Violin pizzicato: from the basic to the ridiculous
I’ll admit it: I’ve been plucking since I was a little Suzuki kid. It drove my teachers crazy, it drove my parents crazy, and it still drives my stand partners crazy… crazy with jealousy, that is, at the hundreds of ways I’ve found to play pizzicato!
OK, maybe they aren’t jealous of my harp-like wizardry. But playing in orchestras for the last twenty-plus years has forced me to develop quite a repertoire of techniques for plucked notes, from the bread-and-butter “pizz” to all sorts of special effects.
And, in case you’ve forgotten, pizzicato comes up in the solo and chamber repertoire all the time as well. So unless you want your guitar-hero moments to be ordinary and forgettable, you owe it to yourself to watch my guide to all things plucked.
To make it easy for you, I’ve put together all the musical examples I use in a free PDF packet. Just tell me where to send it, and it’s yours so that you can follow along:
And now, the good stuff:
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13 thoughts on “Violin pizzicato: from the basic to the ridiculous”
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Nathan…I loved this video and learned more about pizzicato than I’ve ever known. I’m grateful of your influence in the music world.
Lois Owsley
Great video! Very thorough, thanks!
Highly interesting! And done with such bravado! Really beautyful pizzicato sounds! You really are a virtuoso! Never thought enough about it – only placed against a wall when occasionally encountering left hand pizzicato and scipping out of those lines!
Thanks a lot Nathan, for all of your very informative and intresting videos.
Best, Lena
Highly interesting! And done with such bravado! Really beautyful pizzicato sounds!
Thanks a lot Nathan, for all of your very informative and intresting videos.
Best, Lena
Very welcome, glad it’s been helpful!
Amazing! I had no idea! Thanks!
Nathan, It seams like You have read my mind.
Our string orchestra is working on Camille Saint-Saëns Kangourous from Carnival of the animals. The seconds do just Pizzicato except one bow strock at the end.
Thanks for your video. Thanks for all your work!
Assia
Yes, perfect application for that!
This has been so useful! Thanks for making this video on a technique that’s so important yet so often overlooked in lessons.
Thank-you so much Nathan for the best lesson ever on pizzicato! I have played violin most of my life and have not had an in-depth understanding of how to really make a beautiful sound with my pizzicato!
I’m not surprised! I’m not sure anyone taught me pizzicato either… it always seemed like there was something more important to deal with, but it crops up all the time.
I am giving a preconcert talk here in Chicago for a program that features two Berlioz works, so I have been rereading his “Memoires” with great pleasure. He goes off on one of his magnificent digressions about what he regards as the failures of the Paris Conservatoire at the time. One issue that drives Berlioz crazy is that they don’t have a regimen to teach the string players pizzicato, and he is appalled at how clumsy and monochromatic so many of the Paris musicians are without the bow. Berlioz himself was quite a good guitarist–it was his principal instrument. He sees no reason why the string players in an orchestra can’t acquire the same plucking skills as he did.
I enjoyed this very much, Nathan.
Thanks Max! I never knew that about Berlioz… I wish I could hear your talk, do they record those as well as the concerts?