The purpose of this study was to investigate the rates, widths, and pitches of university double bass players' vibrato in relation to pitch height, fingers used, and tempo. Forty (N = 40) undergraduate and graduate double bass players performed excerpts in first, fourth, and thumb positions. The overall mean vibrato rate and width was 5.17 Hz and…

The purpose of this article is to revisit the biomechanical concepts of Paul Rolland's scholarship on bowing to provide a new framework of Rolland's underlying bowing principles. First, we discuss how whole body movements help facilitate natural bowing, which can generate better tone efficiently from freedom of movement. Second, we attend to the…

Utilizing Participatory Action Research (PAR), this study centered on the experiences of three young string players and a violin instructor employing storytelling as an approach to enhance expressiveness. Collaborating with the violin instructor to craft an initial approach and framework for the young string players, it was revealed that…

This work presents an analysis of the didactic literature for the initial learning of intonation on violin and viola. Analysis has been conducted through a document-analysis design of 86 methods. The chosen analytic categories were: (1) contents (number of pitches and sequence of pitches presentation); (2) pedagogy (teaching approach and use of…

This study was designed to explore nonstring specialists' comfort teaching students in string ensembles. Comfort was defined as an individual's ease when teaching the subject matter. Data were gathered, using a 7-point Likert-type scale related to 15 string topics administered through a researcher-developed study. Participants ("N" =…

The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine school string teachers' beliefs about and practices of teaching nontraditional music courses. We surveyed middle and high school string teachers (N = 42) about what nontraditional music courses and ensembles (NMCEs) they currently offer and would like to offer to their students. In addition, we…