Stuck in a scale rut? 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.

I’ll say right up front: this one borders on the ridiculous. But don’t click away yet! It’s also extremely helpful! If you’re game, you just need some patience and a willingness to try. And maybe a little bravery to let some odd sounds occasionally come out of your violin.

This one is the final part of the tour of the Big Three bow factors. Today, I focused on changing my sounding point during each bow stroke, while keeping my bow speed the same.

“Easy!” you say? Great! Go for it. For everyone else, here are a few tips.

Use your upper arm to lead the change of sounding point. That way you’ll be able to maintain a straight bow during all the changes of sounding point.
Bring your upper arm across your body more to move the bow toward the fingerboard.
Bring your upper arm more to the side to move the bow toward the bridge.
Don’t worry if some odd sounds come out of your violin. Focus on the mechanics; the control you gain will translate into beautiful sounds when it’s not artificially isolated like this.

Why do this one?

Our sounding point determines what kinds of sounds we can get. It’s fundamental to everything else we do. With perfect control over the sounding point, we always have perfect control over the artistic expression.

The Details

Before playing a scale like this, you might find it helpful to do this preparatory exercise:

At the frog, set the bow next to the bridge. Slide the bow to the edge of the fingerboard without any up- or down-bow motion. In other words, don’t play a note – just change your sounding point. It will probably make a slight scraping sound, which is normal. Then slide back to the bridge. Try to keep your bow parallel to the bridge. Repeat several times.
Same as above, but at the middle of the bow.
Same again, but at the tip.

Now for the actual scale: Use one full bow on each note of the scale. Start with the bow at the frog by the bridge. As you make the down-bow, move your sounding point to the edge of the fingerboard by the time your reach the middle of the bow. Continue the down-bow, and return to the bridge by the time your reach the tip. Then repeat on the next pitch with an up-bow, bridge to fingerboard to bridge, and so on.

If that goes well, try the extra challenge of two cycles per bow.

☝️ If you do this on a three-octave scale, remember that the “fingerboard” sounding point will be relative to the length of the string. On the highest notes of the scale, “fingerboard” may be only half-way to the edge of the actual fingerboard.

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, with your usual fingerings.

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