Practice

Essentials

by Nathan Cole
and Akiko Tarumoto
Table of Contents
Introduction

Akiko’s Corner

The Holistic Practice Routine

From Scales: The Road to Repertoire

Pitch

How Much and How Fast?

Sample Routines

Classic Etudes

Schradieck #1 (left hand)

Kreutzer #7 (right hand)

Kreutzer #29 (combination)

A Weekly Program

Conclusion

Introduction
Welcome to Practice Essentials! By the time you’ve gone through
this guide, you should feel comfortable setting up a healthy daily
or weekly practice routine, one that will prepare you for a great
day with the instrument.

Is this a warm-up guide? Not exactly. Although the first notes you
play each day should help your muscles warm up and adjust to
the specific demands of string instrument technique, I believe
that even those notes can move your playing (and your listening)
forward day by day.

Therefore, while you won’t be pushing yourself as soon as you

open the case, you won’t have to wait a certain number of
minutes (or metronome clicks!) to “get to the real practicing.”
Your quality practice time will begin as soon as you join the bow
to the string.

In this guide to Practice Essentials, I’m going to offer you a few

excerpts from my book Scales: The Road to Repertoire. If you’re
intrigued, I encourage you to check out the complete book on my
site, natesviolin.com. These excerpts are relevant here because I
consider great scale work to be part of a great practice routine.

But we’ll go beyond scales here to explore some of my picks

from the classic etudes. Etudes help you to focus on specific
techniques or combinations of techniques while shaping more
musical material.

You’ll see that I don’t follow a specific program each day, but
that’s partly because I’ve been doing this for a while. If you’re
new to these concepts, I encourage you to stick with a program
for a week or so and see how it wears. Then you can add,
subtract, or modify based on the information in this guide.

As you gain experience, you will probably appreciate the variety

that a weekly plan offers you. This way you can cover more
material each week without worrying that you’re neglecting a
core technique. Toward the end of this guide I’ll give you a
template to put together your own personal weekly mix. I’ll also
show you how one of my Virtuoso Master Course participants
put this template into action.

But first, let me bring you the wisdom of my wife Akiko Tarumoto,
my Stand Partner for Life and Assistant Concertmaster of the LA
Philharmonic. She has a different perspective on warm-ups and
routines. Once you’ve read what she has to say, you’ll know that
there are limitless possibilities for your practice day!

So whether you’re more of a Nathan or an Akiko, read on to

discover what’s essential for you as you build your daily practice.

Akiko’s Corner
What is the goal of my warmup? I’m trying to get my ear, brain,
and hands to all focus together and feel connected in two basic
ways:

1. Good sound with good intonation, vibrato, and volume

2. Left hand facility and strength

I believe the first one is easier than the second, for most people.
So I begin with the “easy” part by playing Carl Flesch-method
scales in single, four note, then eight note groupings until I have
the whole three octaves ascending on one bow and descending
on the other.

By far the most difficult part of this beginning is the top five
descending notes of the scale, which are always too quiet
because I’m worried about my pitch as I’m shifting downwards. It
always reminds me of hiking—more treacherous on the way
down. I do use vibrato, at least for the longer notes!

I do two keys, E Major and F Major. I should do trickier keys but

I’m too lazy. I did choose these because at least I have to get up
to the high parts of the fingerboard! But I admit I would benefit
from more of a challenge.

I once asked Nathan why I worry about falling off the fingerboard

in high positions on the E string. He said the answer was
arpeggios. So I do those immediately after I’m done with my
fastest scale playing, which starts to address part 2: left hand
facility.

Again, I’m not challenging myself enough, but this warmup works
in the most basic way: just to get my left hand reacquainted with
where some notes are, and my right hand with how to make a
sound.

If I have a few more minutes, I’ll do some scales in thirds starting

with c minor and working my way up a half-step key each time.
Each key gets long bows, then short, then slurred. This is
Nathan’s method and I figure I can’t ever go wrong taking his
suggestions. If I’m really disciplined about doing these daily I feel
a big difference in my left-hand strength—especially the muscles
that run alongside the pinky-side of the hand, which get so weak
otherwise.

Coming back after a long layoff, as we just had over the holidays,
is scary. I always worry I won’t get back to full cooperation
between the moving parts. It reminds me of the scene in
RoboCop when Peter Weller, rehabilitating into his partial robot
form, shoots at jars of baby food as target practice. Initially he’s
way off, but it doesn’t take long for him to get his aim back!

