If the string is picked more or less with the nail, it will sound dry, and the effect when made by four players can sound atrocious. Quartet players should endeavour to find the effect intended in particular cases. ![]() In string quartet playing right hand pizzicato acquires more importance than in solo playing. The nearer the bridge the strings are set in vibration, whether with finger or bow, the louder the tone.Īrthur Broadley, 'A complete course of instruction in violincello playing', The Strad, February 1905 It is well to remember that the same law which governs bowing governs pizzicato. In order to produce a very loud pizzicato, pluck the strings very low down the fingerboard – in this case ‘down is up’, that is to say, near the bridge. I noticed that Kreisler, that supreme exponent of violin tonal matters, kept his left hand absolutely still as his right hand swept the strings, only starting the vibrato movement immediately afterwards.Ī great mistake, which many players make, is to play all pizzicato quite tamely, not varying the tone in the slightest degree. In the passage in the first movement where the violin and piano change roles, the violin playing the chords pizzicato and the piano the lovely main theme, the arpeggio violin accompaniment came through with magical effect. ![]() I once heard Kreisler at the Albert Hall begin his recital with the Brahms G major Sonata, an intimate work hardly ideal in that vast arena packed that day with some 5,000 people. I suggest the opposite is a better tonal tactic. Of course, you may want to produce a veiled, non-ringing pizzicato by only half-stopping the string, but for maximum ring you need as good a stop as possible.Īlmost every commentary on pizzicato recommends vibrato notes in a slow tempo and many people start vibrato on a long note before the right hand stroke. However, since plucked notes ring better the more a string is stopped, pizzicato is an exception to the rule of minimum finger pressure. Sometimes we might want to change the tone quality or as part of rhythmic emphasis in the left hand, but continual over-pressing is obviously a waste of energy and may cause tension. ‘In normal playing, the correct amount of finger pressure is always as little as possible – in other words, just enough to make the tone entirely pure. To obtain a pizzicato note which will carry, the string must be firmly pulled with the fleshy part of the right hand in a direction to the right of the player at an angle of about 10 degrees to the fingerboard. The result will be a note which sounds dead. It is not good enough to simply twang the strings. Joan Jeanrenaud, former cellist of the Kronos Quartet, The Strad, June 2004ĭictionaries of music vary, but the majority explain that pizzicato is an Italian word meaning ‘pinched’ and from what we frequently hear in concerts and recitals it would seem that some string players interpret the definition literally and produce a pinched tone instead of a richly vibrant tone. Flesh can be used to our advantage but don’t forget the nails’ Next, consider how you will pluck you can pull the string to one side or the other, lift up, or push down. Most often we do this between the fingerboard and the bridge, but there are other options, such as close to the bridge to get a tight, non-resonating sound or on the fingerboard for a softer, more ringing tone. One of the choices you have with pizzicato is where on the string you pluck. We have the ability to produce as many colours in pizzicato as we do when we use the bow. ![]() Within the musical context, however, there are a variety of reasons that pizzicato is used and therefore we need to find different ways to pluck. Many cellists feel that pizzicato is simply plucking the string and they give little thought as to how to do so. Explore more Technique articles like this in The Strad Playing Hub
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