A creative approach to 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.
This version of scales is furthest I plan to go with re-organizing or re-dividing scales. It takes a familiar practice technique (dividing into smaller sections) and applies it to scales. The sections are the individual octaves: the first octave ascending; the second octave ascending; the third octave ascending; then similarly descending one octave at a time. I applied it to arpeggios and double stops, as well. See the notated example below for more detail about my approach.
And once again, just like the previous days, this small change was very revealing. Like the past few days, it forced me to think a little lot more: like where each octave starts and stops, rather than just thinking of the three octaves as one homogenous run. But it also oriented my attention in new ways, allowing me to notice little things that previously slipped by me – and more importantly, to address those little things within the bite-size pieces (the individual octaves).
This is also one to come back to after the month is up. One day with this is just scratching the surface. But my month of scales continues tomorrow, so on to something new! The next few days in my plan call for various experiments with one-octave scales.
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, etc. Just divide it by octaves, and have fun!
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.
If you’ve tried today’s scales, I’d love to know what your experience was like! Just post a comment below.