page_title: Position (music)
section_title: Shifting and notation on bowed instruments
hierarchical_section_title: Position (music) / Shifting and notation on bowed instruments
caption_attribution_description: English: Hypothetical cello fingering of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" with hand positions with ordinals, fingers with numbers, and strings indicated with Roman numerals. The A could instead have been played open like the D and the entire line could have been in 1st position. Created bfdv#4&amp;*"":*+ y Hyacinth (talk) 05:35, 7 December 2010 using Sibelius 5.
context_page_description: On a string instrument, position is the relative location of the hand on the instrument's neck, indicated by ordinal numbers. Fingering, independent of position, is indicated by numbers, 1-4. Different positions on the same string are reached through shifting.
  With experience, string players become accustomed to the required shape and position of the left hand. Some positions are located relative to certain touch references, or landmarks on the instrument. For example, fourth position on the cello has the player's thumb resting in the "saddle" of the neck root. Similarly, higher positions on the violin make use of the instrument's "shoulder" as a touch reference. Some electric string instruments, without a traditionally shaped body, still incorporate a reference feature imitating that shoulder's shape.
context_section_description: On a string instrument, shifting, or a shift, is a movement of the fingers of the left hand from one position to another on the same string. When done skillfully shifting avoids string noise.
  A shift is usually indicated by a fingering number (1–4) on the first note after the shift. Additionally, the string or position may be indicated as well, following one of several notation conventions. The position can be indicated by ordinal numbers (e.g., "3rd") or a roman numeral (e.g., "III. pos", "III. Pos", or just "III"). The string can be indicated by string name (e.g., "sul G") or by a roman number (counting from high to low pitches, e.g., "II" for the A string on a violin).
  Although the technique must have been known, based on the fingering and repertoire, treatises do not discuss explicitly it until the 19th century. Among the earliest appearances is the term démancher (lit. "to shift") in Michel Corrette's L'école d'Orphée (Paris, 1738).
caption: Possible string technique and notation demonstrated on a bit of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", played on a cello. Note the string change to A avoided through shifting and the string change to the G string: the A could have been played open like the D and the entire line could have been in 1st position.
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