The Expressive Potential of the Upper Fingerboard in Classical String Performance
Classical string players must decide how to finger musical passages–decide which fingers should play each note and where on the fingerboard. String pedagogues agree that fingerings should be guided by two priorities–musicality and facility–with musicality taking precedence. However, how musicality considerations impact fingering decisions is not always clear. Some advice suggests that playing higher up the fingerboard (approaching the bridge) on a lower string can yield a more emotional sound than playing lower on the fingerboard (closer to the scroll) on a higher string. Research in emotional speech offers a possible explanation. When highly emotional, people often speak higher in their vocal range. Moving up higher on the fingerboard on a lower string (and therefore playing in the upper register of that string) might mimic this vocal emotional communication practice thereby conveying a higher emotionality. Three studies test the conjectured effect. The first investigates whether listeners can reliably distinguish between high and low fingerboard playing. The second tests the hypothesis that melodies played higher up the fingerboard are perceived as more emotionally intense. The third examines how fingerboard location affects acoustic features. The results dispute the common pedagogical assumption that expressive vocal practices translate to instrumental performance.