Messa di Voce

What it is

Messa di voce is a controlled swell and fade on a single sustained note: starting quietly, growing to a peak, and diminishing back to quiet. See the notation section for everything related.

The Italian means placing of the voice, and the technique originates in Baroque and Classical vocal practice, where it was a fundamental exercise and an expressive device.

On violin it is notated as a crescendo hairpin followed immediately by a diminuendo hairpin over one note.

Why it is the ultimate bow control test

Because it demands every variable be controlled simultaneously and continuously.

Bow speed must accelerate through the swell and decelerate through the fade, smoothly, with no steps.

Bow weight must increase and decrease in proportion.

Contact point must migrate toward the bridge as the note grows and back toward the fingerboard as it fades.

Bow distribution must be planned so the bow lasts the whole note, with the loudest section consuming the most bow.

And the weight compensation for the frog-to-tip difference must happen at the same time.

A player who can execute a genuine messa di voce over a full bow has solved most fundamental bow arm problems. That is why it survives as a teaching exercise centuries after the vocal practice that produced it.

How it is produced

Starting near the frog on a down-bow is conventional, since the natural weight there assists a quiet start with a slow bow, and the bow accelerates into the middle where the swell peaks.

Begin slow and light, with the contact point over or near the fingerboard.

Accelerate progressively, adding weight, migrating toward the bridge.

Peak near the middle of the bow, which is where control is best.

Decelerate progressively, releasing weight, migrating back toward the fingerboard.

End slow and light, with the sound still clean.

The whole shape must be continuous. Any step or hesitation is immediately audible.

Where the peak falls

Usually near the middle, but not necessarily.

A late peak produces a sense of growing intensity and quick release. An early peak produces a long fade.

Composers rarely specify, so it is an interpretive choice, and varying it is part of using the device expressively.

Vibrato through it

Usually widens and quickens toward the peak, then narrows and slows through the fade.

Coordinating vibrato change with bow change adds considerably to the difficulty and considerably to the effect.

A messa di voce with static vibrato sounds mechanical even when the bow control is good.

Where you meet it

Baroque and Classical repertoire, where it was a standard expressive device carried over from vocal practice.

Romantic repertoire, used extensively on sustained notes.

As a teaching exercise, at every level, because of what it develops.

Written explicitly as paired hairpins over a single note, which is a common notation in all periods. Practising this is easier with the free note identification.

As a daily exercise

One of the most productive things in a practice routine.

On an open string, whole bow, aiming for a smooth continuous swell and fade with no steps, no breaks and no change in tone quality.

Most students discover their first attempts have obvious steps, or that the sound breaks up at the quiet ends, or that they run out of bow before the fade completes.

Each of those reveals a specific bow arm problem, which makes the exercise diagnostic as well as developmental.

Doing it slowly, listening closely, for two minutes daily produces improvement across everything else the bow does.

What goes wrong

Steps rather than a curve. The dynamic changes in stages rather than continuously.

Running out of bow. The swell uses too much and the fade has nothing left.

Sound breaking at the quiet ends. Insufficient weight or wrong contact point.

No contact point migration. The dynamic changes by pressure alone, so the tone quality degrades at both extremes.

Peak too early, leaving a long uninteresting fade.

Uneven vibrato, unrelated to the dynamic shape.

How it is taught

Introduced at the intermediate level, once whole bow control is established.

It is taught as an exercise before it is taught as an expressive device, because the control has to exist before it can be used musically.

The instruction that helps most: listen for steps. A student who can hear where their swell jumps rather than grows can fix it. One who cannot hear it will practise the same discontinuity indefinitely.

The daily two minutes

If a student adds one exercise to their routine, this is a strong candidate.

Open string, whole bow, down and up. Start as quietly as the sound will stay clean, swell to the loudest the bow can produce cleanly, and fade back.

Listen for four things: steps in the curve, the sound breaking at the quiet ends, running out of bow, and any change in tone quality between the loud and quiet sections.

Each of those points at a specific bow arm problem, which makes the exercise a daily diagnostic as well as development.

Two minutes. It improves everything the bow does.

Where it appears in repertoire

More often than students notice, because it is frequently unmarked.

Any sustained note in a lyrical passage benefits from some degree of swell and fade. A note held flat at one level sounds dead, and experienced players shape sustained notes almost automatically.

Where it is marked with paired hairpins, the composer wants it explicit and probably larger than the default shaping.

Where it is not marked, a small messa di voce is usually appropriate anyway, and its absence is one of the main reasons student playing sounds static.

We teach private and group violin lessons across Johns Creek, Suwanee, Peachtree Corners and Woodstock. Bring reading and notation to a first lesson and we will build the plan around it. book a no-commitment evaluation lesson or call 470-789-2422.