The Holistic Practice Routine

Before we take a look at some excerpts from Scales: The Road
to Repertoire, let’s touch on scales and their place in your
practice day.

Many players, including great ones, divide their practice into

distinct segments:

• Warmup

• Scales

• Etudes

• Repertoire

The segments usually go in that order, though sometimes the

beginning of the scale routine serves as the warmup. However, I
encourage you to play around with not only the order, but the
very idea that these practice categories must stay separated!

For example, I may warm up by playing a passage from a

concerto slowly enough that the notes are easy, concentrating
only on sound quality. Or I may turn a tricky showpiece excerpt
into an etude, composing variations in order to adjust the
challenge.

And of course, scales can and should function as etudes and

even pieces of music! In fact, that’s the thesis of my Scales book:
that scales lie along the same unbroken road as the great music
that we perform for our audiences.

By embracing the “holistic” approach to your practice day (or

week), you can skip some scale time one day if you just can’t
wait to get to your solo Bach. You can set aside an etude you
hate and replace it with another. And you won’t fret if you find
yourself short on warmup time. After all, you’ll be used to
warming up on anything and everything!

PITCH

T here may be no easy way to play every note in tune on

the violin or viola. But there are any number of hard
ways, and many players bend over backwards to pick one of
them! They don’t do it deliberately, of course, but their
mindset and practice methods make it clear that they think
of intonation as a moment to moment, life or death struggle
that they’re bound to lose.

No matter what team sport or game you follow, you know

within seconds when you’re watching a group of players who
know their places. Football both American and the “other
kind” , basketball, even doubles tennis: they all require the
discipline not only to perform “on the ball” but to move
properly “away from the ball.” It’s what the team members do
in between their moments of action that defines the team’s
success.

Similarly, great players know that consistently in tune playing

follows naturally from fingers who always “know their place.”
The hand is calm and stable, the fingers lie in wait either on
 SCALES 25

the string or just above their intended notes, and they rise
and fall in predictable patterns.

Building that predictable hand is one of the most important

aims of regular scale practice. And you don’t have to follow
the four hour per day “scale cleanse” that I undertook my
first week at Curtis to achieve your own “Kreisler moment.”
Slow and steady wins the race, but a little head start never
hurts. So head to my video on Left Hand Setup visit https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFj 3hcSz k for a fuller discussion
of how to position yourself for success.

Once you understand the basics of left hand setup, move on

to another video of mine about MVP or Minimum Violin
Pressure visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
SC4oO9l8P 8 . That will remind you to use only as much
force as necessary to stop the strings with the fingers of your
left hand.

ARE THERE RULES FOR INTONATION?

Sure, there are plenty of rules…but you can’t sound like you’re
following them. After all, intonation is objective…except
when it’s a matter of taste. And intonation is an essential part
of individual artistry…but it has to match a keyboard and
tuner too.

Confused yet? Legendary cellist Pablo Casals once remarked

that as he got older and presumably wiser , the hardest task on
the instrument was to “find the D,” meaning the first fingered
note of the first scale C Major he played each day. So consider
this ambiguity a lifelong condition, even for the great ones.

But I’ve got great news for you: because we can choose where
to put our notes, we enjoy expressive possibilities that
26 NATHAN COLE

pianists can only dream about. And scales are the perfect
laboratory in which to explore those possibilities. When we
grapple with knotty intonation questions, we develop a closer
relationship with our instrument and increase our awareness
of sound quality. That’s because a centered note rings out
with much less e ort than a note that’s o to one side.

Learn to follow the rules to the letter, so that you know just
how to break them.

To put it even more practically: if you can play scales and

arpeggios well in tune, you can do the same in repertoire. If
you can’t, you’ll find yourself reinventing the “intonation
wheel” every time a tough passage comes up in a concerto.
You’ll spend way more time woodshedding, and you’ll have a
lot less fun.

WHAT IS THE SOUND OF ONE NOTE RINGING?

Feel free to embrace your inner Zen master, or just keep your
ears open. Your scales are in tune when the following are all
true:

Within each octave, the notes sound pleasing as a

melody
All perfect intervals fourths, fifths, octaves are
indeed perfect
Pitches stay the same from octave to octave
No major adjustments are needed to go from key
to key

In other words, we want consistency between notes, octaves,

and keys.
 SCALES 27

On a keyboard, or electronic tuner, the pitches are fixed. It

simply isn’t possible to hit all four targets listed above,
because what works perfectly in one key will sound “o ” in
another.

