Stringprovisation: A Fingering Strategy for Jazz Violin Improvisation [Reprint, first ed. in print 2009]

In modern jazz improvisation, violinists frequently employ only a limited part of the fingerboard. This often results in performances in which most of the wider, more expressive violin range remains unemployed. Among the key issues of left-hand violin technique are fingering, shifting, and position playing. These are infrequently discussed in the pedagogical literature for jazz violin. This study presents a fingering strategy that focuses on these technical matters. The strategy is targeted to formulaic modern jazz improvisation and is communicated through applications of idiomatic musical patterns. The strategy excludes the use of open strings and relies instead on schematic fingering. This fingering approach reflects well, for example, the tactile and kinesthetic aspects of violin playing and with it idiomatic patterns can be effectively performed in all keys and violin positions.

In support of the strategy, related approaches from the pedagogical literature of classical and jazz violin are examined. Relevant guitar and mandolin methods are discussed in detail as well. In Part I, the research method resembles comparative research, however also essentially including some elements of practice-based research. Part II presents the fingering strategy mostly in terms of practice-based information. This strategy draws from the author’s wide experience in and knowledge of jazz violin performance and pedagogy. The strategy appears to provide a significant alternative fingering approach through which modern jazz can be effectively improvised across the entire violin
fingerboard. This study proposes that a particular approach to the application of schematic fingering may be ideal for jazz violin improvisation.