Col legno (Italian for with the wood) is a method of playing bowed string instruments (particularly the violin, viola, cello, and double bass) whereby the strings are struck with the wood of the bow rather having the hair pulled across them. There is also a technique called col legno tratto in which the player drags the wood of the bow instead of striking the string. A string instrument (also stringed instrument) is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. ... The violin is a stringed musical instrument that has four strings tuned a perfect fifth apart. ... The viola is a stringed musical instrument which serves as the middle voice of the violin family, between the upper lines played by the violin and the lower lines played by the cello and double bass. ... A cropped image to show the relative size of a cello to a human (Uncropped Version) The violoncello, or as it is more commonly to refered to as the cello or cello (pronounced Cheh-loh), is a stringed instrument and a member of the violin family. ... Side and front views of a modern double bass with a French bow. ... In music, a bow is a device pulled across the strings of a string instrument in order to make them vibrate and emit sound. ...

Notable instances of col legno playing include the fifth movement of Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique and the Mars movement of Gustav Holst's The Planets. Portrait of Berlioz by Signol, 1832 Louis Hector Berlioz (December 11, 1803 – March 8, 1869) was a French Romantic composer best known for the Symphonie fantastique, first performed in 1830, and for his Grande Messe des morts (Requiem) of 1837, with its tremendous resources that include four antiphonal brass choirs. ... Symphonie Fantastique (Fantastic Symphony) is a symphony written by Hector Berlioz in 1830. ... Gustav Holst Gustavus Theodore von Holst (September 21, 1874 – May 25, 1934) was an English composer with Latvian, Swedish, and Spanish roots. ... The Planets (also known as The Planets Suite), opus 32, is an orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst. ...

Col legno is also the name of a record label specialising in contemporary classical music; see Col legno (record label). A record label is a brand created by companies that specialize in manufacturing, distributing and promoting audio and video recordings, on various formats including compact discs, LPs, DVD-Audio, SACDs, and cassettes. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...