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Creating a Warm-Up

Part II: The Left Hand

Welcome back to part II: creating a warm up for your left hand! Just to re-cap:

- I love warming-up and I believe it is an efficient way to start a successful practice session.

- I strongly encourage you try no more than one warm-up exercise per week. This will allow ample time to learn the warm-up, evaluate what can be improved, and then develop the skill.

- I hope that these warm-up entries inspire you to create your own warm-ups based on your unique bottom line and your instrument.

-  A handful of the examples are written in alto clef but are applicable to all bowed string instruments! The left hand warm-ups are more specific to viola and violin technique and might need slight modification for cello or bass. The examples listed in this entry will be provided in PDF format at the end of the entry. 

 

 

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Even though there is more detail in the right hand, the left still deserves good warming up! I have divided the warm-ups into some basic responsibilities: 1. Scales 2. Vibrato 3. Double stops and independence of fingers.

 

Scales

Regardless of where you are with your scales (in love, in hate, know them all, or only up to 3 sharps), we can’t deny their importance in music: they are the basis and building blocks of music! One thing that isn’t talked about enough is our ability to practice scales without the monotony of simply ascending and descending scales. Here are a few tricks to escaping boredom in scale practice!

1. One Position Scales: start in first position and play with fingers 1-4, across all strings, in the key of C. Tempo should be relatively slow, ♩= 60-62. Vary the exercise with different positions first, and then keys. Galamian has this exercise written out from his scale method: See Galamian Example 1

2. Rhythm Scales: apply any interesting rhythm to your scales! I suggest starting with a rhythm that takes up 2 beats in 4/4 time and applying that rhythm per pitch. As you get more creative, spread the rhythm across multiple pitches! Here are some of the 4-note rhythm suggestions from Galamian to get you started: See Galamian Example 2

3. Start From the Top: start the scale from the highest note, descend to the lowest, and ascend back up.

4. Broken Scales: play the scale in broken thirds or fourths: See Galamian Example 3

 

 

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Vibrato

Vibrato: once used as an ornament and now a required technique! Teaching vibrato is one of the most difficult educator tasks. If you would like any strategies for introducing vibrato to intermediate players, please message me! For this entry, I would like to focus on developing the intermediate and advanced player’s vibrato. Once the basic wiggling is mastered, we have another huge hurdle: developing multiple vibrato speeds and characters. Below are some thoughts on developing alternate vibrato speeds and connecting vibrato throughout the hand.

1. Vibrato Rhythms: One of the oldest vibrato practice techniques is vibrato rhythms. Even though they are a bit boring, I can say from personal experience that they really do work. However, they only work if you actually put in time! With this method, you almost have to practice your practice! If you have not heard of them before, here is how they work: set your metronome to ♩= 62-68. Start with your 3rd or 2nd finger (whichever is more comfortable or balanced) and vibrate at a quarter note rhythm along with the metronome. The motion should be extremely smooth, paying special attention to the balance, weight, and flexing parts of the arm, wrist and finger. Slower vibrato speeds should be initiated from the opening and closing of the forearm and faster speeds by the knocking motion of the wrist. There will be a sympathetic flexing motion of the knuckle but the finger is NOT the initiating part! Once this rhythm is mastered, move on to eighth note, triplet, sixteenth, sextuplet, and 32nd note oscillation speeds.

 

2. Connected Vibrato Bowing: the point here is to connect vibrato across fingers by using a slurred or connected bow stroke. Start with a simple scale that uses all fingers; I suggest A minor in 1st position or G major in 3rd position. Use a rhythm that allows you to connect notes across the bow. Here is the rhythm I typically use: 

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3. Different Positions: after mastering first position vibrato, spend time vibrating and balancing the hand in other positions - especially fifth position and higher! 

 

Double Stops & Independence of Fingers

I am combining these two skills because they are sympathetic and practice of one benefits the other! Placing the left hand in a position across multiple strings requires total control of each independent finger. Below are some of my go-to’s for strengthening double stop skills. In general, any practice including double stops is going to require a lot of work. Remember to go slow and stay very aware of any tension. If any tension occurs, stop the exercise and stretch or take a break. Evaluate what caused the tension before returning to the exercise.

1. Bow only the top or bottom notes in the double stop passage while silently fingering the opposite line. This exercise is fantastic for intonation of each line within the double stop passage.

2. Play the double stops with ‘harmonic’ [very very light!] finger weight. It is natural for our left hand to tense up during difficult tasks. When we lighten the weight of the hand, we allow it to move more fluidly and make finer, more attentive adjustments.

3. Sevcik is notorious for his simple yet exhausting left hand exercises. While I love cracking open the old Sevcik book, I love efficiency even more! My graduate teacher, Dr. Juliet White-Smith compiled an entire page of possible finger patterns inspired by Sevcik. This is one of my favorite left hand warm-ups simply because it never gets boring. There is always a new combination of finger pattern, key, rhythm, and speed to master in this warm-up! The first page lists the finger patters, keys and some extremely insightful notes on how to approach the exercise. The second page is a rhythmic example to be applied to each pattern.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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4. Dounis: if you have not checked out Dounis’ studies for the violin, do it!! They are extremely difficult but they leave no technique behind. His attention to detail shines in his independent finger exercise. I am only attaching the very early example from his work; if you want to find more of his exercises for the independence of fingers, look into his The Violin Player’s Daily Dozen. This exercise should be taken very, very slowly and I advise tackling only one to three bars at a time as a warm-up!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Phew! So I know there was a TON of a material listed in this entry but I sincerely hope you find at least one new warm-up that you love and furthermore a warm-up that raises your bottom line! Below are all of the exercises in PDF format. Some of the exercises were kept in there original clef format. The examples with two links have the exercise in both alto and treble clef. Additionally, a short bibliography of my resources! As always, feel free to message me with any questions or successes!

 

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Dounis, Demetrius C. The Violin Players' Daily Dozen. New York: Carl Fischer, 1925. Print.

 

Galamian, Ivan. The Galamian Scale System Adapted for Viola. Ed. Karen Olson. N.p.: Galaxy Music Corportation, 1997. Print.

 

Werff, Ivo-Jan van der. A Notebook for Viola Players. Houston: Kinglsey Literary Services, 2011. Print.

 

White-Smith, Juliet. Tetrachord Exercises for Viola: Sevcik “Revisited”. N.p., Aug. 2006.

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The Left Hand

Galamian Example 1
Galamian Example 2
Galamian Example 3
Bibliography
Example PDF's

Galamian 1

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Galamian 2

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Galamian 3

Connected Vibrato

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Sevcik Revisited

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Dounis

Wrap-Up

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