Sol Babitz, the Early Music Laboratory, and string pedagogy, with annotated catalogues

The purpose of this study was to compile, categorize, review, and analyze the materials produced by Sol Babitz and the Early Music Laboratory with focus on string (violin) pedagogy. The research for this study involved the complete documentation of the Sol Babitz Archive housed at the University of California Los Angeles as well as a private collection given to the author by the Babitz family. This documentation appears in catalogue form in the Appendices section of this study. In addition, other primary sources consisted of the use of oral history techniques such as the interview with family members, friends and colleagues and the study of private performance tape recordings of Sol Babitz and various EML members.;The theories of this unique West Coast "think tank" were highly regarded by many outstanding figures world wide in the fields of musicology, music education, and performance in the mid part of the twentieth century. Others stood in avid disagreement. Today the influence of Sol Babitz and his Early Music Laboratory can be seen in the documentation of this study. This historical account brings to the forefront the highly creative and courageous spirit of this pioneer of the Baroque violin, and his influence on the early music movement of the twentieth century and contemporary string pedagogy.;Violinist Sol Babitz and harpsichordist Wesley Kuhnle created the beginnings of the Early Music Laboratory in 1948 in Los Angeles, California. Their efforts focused on the study of early music treatises with performance on authentic instruments. After Kuhnle's death, Babitz became the sole director and editor of the fully incorporated Early Music Laboratory and for the next thirty years (1967--1980) produced a series of fifteen Bulletins, a collection of tape recordings, books and records which provide Babitz's detailed insight into early music performance practice.