Mastery Talks with Master Violinists and Teachers Frederick Herman Martens 1903

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