From Hot Club Swing to StringTing: Learning jazz violin in a community of musical practice

Sykes, Tom (2025) From Hot Club Swing to StringTing: Learning jazz violin in a community of musical practice. In: Jazz Futures, 28-31 August 2025, Amsterdam.

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Abstract

While the violin was a significant instrument in early jazz and its precursor ensembles such as string bands (Shipton 2007), it has become more commonly associated with the ‘hot club swing’ style popularized by Stéphane Grappelli and continued by players such as Didier Lockwood in his later career. Outside of this style, the violin has remained a somewhat marginalized instrument in jazz, despite having its own category from the beginning of the DownBeat polls in 1936 (compared with, for example, flute, which was a ‘miscellaneous instrument’ until 1956) (deMichael 1961). Compared with more popular jazz instruments such as the saxophone, there are fewer opportunities for aspiring jazz violinists to take part in ensembles such as big bands.

This paper begins with an examination of recent and current possibilities for violinists (and other bowed string players) to play jazz, often in an ensemble setting with other bowed strings, using examples from informal educational and community settings, some of them online. This group participatory approach to learning could be considered a ‘community of musical practice’ (Kenny 2016), members of which have a common interest and a desire to improve their practice outside of formal educational institutions. The case studies indicate that, contrary to popular association, violinists wanting to play jazz are interested in more than just hot club swing, and that, in an increasingly fragmented world, these communities of musical practice may be becoming the primary means by which many violinists get to experience jazz performance.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Creative Arts & Humanities > School of Creative and Performing Arts
Depositing User:	Tom Sykes
Date Deposited:	01 Sep 2025 14:03
Last Modified:	01 Sep 2025 14:03
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/4744

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