Terminology Question
 

I am currently transcribing a Bernstein score ("Symphonic Dances From 'West Side Story'"), and came across a term I wasn't familiar with. In the violins, there was a par where they were marked con sord. arco. I know that con sordino is with a mute for the horns, but I have never seen it used for violins before. Any string players out there who can help me out?

Yes, there are mutes for stringed instruments. There are many kinds:

violin mute - Google Image Search

Arco simply means bowed ... not sure why it's denoted since string scores usually assume arco. Unless the passage before it was marked in some other way (pizzicato or something). Perhaps it is just being very explicit.

With regard to what kind of mute to use, I think it's usually up to the player for the most part. But certain scores can certainly require a specific mute.

I had absolutely no idea that violins were muted. I know that you can palm mute a guitar, but I didn't think it went any past that.

Palm muting stops the strings from vibrating. Violin mutes stop the bridge from vibrating.

However, you can "palm mute" a violin too. It's usually done with the pinky and gives a sort of harmonic sound ... can't remember the marking for that one. I think it's a little triangle or "degree" symbol above the note(s) being affected. Don't confuse this with open string harmonics.

Too much information. I stopped playing violin when I was 17 after 10 years of lessons.

Is that what the degree symbol over the harp notes is?

I don't play harp and a Google search turns up nothing about a degree symbol with regard to harp notation.

AND it turns out that I was wrong on the violin harmonic notation. I had to go look it up because it was killing me. Harmonics are usually denoted as diamond shaped notes on the staff ... like I said, it's been more than 20 years since I played classical violin.