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.
Now the hard, analytical work of looking at the Big Three bow factors one at a time (Day 24: (Bow) Speed!; Day 25: Weight; Day 26: Sounding Point) pays off in something more musical. Today’s approach to scales is all about shapes: crescendos and diminuendos. Of course, I could have done this one without having done the previous three days, but having done them I now have a freshly-honed set of tools to bring today’s shapes even more vividly to life – and with greater precision.
I focused on using just my bow to make the shapes happen. Normally vibrato would also be an important component of getting louder or softer. But I’m planning to focus on vibrato in the last two days of this month of scales, so I left it out of today’s scales.
Why do this one?
For me, this is an important bridge between the well-controlled technique of the past three days and heart-felt music making. After putting in the work to refine my tools (the bow factors), now I get to use them to build something more musical.
The Details
You probably don’t need me to spell out where to start and end your crescendos and diminuendos on scales. You can come up with your own ideas. But in order to have something specific to talk about applying bow technique to, I’ve mapped out two starting scales. Those are followed by some recommendations for experimenting. Then a framework for going off on your own. Of course they’re your scales, so do what you want with them, and use whatever is helpful from the illustration/notation below.
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.
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.