Bored with your scales? Join me for a whole month’s worth of 31 different ways to approach scales. New posts go up every day in January 2023. Start from Day 1 here.
Starting today, and for most of the rest of the month, I’ll be using scales as a vehicle for exploring things related to the bow. That also means I’ll be getting more and more into factors that directly relate to music-making and artistry.
For today’s scales I played around with different amounts of articulation and separation, with lots of attention to the musical effects that resulted. In other words, it was a bit of a game to see what musical effects I could get by playing around with combinations of
grabbing the start of the note, or not
lots of bow weight in the middle of the note, or little
gaps (short rests) between the notes, or not
I’m purposely avoiding using the terms marcato, detache, etc. For me it’s much more practical to think in terms of the technique and its effect, rather than the Italian word for it. Also, I’m not sure that the meanings are universally agreed on among musicians. So for clarity, I’m avoiding those terms here.
Why do this one?
Control of different articulations is central to expressive artistry on the violin. So it’s always worth giving this topic some attention. And even though I feel pretty familiar with them, it was really helpful to revisit the techniques behind them.
It was also fun to approach this one with a spirit of experimentation: to try different combinations of techniques and observe the musical effects they created. I felt a little like a kid with a chemistry set. Except there were no explosions with these experiments…
The Details
Experiment for yourself with these factors. What happens when you ...
add more weight at the beginning of the note? (like you’re “grabbing” the string with the bow)
use very little weight at the beginning of the note?
use more weight during the middle of the note?
use very little weight during the middle of the note?
end each note by keeping the weight in the string (stop with the bow on the string, and with weight) and leave short rests between notes?
end the note by releasing the weight (either very light, or coming off the string) and leave short rests between notes?
You might already know what the effect of each of these will be. If so, then the real fun for you will be in experimenting with different combinations. What about more weight at the beginning, but very little weight during the middle, and short rests between notes? Or less weight at the beginning, more weight during the middle and end, and no rests in between notes?
If you’ve tried today’s scales, I’d love to know what your experience was like! Just post a comment below.
Do this in any key, and keep your usual fingerings.
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.