Keyboard tuners have faced this challenge head on for

centuries. If you have a spare few hours, ask one of them how
they decided on their particular tuning system! In Bach’s
time, for example, it was common to tune so that frequently
played chords sounded perfect and others sounded horren
dous. Now, we favor systems of compromise that make
keyboards sound equally good or equally bad, depending on
your point of view in all keys.

Since string players aren’t constrained by fixed pitches

except those we choose for our open strings , we don’t have
to make as many compromises. But it’s important to
remember that we shouldn’t ever stray too far from a
keyboard or tuner. The adjustments we make relative to those
devices will be fairly small. So why not simply learn basic
pitch by playing with a keyboard or tuner?

It’s actually not the worst idea in the world! It’s certainly
better than groping blindly in the dark, or closing our eyes
and ears entirely, hoping to hit upon great intonation by
accident. But players who rely exclusively on external pitch
sources inevitably find that when they’re taken away, their
“inner ears” are not su ciently trained. At best, such players
sound “equally bad” in all keys. At worst, they’re simply
unable to maintain any consistency without constant confir
mation from a piano key or tuner needle.

Instead, it’s best to use keyboards and tuners as measuring

tools, to be brought out when needed and just as quickly put
away. A carpenter doesn’t have a measuring tape in her hand
all the time, nor a chef a measuring cup. For a great way to
28 NATHAN COLE

use the keyboard to build your inner ear, watch my video on

the “Total Recall” method visit https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=0WZVII2OCmU .

TUNING, STARTING WITH THE OPEN STRINGS

Now that I’ve told you to put the tuners away, I will admit
that the open strings work best when they match a well cali
brated tuner or well tuned keyboard. Not to get too far into
the weeds ask your piano tuner if you like , but we’ll be
tuning “narrow fifths.” In other words, on the violin we’ll
begin by tuning the A to a known pitch say, A441 . Then the
D as high as it can go without sounding “o ,” and again the G
as high as it can go. The E will be ever so slightly low
compared to the A. In this way, we should match tuners and
keyboards.

Now with these open strings in place, the simplest strategy for
consistent pitch across all keys is to match open string pitches to the
open strings. In other words, every G should match the open G,
every D the D, etc. When you do this, you will be able to hear,
feel, and even see the ring of the corresponding open string when
you play a matching tone. And you will find that it takes much
less e ort to produce an open, ringing sound. Most importantly,
this feedback will become part of your playing, not only for
scales, but for the repertoire. You will learn to instantly detect
when it’s not present, and to make the proper adjustments.

Following the direction in the last paragraph helps take care

of one of our four requirements listed above: the need for
pitches to match across octaves. If every A, for example,
matches the open A, then they will all match each other. The
open strings only cover four out of the 12 possible pitches,
but that’s a good start!
 SCALES 29

Next, perfect intervals must be perfect. If you examine the

eight notes of any major or minor scale we can also call them
scale “degrees” , you will immediately find several pairs of
notes that form perfect intervals. In a C Major scale, for
example, C the first degree forms a perfect fourth with F
the fourth degree . It also forms a perfect fifth with G the
fifth degree . And, of course, an octave with the C above the
eighth degree . I’ll use Roman numerals for the degrees from
now on.

But there are yet more perfect intervals in that C Major scale:
II with IV; II with VI; III with VII; IV with VIII. It’s
enough to send me running back to the tuner!

However, it’s usually enough to check just three perfects.

Let’s call them our “pillars.” If those are in place, the struc
ture will be sound. And they work equally well in major and
minor. They are:

The perfect fourth between I and IV

The perfect fifth between I and V
The perfect fourth between V and VIII

If those are indeed perfect, then the octave between I and

VIII should be perfect as well, and we can begin filling in the
other notes. When that’s done, the eight notes should sound
pleasing as a melody. In order not to drive ourselves crazy
analyzing every possible combination, let’s take two major
examples and two minor.

A note about minor scales: in this book we’ play melodic minor
scales, in which scale degrees VI and VII are raised one half step on
the way up, and fo ow the key signature on the way down. You may
feel ee to play harmonic minor and/or natural minor scales as
30 NATHAN COLE

we , but I rarely practice them as part of my routine and I don’t

include them in Part II.

