Snap Pizzicato

What it is

Snap pizzicato is produced by pulling the string vertically away from the fingerboard and releasing it, so that it snaps back and strikes the wood. This belongs to the left hand section.

The result is a sharp percussive crack in addition to the plucked pitch. It is considerably louder than ordinary pizzicato and has an aggressive, violent character. Our free chromatic tuner helps with this between lessons.

It is commonly called Bartok pizzicato, after the composer who used it extensively and popularised the notation.

How it is produced

The finger, usually the index or the thumb, hooks under the string and pulls it directly upward, away from the fingerboard.

The string is released and snaps back, striking the fingerboard with an audible impact.

The motion is vertical, which distinguishes it from ordinary pizzicato where the finger draws across the string. Ordinary pizzicato specifically avoids the slap that snap pizzicato requires.

How far the string is pulled determines the intensity. More displacement produces a louder snap.

How it is notated

A circle with a vertical line through the top, resembling a small letter with a stem, placed above the note head.

The instruction is sometimes written out as snap pizzicato or Bartok pizzicato.

Some scores use a plus sign, which is ambiguous since that also indicates left-hand pizzicato, and context must decide.

Does it damage the instrument

The most common question and a reasonable one.

Occasional snap pizzicato does not damage a violin. The fingerboard is ebony, which is hard, and the strings are not heavy enough to mark it in normal use.

Repeated heavy snapping over many years can mark a fingerboard, and very forceful snapping risks the string, but standard use in standard repertoire is not a concern.

Players are more concerned about string wear than instrument damage. Snap pizzicato is hard on strings and a passage full of it will shorten their life.

The technique is loud enough that excessive force is unnecessary. A moderate snap is fully audible.

Where it works and where it does not

It works best on lower, thicker strings, which have more mass and produce a fuller snap.

On the E string it is less effective, since the string is thin and light, and the risk of breaking it is real.

Composers who understand the instrument write snap pizzicato on the lower strings.

It works on open strings and on stopped notes. Stopped notes are slightly harder because the left hand must maintain the note while the right hand pulls the string away.

What goes wrong

Insufficient displacement. The string does not strike the fingerboard and the result is an ordinary pizzicato.

Excessive force. Risks the string and produces no more effect than a moderate snap.

Wrong direction. Pulling sideways rather than upward produces ordinary pizzicato.

Intonation. As with all pizzicato, attention goes to the right hand and the left hand suffers.

Timing. The snap takes slightly longer to prepare than an ordinary pluck, and in fast passages this matters.

The musical effect

Snap pizzicato is aggressive. It has a violence that ordinary pizzicato does not, and composers use it accordingly.

It appears at moments of intensity, in music with a percussive or harsh character, and in contexts where the string section is being used as a percussion section.

It is used sparingly. The effect is striking and loses impact with repetition.

Where you meet it

Twentieth-century and contemporary repertoire almost exclusively.

Common in string quartet writing of the twentieth century.

Common in contemporary orchestral music.

Occasional in film scoring, for its percussive impact.

It does not appear before the twentieth century. Students meet it in modern repertoire, usually in chamber music or orchestral parts.

How it is taught

We start on a lower open string, establishing the vertical pull and the amount of displacement needed.

Then the force question: enough to snap clearly, not enough to threaten the string.

Then stopped notes.

Then in context, with attention to the timing, since the preparation takes a moment.

The technique is quick to learn compared to most on this list. The difficulty is not producing it but producing it at the right volume and in the right rhythmic place.

In an ensemble

Snap pizzicato is loud and percussive, which makes ensemble precision essential.

Four players snapping fractionally apart produces a rattle rather than an impact. Because the sound has a sharp attack and no sustain, timing errors are far more exposed than in bowed playing.

String quartets rehearsing twentieth-century repertoire spend real time on this, and it is one of the passages most likely to need deliberate coordination rather than instinct.

Practising it

A lower open string first, finding how far the string must be displaced to snap reliably.

Then the force calibration, aiming for a clear snap with minimum effort. Students almost always start too hard.

Then stopped notes, which require the left hand to hold firm against the upward pull.

Then rhythmic placement, since the preparation takes a moment and the snap can easily land late.

Then in context, with attention to string wear if the passage is long.

An instructor watching you play catches in one lesson what left-hand work like Snap Pizzicato articles cannot describe. Private and group violin lessons in Lawrenceville, Suwanee, Milton and Decatur. 470-789-2422, or book a no-commitment evaluation lesson.