# Ricochet (French, "rebound")

Source: https://arcosounds.com/glossary/ricochet
Also known as: jeté

**Ricochet is a bowing in which the bow is dropped onto the string and allowed to bounce several times in one direction, producing a rapid group of notes from a single stroke.**

The player throws the upper third of the bow onto the string and then does almost nothing: the bounce is the stick’s own elasticity, and the bow travels in one direction while it rebounds. Two to six notes per throw is typical, and the number is controlled by where on the bow the throw lands and how much the hand releases afterwards. Fighting the bounce kills it, which is why the stroke is usually taught as a lesson in letting go.

It is notated as slurred notes with staccato dots over them, the same marking used for slurred staccato, so the tempo and the character decide which is meant. Fast and light means ricochet; slow and deliberate means the notes are stopped by the arm instead.

The French name jeté refers to the same throw. In orchestral writing it appears wherever a composer wants brilliance without effort, the scherzo of Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the standard example.

Canonical source: https://arcosounds.com/glossary/ricochet