Have your instrument in hand for the following examples:

EXAMPLE 1: C MAJOR

The “People’s Key!”

We’ll start with our three pillars:

I C : find this by listening for a perfect fourth above open G,

or by matching the open C on a viola

IV F : perfect fourth above C

V G : perfect fifth above C, as well as matching open G

Then this will fall into place:

VIII C : perfect fourth above G

That leaves just II, III, VI, and VII to place. In major keys,
it’s useful to think of III and VII “leading to” the next
degrees. Remember that I and IV form one perfect fourth,
and V and VIII another.

Therefore:

III E : close to IV F
 SCALES 31

VII B : close to VIII C

Our last two scale degrees are II and VI, and they just
happen to be open strings!

II D : match open D

VI A : match open A

EXAMPLE 2: E-FLAT MAJOR

The “Hero’s Key!”

Here, we won’t find as many open strings to help us. In fact,

none of our “pillars” I, IV, V; or E flat, A flat, B flat is an
open. So how can we even find our first note?

Remember that III likes to “lead to” IV, and VII to VIII.
Could we get some help from one of these tones? In fact, we
can! Both III G and VII D match open strings. Therefore,
we’ll place I the E flat fairly close above our open D pitch.
The other pillars naturally follow:

I E flat : close above open D

IV A flat : perfect fourth above I happens to be close above

open G

V B flat : perfect fifth above I happens to be close above

open A
32 NATHAN COLE

And of course:

VIII E flat : octave above I close above open D

III and VII are the open G and D already discussed, so that
leaves only II and VI left to place. II F and VI C have no
open strings to match unless you’re lucky enough to play the
viola , nor do they “lead” to another tone. So in cases like this,
the best course is straight down the middle: right between
the surrounding tones, where they will sound pleasing as a
melody.

II F : midway between I and III

VI C : midway between V and VII and matching the open

C of a viola

EXAMPLE 3: B-FLAT MINOR

This sounds like a scary key, but we can piece it together!

There’s no open string help for our three pillars I, IV, V; or

B flat, E flat, F but assuming that we’re playing melodic
minor, degrees VI and VII G and A at least match open
strings. Since VII leads to VIII, our VIII B flat should be
placed low, or close to open A. Therefore we already have:

I B flat : close above open A

 SCALES 33

IV E flat : perfect fourth above I, or perfect fifth

below VIII

V F : perfect fifth above I

VI G : matching open G

VII A : matching open A

VIII B flat : close above open A

That leaves us only II and III to place:

II C : matching viola C, or perfect fourth above open G

The third scale degree of a minor scale sounds best low, close
above II, so:

III D flat : close above II

EXAMPLE 4: B MINOR

Though this key sounds friendlier at first than our last exam
ple, it is nonetheless challenging. Let’s first see what help we
can get from the open strings. Only III D and IV E match
opens, and open E is violin only! So for the moment, violin
ists: pretend you play viola so that you can’t rely on an
open E!
34 NATHAN COLE

Therefore let’s start with III, matching open D, and see how
far that gets us. Recall from our last example that in minor,
III sounds best low, close above II. So we can place II C
sharp close to our open D.

We still don’t have any pillars yet! So here’s where we must

“go with the gut,” or trust our ear’s sense of melody. With II
and III set, how can we place I and IV such that they form a
perfect fourth and sound pleasing with II and III?

I B : “down the middle,” pleasing in a sequence with II

and III

II C sharp : close below III

III D : matching open D

IV E : perfect fourth above I, or matching open E

V F sharp : perfect fifth above I

VIII B : octave above I

That leaves only VI and VII to place. VII must lead to

VIII, so:

VII A sharp : close below VIII

And one more “gut check” for VI:

VI G sharp : “down the middle,” pleasingly between V

and VII
 19

HOW MUCH AND HOW FAST?

T here’s a reason most kids don’t practice scales: there’s

no time! I practiced anywhere from 30 45 minutes a
day for the first five years of my violin life, and I needed all
of that time to play songs. So if that’s all the time you have,
you won’t benefit from much of a “scale routine.” You should
still tune one octave scales in di erent keys, though, as
described in the section where we talked about scale degrees.

If you’re practicing for an hour, you can a ord to spend 15

20 minutes on scale work. You’ll want to focus on opening
your ears to finer and finer distinctions of pitch and sound
quality, on building a quiet hand, and on gaining speed in one
octave and two octave scales. As time goes by, you can branch
out to thirds and octaves, and to three octave scales and
arpeggios. 15 20 minutes is a perfect amount of time for a
scale veteran to go through the twists and turns of one key,
including a few extras.

