ABSTRACT
Plucking the string away from the fingerboard in order to produce a snapping tone by striking the fingerboard. Through the string history only a few examples exist, as Bohemian born Austrian violinist composer Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, who, in his programmatic work Battalia, asked violone, or double bass viol to execute a snap-like pizzicato to simulate cannon shots. Left-hand pizzicato is used to play both open strings and stopped notes. A higher finger number, such as the fourth finger, plucks the string sideways toward the palm of the hand making a lower finger number or open string sound. Method books are among the numerous tools in a string teacher’s hypothetical toolbox in the pursuit of imparting solid techniques and good habits in a positive learning environment. Prudent and achievable goals are listed in Teaching Stringed Instruments: A Course of Study, which proposes to cover most of the first book of string method.
