Rachael Keplin

Warming up is one of my favorite ways to begin an efficient practice session. They give us the opportunity to create focus from the very beginning of practice and spend time strengthening technique. It is easy to start practice with something like a scale or Kreutzer etude. While these are wonderful ways to further your technique, they are multi-faceted and require you to focus on left hand, right hand, musicality, etc. What if we approached warm-ups a little more as a daily vitamin for just one of those skills?

 

My warm-up approach is to take a single technique and expand its difficulty by applying the exercise to different strings, positions, keys, etc. Most are familiar with this concept through sequencing passage difficulties by slowing down tempo, subdividing, playing it on a different string or position. We can use warm-up strategies to practice repertoire as well as base level technique.

This entry is going to break down some essential responsibilities for the right hand. Within each responsibility there will be a list of ideas on developing the skill during warm-up.

My advice is to try one idea at a time, per week. Allow yourself enough time to learn the challenges of the skill, familiarize a warm-up method, and then spend time expanding, developing, and learning the absolute boundaries of that skill. I also want to encourage your own ideas for developing warm-ups. Thinking about the demands of a skill and creating multiple ways to tackle it is what pedagogy is all about! Be a pedagogue!

 

This entry was originally going to cover the right AND the left hand. However, details got the best of me and I can't cheat you of examples or content! This first entry will focus on right hand warm-ups only and the second entry on left hand only. Additionally, you will find many musical examples throughout both entries. Half of the examples are written in alto (because 1. They were originally written for viola, 2. I am a violist) but the right hand exercises can be easily applied to all bowed string instruments. At the end of the entry there will be PDF’s of all examples in alto AND treble clef.

 

 

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The right hand is a far more complicated part of string playing than the left and therefore, deserves a wider variety of warm ups. If I had to simplify the right hand’s responsibilities, I would divide it into three skills (outside of just being able to hold the darn thing): 1. Bow Strokes 2. String Crossings 3. Tone Production.

 

Bow Strokes

There are an endless amount of bow strokes and if you are anywhere above a beginner, you are bound to have more than one stroke in any given piece. So whether you are working with sautillé or staccato, here are some ideas for making a bow stroke your warm-up focus.

1. Play the stroke on an open string. Start with a single, middle string. Once that string is comfortable move on to another. Pay special attention to the small adjustments that may happen on different string levels.

2. Play the stroke at various tempos – especially slower tempos!

3. Play the stroke during a one-octave scale. It is important to keep the left hand simple so that you can focus on coordinating the stroke with the changing left hand. Expand to multiple octave scales and arpeggios.

4. Play the stroke at various contact points.

5. Play the stroke throughout a simple melody (such as Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star or Lightly Row).

 

String Crossings

It’s easy to forget the demands of string crossing until you come across a piece of rep. or passage that demands it. It’s important to revisit string crossings to readdress the inner workings of the wrist, elbow, and arm and how they relate at different string levels and speeds. Below are some ways to start off your practice via string crossings!

1. Start with adjacent string crossings and gradually move to wider crossings. There are two wonderful warm-ups written out for this idea in Ivo-Jan’s A Notebook for Viola Players.

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