double stop meaning: definition, quotations

double stop

nounalso spelled double-stop

Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music An instance of two notes being played simultaneously.

Stringed instruments

verb

Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music to play on two stopped strings of a stringed instrument simultaneously.

Divisi in the orchestra greatly reduces the need for double-stopping, per se, in this form of string playing.1957, Clifford A. Cook, String teaching and some related topics, page 39:
Some Greek musicians have used open tunings on the violin and double-stopped the strings to produce a drone.2003, Aline Scott-Maxwell, John Whiteoak, Currency companion to music and dance in Australia, page 69:

1 more example

The whole movement gives the soloist an opportunity for hair-raising virtuosity, from rapid arpeggios and spectral harmonics to languid parallel sixths, double-stopped trills and, in the trio, a stratospheric cantabile, again on harmonics.2008, Paolo Petrocelli, William Walton and the Violin Concerto in England between 1900 and 1940:

noun

Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music a chord or combination composed of two notes played on separate strings simultaneously.

There has been some question concerning whether the downbeat of m. 19 should be a triple-stop with the open D string as the bottom note or a double-stop with the open A string as the bottom note.1999, Joel Lester, Bach's Works for Solo Violin: Style, Structure, Performance, →ISBN:
You can play a double-stop on adjacent strings or on nonadjacent strings (by skipping strings).2012, Mark Phillips, Jon Chappell, Guitar For Dummies, →ISBN, page 96:

1 more example

If you're a beginner player, you can always choose not to play a double-stop and instead play just the top note.2014, Michael John Sanchez, Fiddle For Dummies, →ISBN:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for double stop and double-stop.