In violin, a bow is a tensioned stick which has hair (usually horse-tail hair) coated in rosin to facilitate friction. 'Spiccato' is a bowing technique for violin in which the 'bow' appears to bounce lightly upon the string.

The speed with which the 'spiccato' is performed depends on bow placement. At the balance point, the 'spiccato' will be slow, while above the middle of the bow the speed will increase. The speed can also be controlled by varying the height of the bow above the string. The character of the 'spiccato' can be varied by altering tilt and placement of the bow to use more or fewer hairs. When using the full hair, it bounces more with a shorter character. When the hair is angled, the character of the 'spiccato' becomes more mellow and longer.

According to David Boyden (American violinist) and Peter Walls (Rhodesian) in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the term 'spiccato' and 'staccato' were regarded as equivalent before the mid-18th century. They wrote about 'spiccato' that it simply detached or separated as opposed to 'legato'. The distinctive use of 'spiccato' for the ''bouncing bowstroke'' emerged in the late 18th century. The ability to perform 'spiccato' was facilitated by the Tourte (a french bow maker), in the bow with a concave curve, developed by the Francois Tourte partly in collaboration with Giovanni Battista Viotti (Italian violinist).

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