Q:

How to indicate divisi when 1st violin departs from remainder

This seems like something I've encountered a lot in practice, but can't think of the answer now or where to find a good example. Suppose I have a violin section, and the score calls for one player to play a melody while the remaining players play a counterpoint. Obviously I can mark the first melody "solo" - what is the marking for the other part? Preferably both are on the same staff, though I think the problem would remain even on two staves. Additionally, the counterpoint comes in later than the solo melody, so it even a little bit harder to see the context. See below - the soloist plays pizz, and the rest play arco starting the last beat of the second bar. It's probably clear with no marking at all, but just in case, I would prefer a marking that would remove any doubt.

Thanks!

A:

The clearest way to notate this is to put the solo part on its own staff. If you don't want to do that, add a bar-rest in the second voice/layer in the first bar of your picture, to avoid the reader stumbling over "why do these rests start in the second bar?"
The Italian term for "everybody else in the section" is "gli altri" - literally "the others".
You might also want to put the "arco" below the staff, to be absolutely clear that it doesn't apply to the soloist. (Yes I know it isn't aligned with a note in the solo part, so logically it can't apply to the solo, but these small details are easy to overlook and misinterpret, especially if they rely on the notation being "100% correct"!)

