Cello left hand pizzicato

The term “Left-Hand Pizzicato” is usually applied indiscriminately to two very different techniques: the normal “pluck-pizzicato” technique in which, instead of a right-hand finger, it is a left-hand finger which hooks itself around the string, pulls it and then releases it.

1. How is left hand pizzicato indicated?
2. Can cello be played pizzicato?
3. What finger do you use for pizzicato?
4. What is it called when violinists pluck the strings?

How is left hand pizzicato indicated?

A left hand pizzicato is usually indicated by writing a small cross above the note, and a Bartók pizzicato is often indicated by a circle with a small vertical line through the top of it above the note in question or by writing Bartók pizz at the start of the relevant passage.

Can cello be played pizzicato?

Playing pizzicato on the cello is a little different than playing pizzicato violin. To play it on the cello, catch and release the strings at the top with the left hand while keeping the right hand three inches from the fingerboard at the bottom of the instrument, then pluck with the index finger.

What finger do you use for pizzicato?

For single-note pizzicato, use the middle finger: this gives the roundest sound. I use the thumb and index finger to support it, so that I can produce more of a 'boom' than a 'ping' (figure 2). When playing four-note chords, use your ring, middle and index fingers and thumb.

What is it called when violinists pluck the strings?

Pizzicato is the Italian word for "plucked." To play pizzicato on a stringed instrument (such as the violin, viola, cello, or double bass) means to make the notes sound by plucking the strings with the fingers rather than by using the bow.