If you have 90 minutes or more at your disposal, I would

limit scale work to thirty of those unless you find that you’re
making fantastic gains doing more. In that time, you can, in a
 SCALES 107

matter of weeks, build familiarity with the basic finger

patterns so that you can play scales and arpeggios in all
twenty four keys. You could go through one key at your
leisure, including all double stop scales and bowing variations,
or you could take a quicker run through two or three keys.

It’s always better to end your scale routine for the day
wanting more, rather than hunting for ways to fill time as the
minutes drag on.

THE MUSEUM RETURNS

In the “Example Routines” section, I’ll take you through a
few concrete possibilities based on di erent starting levels.
But I would ask you to remember the museum analogy, and
how even with the same artwork available to you, you’ll
choose to take di erent paths day by day.

Imagine someone asking you, “How much time should I

spend at the Louvre, and how much should I see?” You’d
probably start by throwing up your hands and o ering of all
sorts of qualifiers.

“Well, it depends…have you been there before?”

“Have you ever seen Impressionist works before?”
“How much else do you want to do in Paris?”
“Will you just die if you don’t get to see the Mona
Lisa?”

To which they’d reply indignantly, “Just give me a straight

answer! And yes, I want to see the Mona Lisa! And I don’t
want it to be crowded!”

You might ease the tension by o ering some limits: don’t plan
on spending more than three or four hours in there; pick no
108 NATHAN COLE

more than three areas you know you want to explore; and if
you get stressed fighting crowds, take a break to open your
senses again.

THE COMFORT ZONE

You might also describe three “focus zones” that your friend
might experience in the Louvre:

1. The “boredom zone”: unlikely unless he’s a complete

philistine
2. The “stress zone”: any time he’s unable to appreciate
his surroundings
3. The “comfort zone”: what he’s going to the
Louvre for

Of course, you can already guess that these zones apply to

practicing too, whether scales or repertoire. And you can also
guess that of the three, the “comfort zone” is the one where
we want to spend most of our time.

Comfort zones get a bad rap in everyday life. Get out of your
comfort zone, the world warns us. If you don’t, you’ never grow.
And that is true in the long term. If you want to stay just the
way you are, put this book down and keep on doing just what
you’re doing!

But in the short term, in your day to day work, you will resist
change unless you practice with relaxed awareness and phys
ical ease. And you will find those in the comfort zone.

Also remember that we’re talking about a zone, not a fixed

state. You can be near the “bored” end of the comfort zone,
close to the “stressed” end, or cozy in the middle.
 SCALES 109

What I want for you is to spend most of your time in the

middle of the comfort zone, venturing occasionally toward
but not into the “stressed” zone.

Let me quote a passage from Chapter 4 regarding tempo:

When you’re in a good tempo range, your mind is

engaged: you can easily listen for pitch and sound
quality, and you are intensely aware of what is
happening in the moment. You may even be able to sense
what is about to happen: not with trepidation, but
with curiosity. Physica y, you feel calm and easy.

This “comfort zone” isn’t hard to identify: you know it when

you feel it. I’ve got this, you might say to a bystander. It’s the
sweet spot in between boredom and stress.

I’ve known a few players who spent their scale time in the
“boredom zone,” watching TV or reading magazines while
they “pressed the Flesch.” But it’s much more common to
witness someone perhaps yourself playing scales in the
“stress zone.” Again, from Chapter 4:

But there is a boundary, fuzzy in some cases and

sharply drawn in others, beyond which you’ sense your
focus dri ing. You’re suddenly unable to hear pitch and
sound quality in time to evaluate them. And instead of
being able to sense what’s about to happen, you feel
instead that you’re stru ling to keep up. There are
physical signs too: your muscles tighten, your vision
narrows, and your pulse and breathing quicken.
110 NATHAN COLE

SIMPLE RULES TO DETERMINE HOW MUCH AND HOW FAST

So here are the two rules that will help you answer the ques
tion at the top of this chapter:

1. Set your timer and stick to it

2. When you veer out of the comfort zone, stop and
reset

That’s it! If you’re planning on a comfortable thirty minutes,

and those thirty minutes go by with your full engagement,
then you did great work. If your mind wandered, but you
recognized it and practiced the skill of re centering, you did
great work.

