<bow>

The <bow> element marks a span of sibling <note> elements played with one continuous bow stroke on a stringed instrument, without changing direction across the span.

Parent

<measure> or <group>

Attributes

Attribute	Required	Type	Description
type	Yes	"start" | "stop"	Whether this marker opens or closes a span.
direction	If type="start"	"in" | "out"	Bow direction for this span. Only valid, and required, on type="start".

Semantics

A <bow type="start"/> and the next <bow type="stop"/> the part reaches bracket a span. Every <note> between them is played in one continuous bow stroke.

Matching is by document order within a resolved pass. A marker in one measure can be closed by one in a later measure or line, so a span may cross <measure>, <group>, and <line> boundaries. It may not cross a section boundary.

In a section that plays once, and in any section without <ending> elements, that is plain document order. Where an ending substitutes a line, resolve the pass first and match within the lines that pass actually plays. See Spans across an overridden line.

A <line-repeat> does not enter into it. The lines are read once, in the order they are written, however many times playback runs through them. A span may open inside a repeated range and close after it, and a range that repeats does not re-open a span that closed within it.

A span that crosses a <line> boundary is still one span. The renderer splits the curve in two and marks the cut, which changes nothing about the data. See Bow spans across a line break.

Example

<!-- Continuous within one line, spanning a measure boundary -->
<line number="2">
  <measure number="1">
    <bow type="start" direction="in"/>
    <note pitch="ด"/>
    <note pitch="ร"/>
  </measure>
  <measure number="2">
    <note pitch="ม"/>
    <bow type="stop"/>
    <note pitch="ซ"/>
  </measure>
</line>

<!-- Broken across a line break: renders as two arcs -->
<line number="3">
  <measure number="1">
    <note pitch="ล"/>
    <bow type="start" direction="out"/>
    <note pitch="ซ"/>
  </measure>
</line>
<line number="4">
  <measure number="1">
    <note pitch="ม"/>
    <bow type="stop"/>
    <note pitch="ร"/>
  </measure>
</line>

Conformance

• On every resolved pass of a section, a type="start" must be closed by a matching type="stop" before another type="start" appears. Bow spans cannot nest or overlap.
• On every resolved pass, each type="start" must have a matching type="stop" within the same <section-ref>. A span left open at the end of a pass is invalid, even if another pass closes it.
• direction is required on type="start" and must not appear on type="stop".
• Bow spans cannot cross <section> boundaries.
• Bow spans are independent per part. Marking a span in one part’s notes has no effect on any other part.

Notes

• This element describes a bowing technique. It is unrelated to the tie of Western notation, which joins two notes of the same pitch into one sounding note.