Play and learn
Bowings and articulations
The small marks above and below the notes tell a string player how to move the bow and how each note should sound. In this quick game you choose what a mark tells you to do, find the mark that says what to do, or work out which way the bow goes at the end of a short passage. Play a round, build a streak, and start reading the bowings in your own music at a glance.
Bowings and articulations
- Score
- 0
- Streak
- 0
Why bowing marks matter
A violin or viola part tells you more than which notes to play. Small marks show which way to move the bow, which notes share one bow, and whether a note is short, smooth, or accented. Reading them is how a young player makes a piece sound the way it was written.
Some of these marks belong to string music, like the down-bow and up-bow signs and the 0 that asks for an open string. Others, like staccato dots and accents, appear in music for every instrument, and on a violin or viola they tell you what to do with the bow. The game starts with seven common marks and adds more at each level.
New to these marks? Read the Articulation class first.
How this game helps
Short, playful rounds build the quick recognition a confident reader relies on. Some questions show a mark and ask what it means; others say what to do and ask you to find the mark. Others show a few notes with only the first bow marked, as printed music often does, and ask which way the bow goes on the last one. The gentle feedback names the mark or counts the bows whenever you miss one, so every question teaches something. Play a round as a warm up before practice.
Ready for real lessons?
When your young musician is ready to put these bowings to work on a real violin or viola, we would love to help them begin.