Tuesday, October 26th, 2010
Why do we play scales?
One reason is to warm up. Playing scales nice and slow, even painfully so, where getting a good sound is next to impossible, is very good practice and warm up.
We need to warm up both the right and left hand. Play scales over the frog of the bow, not using more than 5-6 inches for smooth bow changes. Also, play long full strokes to get used to using the whole bow. Play scales with slurs as well. Slur eighth notes, triplets, sixteenths as well as different articulations. Practice the most difficult strokes while still maintaining concentration on intonation and sound production for each and every tone.
Another reason to play scales is to establish finger patterns for every key signature so that the fingers come down in the right place for the right key automatically. Playing scales in every key signature helps us play in all keys with little thought. Music consists mostly of scales and arpeggios. Try to perfect your scales as much as possible and to memorize what your hand feels like with the position of each and every finger on all four strings. Eventually these finger patterns will come by themselves though the work towards perfection is forever. Use your warm up time for relaxed enjoyable and calm playing. Don’t be in a hurry to speed up tempos. The opportunity to play fast will come and also perfection after having devoted quality time to your scales.
