Koehler #9. Book I. Op 33. | Flute Etude | Miguel Vargas (@BeyondTheFlute)

At the beginning of this etude is written the word "martellato", which means hammered in Italian. Curious thing, because this term is used almost exclusively for string instruments. Thank God I have a violinist wife whom I bothered to explain me more or less how the martellato is and, after having an idea, I proceeded to recreate that bow stroke on the flute.
It's a well-marked attack with a lot of bow speed, which I translate to a well-present tonguing with a good amount of air deployed.
It's great how many bow strokes string players have and I feel we can learn a lot from them by trying to imitate all their articulations.

As a teacher I used to use the bow as an example because is a visual one, when attacking the notes in the flute, you don't see anything, you use your tongue, your air column but anyhthing you can see so, it is very important have a image can help you to achieve that articulation you are looking for. With the bow, you can talk about speed, region, pressure and it just work compare it to the flute tonguing!

Did you know what martellato means? Do you know of any other bow strokes that apply to the flute? Let me know in the comments box below.