Using mental engagement as a benchmark, rather than tempo

or amount of material, ensures that you progress at your
optimal rate. Should you spend too long on material that’s too
easy or too di cult for you, your mind will let you know by
continually drifting o task.

THE PLATEAU PROBLEM

No matter how attentive you are to the question of focus,
there will come a time when you stop making progress in
your routine. You won’t be able to reach a faster tempo. Or
you’ll continually fall into the same intonation traps when you
do push the pace.

Not to worry: every human endeavor is subject to the

“plateau,” that place where no e ort on your part will lift you
higher. And the solution is the same as it would be if you
found yourself on a real plateau. Instead of trying to jump
higher, keep moving and find a new path up!
 SCALES 111

For scales, that new path is a change to your routine. One

simple change, often overlooked, is to start your practice day
with repertoire and play scales later on. If that seems too
radical, you can simply change the order of your scale routine
components, playing arpeggios or double stops first, for
example.

When you hit a tempo plateau, the first place to look for help
is the sprint. If you’re not playing one octave and two octave
sprints as fast as you can, you’re leaving metronome clicks on
the table. If one octave won’t get any faster, work on three
and four note groups instead!

If you hit a pitch plateau, a temporary change in fingering is

often all that’s needed to rejuvenate the mind body connec
tion. Once a pitch pattern is ingrained, your ear comes to
accept it as correct. But when you disrupt the connection
between ear and hand by changing a fingering, you suddenly
hear the pitch as it is, and not as you wish it to be. Then when
you return to your old fingering, the new awareness comes
with you.
 20

EXAMPLE ROUTINES

I demonstrate these routines in the video course that pairs

with this book. I don’t consider them the “best” or “only”
routines you should play, but they all follow the concepts and
strategies I’ve laid out in this book. They are excellent exam
ples of how to use your time well at di erent stages of
development.

Again, I advise you to set a timer for your scales based on

how much practice time you have overall: see the previous
Chapter and to stick to it. If you’re fully engaged with a
given routine and finish with time left over, you have three
options: repeat some of the elements, upping the tempo;
repeat in another key; or add some elements.

But never rush a routine just to fit it within a set time. And I

don’t advise you to substantially lengthen your scale time to
accommodate a set list of elements. If the gains you make
through scale practice inspire you to increase your overall
practice time, then that’s a di erent story! Feel free to
expand to a beefier scale routine in that case and see if it
spurs you forward even more.
 SCALES 113

Finally, remember that once you move on to the next element

of a routine, you haven’t necessarily left the previous element
behind for the day! I enjoy moving back and forth through
the elements, upping the tempo as I’m able.

A ROUTINE WITHOUT SHIFTS

Even wily veterans should give this routine a try. A er a , “no shi
ing” doesn’t mean a first position! Behold the extraordinary benefits
of single position scales, available to anyone with open ears.

Tuning the scale degrees

The one octave scale
One octave arpeggios
One octave scales in di erent octaves and in
di erent positions
One octave arpeggios, di erent octaves and
positions
Joining two octaves in one position: the two octave
scale
The two octave arpeggio
Two octave scales and arpeggios starting on 1 and 2
One octave sprints
Two octave sprints
Broken octaves in one position: often crossing two
strings
Broken thirds in one position: sometimes on the
same string
All of the above detaché, slurred, and when tempo
allows, off string
114 NATHAN COLE

EXPLORING SHIFTING
How wonderful it is to build your map of the fingerboard om
known, comfortable positions! Rather than leaping straight to stan
dard three octave scales and arpe ios, I su est building great
shi ing habits by starting with sma er shi s. Not every key wi
a ow you begin a two octave scale or arpe io on a 3rd or 4th finger.
For those that do a ow it, you’ need to shi once during the scale or
arpe io. Try the shi in different places.

Tuning the scale degrees

Two octave scales and arpeggios in di erent
positions
One octave sprints
Two octave sprints
One string scales with one finger, detaché old bow
shifts
Octaves
One string scales with adjacent fingers, slurred 1 2,
2 3, 3 4
Two octave scales starting on 3 and 4 requires one
shift
Two octave arpeggios starting on 3 and 4 requires
one shift
Thirds
Two octave sprints, di erent starting fingers,
including at least one shift
All of the above except where noted detaché,
slurred, off string

ANYTHING GOES
This is the most conventional of the routines: what most people think
of as “scales.” But even though I don’t include many of the novel
 SCALES 115

elements om the previous two routines, they are we worth mixing

in to eshen things up. That can o en help you maintain focus and
interest more than simply adding another key.

