How to learn ricochet on the violin

Learn all about ricochet violin bowing technique with examples, sheet music notation and exercises:

Ricochet is a violin bow stroke where to bow bounces on it's own

After one initial impulse of dropping the bow on the string, the bow bounces two to twenty times on one bow stroke. Ricochet is usually done on the down bow and is one of the most passive bowing techniques.

Sheet music notation for ricochet

Usually ricochet is indicated in the sheet music by dots above or below the notes and a slur. However, lots of times there is no indication in the sheet music and it's a matter of performance tradition that you'd know when to do the ricochet bow stroke.

Examples of ricochet bowing

Ricochet is a very impressive bow technique. We see it in the Ronde des Lutins by Bazzini, the third movement of Paganini's violin concerto no 1 and in orchestra repertoire in the well known William Tell overture by Rossini. All these examples are shown in the video above.

Why should you practice ricochet on the violin?

Even if you don't have ricochet bowing in your repertoire, it's extremely useful to practice it at all levels of violin playing. It teaches you to have a relaxed bow hold and let the bow bounce. You will get to know the natural bounce of the bow, which is useful for learning other jumping bowing techniques like spiccato, sautillé and jumping arpeggios.

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Ricochet exercises on the violin

How to learn ricochet bowing

Start with holding your violin bow in loose fist. Practice with dropping the bow on the string and letting the bow bounce. Don't control each jump, but let the bow do it's work. Move your arm sideways a bit.

The next step is to drop the bow in the bow hold. You might tense up here, so work on relaxing your bow hold.

The last step is to catch the bow after a fixed number of jumps. Start with two, then three and so on. Catching the bow means lifting it and changing direction, so you get several ricochet bounces on the down bow and then one up bow.

Learn more violin bow strokes

Do you want to know every possible bowing technique on the violin? Watch this video with 102 violin bowing techniques.

The basis for all bowing techniques is to bow smoothly. This video lesson will help you with that.

A proper and relaxed violin bow hold will help a lot improving your bowing technique and sound. Read this article.

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Join my Violin Bowing Bootcamp to build a great basic technique, make a beautiful sound and learn the most common bow strokes.

How to learn ricochet on the violin

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Learn all about ricochet violin bowing technique with examples, sheet music notation and exercises:

Ricochet is a violin bow stroke where to bow bounces on it's own

Sheet music notation for ricochet

Examples of ricochet bowing

Why should you practice ricochet on the violin?

Improve your violin bowing technique

Ricochet exercises on the violin

How to learn ricochet bowing

Learn more violin bow strokes

Take bowing technique lessons with Zlata

Join the Violin Lounge Academy

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Learn all about ricochet violin bowing technique with examples, sheet music notation and exercises:

Ricochet is a violin bow stroke where to bow bounces on it's own

Sheet music notation for ricochet

Examples of ricochet bowing

Why should you practice ricochet on the violin?

Improve your violin bowing technique

Ricochet exercises on the violin

How to learn ricochet bowing

Learn more violin bow strokes

Take bowing technique lessons with Zlata