Con le unghie: meaning and use in music

Con le unghie means with the fingernails: use nail contact instead of the ordinary fingertip; write the complete Italian phrase in full.

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How is con le unghie played?

Use the fingernail for the locally notated action—commonly plucking a string, but sometimes drawing or scraping the nail along it when a line or legend specifies that motion. Nail contact usually gives a harder, more defined onset than the fingertip, while a lateral scrape can produce a quieter rough or howling sound. Instrument, string, direction, duration and whether one note or a whole passage is affected must come from the score.

How does con le unghie sound?

Brighter, more defined nail attack.

In context

Con le unghie is an Italian contact instruction meaning with the fingernails. It does not by itself choose plucking versus scraping or guarantee one loudness or colour. Harp nail symbols and other graphic marks are notation channels, not textual abbreviations, and con le ungh. lacked three direct expansions of the exact phrase; the headword remains written out.

Music theory and score context

See also

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