Tuning the scale degrees

Three octave scales
Three octave arpeggios
Octaves
Thirds
Sixths
Fifths
All of the above detaché, slurred, off string
All of the above in the style of repertoire
Classic Etudes
I’m all for the latest in learning research and technical
advancement, but sometimes it’s nice to know that someone else
invented the wheel long ago. The following are just a few of my
favorite etudes, and if you’ve played violin or viola for very long
you just might be familiar with one or all of them.

Here I’ll give you a few key ideas to focus on in each etude, and
those may be new or different to you. If so, consider this a
golden opportunity to organize your hands in a new way!

Schradieck: The School of Violin Technics, Book 1, #1

Jascha Heifetz played the “first three pages” (etudes #1 and #2)
every day, and encouraged his students to do the same. “You’re
never too good, or too rich, for the first three pages of
Schradieck,” he quipped. Do you need a better reason to play
this?

First: ignore the printed bowings. Yes, practice with slurs, but
change the bow as necessary. Maintain a quality, singing sound
throughout. As you get faster, you’ll be able to slur more notes
per bow.

Second: use only as much finger pressure as necessary, but no

more. Drop passively and lift actively.

Third: work in groups. The notes are beamed in groups of four, of

course, but the left-hand fingers may be grouped differently. For
example, after you play the first note, the next four (including the
first note of the second beat) should drop nearly together, in a
group. There’s a subtle but important difference between that
and dropping four fingers individually! Then, the next four notes
(including the first note of the third beat) form their own group,
with just one grouped “lift” of the four fingers.

Kreutzer: 42 Studies, #7

This is a wonderful etude that is too often played with an ugly

sound. Yes, it can be used to work on a martelé stroke at one
end of the bow or the other… but if you get creative, you can not
only play this one beautifully but reap left-hand rewards too!

Pick a bow stroke and stick with it for the day, changing each
day until you’ve tried a variety:

• simple detaché (smooth connections) at the middle, tip, and

frog

• martelé at the middle, tip, and frog

• collé (releasing each note from the string, or pizzicato of the

bow)

• off the string

• reverse bowing (starting down-bow)

There are four basic levels for the bow-arm, one for each string.
Your job is to let your arm “lead” the way to the new string while
you’re still playing the old note. When you do, your bow-arm
motion should look more circular than angular.

In the left hand, get used to placing the new finger while you’re
still playing the old note. This is such an important part of clean,
fast, and in-tune playing that even advanced players ignore.

Kreutzer: 42 Studies, #29

Here is a great “combination” etude, one that challenges both left

and right hands. Just like you did with the Schradieck, only slur
as many notes as you can while maintaining a singing sound. If
it’s too tall a task to read this one with the slurs, feel free to get
comfortable in the left hand by playing detaché (with connected,
separate bows).

Eventually, though, this etude is meant to be slurred, and

smoothly! Use the “leading” motions of the right arm and left
hand that you perfected in Kreutzer #7 to level your path.

As you look to even out the rhythm, you’ll soon discover that
you’re facing three competing “speeds” for note changes:

1. fingers dropping

2. fingers lifting

3. string changes

Of course, for everything to come out seamlessly, these three

speeds must match up. So put on your detective hat and sleuth
out your sources of uneven-ness, starting with the biggest. If
you’re like most players, amateur and pro, those will be the string
changes, and they will be late. Be sure to get that arm moving
toward the new string as early as you can!

A weekly program
I promised you a template for a weekly practice program, and
here it is. We’re painting with broad strokes here, but the idea is
to give yourself various challenges throughout the week. Some
you’ll only need to take on once during the week, while others
should get daily or near-daily looks.

For example, I suggest working on trills five times a week. Does

that mean that you should play the same trill etude each day (for
example, Kreutzer #15?) If it’s new to you, then probably so. But
if you’ve worked on Kreutzer #15 quite a bit, you may play #15
one day, then #16 for a couple of days, then an exercise of your
own invention the remaining two days.

And don’t forget to have fun by picking something you like and
just playing it! You’ll see the “grab bag” category below.

