A Month of Scales: Join me for 31 days of 31 different ways to approach scales. New posts go up every day in January 2023. Start from Day 1 here.
For today’s scales, I divided them in two: going up and going down. It’s a pretty straightforward concept. Probably the biggest difference is where you go back to when you stumble, fumble, or just need to re-start. When that happens, go back to the beginning of either the ascent or descent. And this small change revealed some interesting things!
The first challenge was stopping myself after the ascent, and not continuing like usual into the descent. I caught myself a few times. But other things turned out to me much more interesting ... and revealing.
One really interesting result of this approach was how it focused my attention on different parts of the scale. For example, I found myself being a lot pickier with the beginning of the descent. Is it that my attention is sharpest right after starting (and fades quickly)? Does a successful ascent when I practice them in my usual way blind me to some faults with the descent? Or am I just not as good at starting from the peak?
Another surprise popped up in the arpeggios. Practicing just the ascent, and then just the descent, of each arpeggio turned out to be a far more difficult challenge than I expected! Beginning each descent, I had to think very carefully about the interval spacing – not having the benefit of the ascent to put my fingers into place.
Just like yesterday, a pretty simple change to my scales made them feel completely new!
If you’ve tried this version out, I’d love to know what your experience was like! Just leave a comment below.
Do this in any key, and keep your usual fingerings, bowings, rhythms, turns, tempo, metronome, etc. Just go one way at a time, and see what’s revealed!
tomorrow:
I’m a violinist and private teacher in the Chicago area, and in a previous musical life I was in a professional string quartet. Teaching violin and chamber music are dear to my heart. Send me a note or leave a comment on a post — I’d love to hear from you.