Abstract
Despite the existence of educators who use the third position as the home position for beginner violin training and get positive results, repertoires of violin pedagogues and current music school curricula show an overwhelming preference for the first position. I determined that studies on this preference and research related to the use of the third position technique as an alternative in beginner violin/viola education were scant and narrow in scope, and sent a questionnaire to violin/viola teachers to garner their views. Ninety-four participants who wrote comments in Part 4 of the questionnaire made up the study’s sample. The study aimed both to contribute to the literature in the field of string and music pedagogy while triggering other efforts investigating use of the technique, and to directly transfer to readers the respondents’ opinions. The study concluded that scantiness of research may be responsible for why the technique has not become widespread and related teaching resources are scarce. It would be appropriate to conduct further studies about using the third-position beginning technique as an alternative.
Recommended Citation
Arıca, Eylem
(2019)
"An Analysis of Violin and Viola Instructors’ Opinions of Using the Third Position as the Home Position for Beginning-Level Violin/Viola Education,"
Research & Issues in Music Education: Vol. 15:
No.
1, Article 2.
Available at:
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/rime/vol15/iss1/2