Here are the core techniques along with my suggested

frequencies. If any of these are unfamiliar to you, you can find
much more about them on my website:

Five times a week

scales

trills

vibrato

Three times a week

3 variables

LH dexterity

Sevcik

Two times a week

3- and 4-note chords

combining shifting and frame

double-stop combinations in frame

mixing slurs and separates

shifting and reaching

Once a week
Grab bag! Pick anything fun

And now, for a look at how one of my Virtuoso Master Course

participants, violist Jenny Douglass, put this template to work for
herself, I’m going to share (with her permission) a spreadsheet
she made for a typical practice week. Keep in mind that not only
is Jenny incredibly detail-oriented, but she’s a full-time
professional. So while this sheet may look intimidating, it actually
helped Jenny work with her busy schedule by allowing her to
shift units around if one day happened to get busy. You’ll see that
she also left one day free, because we all need a break!

 MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

Scales & Arpeggios (3 Scales & Arpeggios (3 Scales & Arpeggios (3 Scales & Arpeggios (3 Scales & Arpeggios (3 Scales & Arpeggios (3
Keys - 1 minor) Keys - 1 minor) Keys - 1 minor) Keys - 1 minor) Keys - 1 minor) Keys - 1 minor)

3rds & Octaves 3rds & Octaves 3rds & Octaves 3rds & Octaves 3rds & Octaves 3rds & Octaves

Trills Trills Trills Trills Trills Trills

Vibrato Vibrato Vibrato Vibrato Vibrato Vibrato

4th, 5th, 6ths Slur and Sep. Mix 4th, 5th, 6ths Slur and Sep. Mix 4th, 5th, 6ths Slur and Sep. Mix

Shifting Shifting Shifting

Simon Fischer Tone - 3 Simon Fischer Tone - 3 Simon Fischer Tone - 3

Hand Frame w/Shifting Hand Frame w/Shifting Hand Frame w/Shifting
variables variables variables

Hand Frame Dexterity 3 & 4 note chords Hand Frame Dexterity 3 & 4 note chords Hand Frame Dexterity 3 & 4 note chords

Pick 1: Martele, Arm Pick 1: Martele, Arm Pick 1: Martele, Arm

Hand Frame Double Stop Hand Frame Double Stop Hand Frame Double Stop
Levels, Slurs & String Levels, Slurs & String Levels, Slurs & String
Combos Combos Combos
Crossings Crossings Crossings

Scales: 3 & 4 Note Chords: Shifting (Sevcik): Right Hand: Left Hand:
Detache, Slurred, Off- Hand Frame Dexterity
Dont 1 Old & New Fingers 3 Variables (SF Tone)
string (Schradieck, Kreutzer 9)
Slur & Separate Mix Hand Frame Shifting
2 Octave for Speed Bach Fugues Finger Combinations
(Kreutzer 2 & 8) (Kreutzer 11)
Shifting vs Reaching
3 Octave for Pitch Varied Timing Martele (Kreutzer 4)
(Dont 2)
Trills (Trill Drill, Kreutzer
3rds Separate & Slurred Arm Levels (Kreutzer 7)
15-22)
String Crossings Hand Frame Double
Octaves
(Kreutzer 13) Stops (Kreutzer 32, 38)

Arpeggios (Overlap with Slurs/String Crossings Vibrato (Simon Fischer,

Sevcik, Kreutzer 12) (Kreutzer 14, 29) rhythms, metronome)
Conclusion
You may be feeling inspired right now, desperately reaching for
your case so that you can get to your scales and etudes… or you
may be feeling overwhelmed.

“There’s so much to do! I’ll never have time for it all.” I hear this
all the time, from pros the same as amateurs, and I can certainly
relate. How can we afford to neglect any facet of technique for
even one day?

Well, some techniques are more fundamental than others. I think

we can agree that up-bow staccato, while it has its uses, is less
important than accurate shifting. Tenths are less important than
octaves, and so on. So I neglect things every single day; there’s
no way around it, even for full-time pros.

Therefore, expect your routine to grow with your playing, and to

change according to your needs and your repertoire. Just begin
by tuning one octave of a scale, with beautiful sound, and go
from there. If you feel inspired to break away from a scale and
play a piece, go ahead! You can always come back later that day,
or another day during the week.

I’m excited for you to build your own practice program, or to mix
yours up if it’s been getting stale. Let me know how yours is
coming along at contact@natesviolin.com, and let’s stay in touch!

Happy practicing, Nathan and Akiko