Going on in Flesch’s Scale System we stumble upon the double stops. So let’s begin with the thirds.
As usual he published just one version, so we have to adapt this part to our requirements:

We start with a slow speed to adjust our intonation. If we are not that experienced we will almost certainly run into problems. Those intonation deficiencies can be solved by breaking up the thirds like this:

Please remember: At the beginning the speed is of no importance for us. It’s precision that counts.
If you did well you can increase the speed like this:

There are different opinions concerning the bowing. The published version differs from the above, but personally I prefer “my” version because the training effect is better when it comes to the connection between the thirds.
In other words: It’s more difficult to play thirds on one bow than separately.
Play them from beginning to the end of the scales like this, then double the speed:

The principle remains the same, just the tempo changes. Bowing speed remains as well.
It will be difficult to accomplish these thirds, but it’s worth practicing them. So have a little patience with yourself!

There is one part left in our selection of scales across all four strings. After our dominant seventh chord we go on:

Similar to the first page we have got thirds, just across four strings this time. The published fingering is excellent, so we won’t change that. If you have a copy with two options take the upper one.
Be sure to play four notes on one bow and double the speed after repeating a couple of times:

If this is good enough go on to the next speed:

Again, redoubling is possible, but only if you are getting along without any problems in speed, precision and intonation. Otherwise leave it as it is, after some time of practicing your speed will develop.

Now comes the most uncomfortable part: the chromatic scale across all four strings.
Uncomfortable because of several reasons. First of all we are not used to play chromatic scales because they occur rather seldomly in common violin literature. We simply don’t know for sure how it should sound.
The second reason is a technical issue. It is difficult to place the fingers correctly when we are in higher positions. The fingers are too big to put them next to each other, so sometimes we have to remove one finger before placing the other.

So let’s give it a shot:

Sometimes the c flat is written as a b sharp. Or the g flat as an f sharp. It doesn’t make any difference for us in this context. Simply take the published fingering – it’s really great.

Doubling the speed looks like this:

Be sure with your intonation. Listen very carefully, it’s really difficult at the beginning. Sometimes it helps to compare with open strings.
Are you still with us? Try this:

You see we need 12 notes on one bow. Otherwise we would muddle through our bowing.

A redoubling is possible, but will take really long time of practicing.

Playing scales generally needs perseverance. You won’t achieve anything by playing them occasionally, perhaps at the weekends if you have nothing better to do. You should play them daily with concentration and patience. Nobody presses you. You have all the time you need.
If you really practice them thoroughly you will succeed on the long run.

Let’s shift to the second gear. Or better: the second page.
If you turn the page you’ll stumble upon the three octave scales on all four strings. The pattern used for practicing those scales is similar to the scales on one string. We work on every scale, every triad seperately and we carry on to the next one when we have finished our desired speeds.

We begin with the ordinary scale:

We’ve got six quarter notes on one bow which is pretty much, especially when you adjust your metronome to 56. But the effect of training is huge when it comes to controlled bowing movements.
As you might have expected we need a second tempo:

And a third one:

When you redouble this after a couple of weeks it gets really exciting.
Now we go on to the triads:

The bowing is much easier because we have to play just two quarter notes on one bow.
The next tempo goes like this:

And another one:

When you have finished all triads you should carry on to the diminished seventh chord:

This chord is difficult to play. Not so much because of technical issues. It’s more our lack of practice playing chords like this. They simply sound strange, a little weird. It’s more a matter of training for our ears to play them well.
So before you go on check your intonation even more thoroughly.

Redouble as usual:

Although it’s possible to double this again it’s very difficult and takes time. So be patient.
The subsequent major seventh chord is played accordingly.

Next time we’ll have a look at the remaining measures on this second page.

Have fun!

I hope you made good progress with your scales, which are a little dry, I must admit. But they are excellent exercises to improve speed, precision and intonation.
Today we have a look at the remaining part of the scales on one string. Let’s start with the thirds:

This time we have four notes on one bow. Repeat this and go on to the next tempo:

Fingering is identical, of course. Repeat it as desired and play the third version:

If you are happy with this you can add another, even faster variety. But please remember to stick to your metronome.

Now comes the last – and for many of us the most difficult part: The chromatic scale:

In one of the publications available unfortunately the entire fingering was omitted. Therefore I’ve inserted it to show the pattern.
Please remember to shift to the fifth position on the g flat/f sharp. Otherwise you could run into serious intonation problems.

Repeat this as usual and play it faster:

This is much more difficult because we are confronted with this rather seldomly and we haven’t the opportunity to build up adequate routine in everyday life.
Here we have the next tempo:

We have to change the bowing a little bit, so we get three quarter notes on one bow. Otherwise we would end up with an up-bow when we repeat the scale.

This looks like a huge amount of time to be used. But you should have finished the entire A string within ten minutes. After that you could go on to the double stops or take the next string.

Usually we proceed position by position upwards when we play Flesch. We started in the first position, so the next step would be the second position. In our case that would be the G string:

Now go on exactly as you did with the A string.
The next part would be the third position. There is no start in b flat major, so we go on upward – the fourth position:

Use the same pattern as before and go on to the fifth position:

Now this gets really high. Up to the – theoretically – 11th position.

It will take some time, weeks, perhaps even months. But if you keep up your work you’ll improve your technique greatly!

Actually I planned to post an article about the bow hold. But in the past weeks there have been several questions about practicing scales. So, here we go.

A couple of years ago one of my teachers told me something like this:

Everybody who wants to have at least a little success on the violin is supposed to practice scales daily.
Playing Scales is probably the most essential part of serious violin playing.

Well, that’s a statement. It might sound a bit hard but there is a lot of truth in it. At least a little success can be taken in many different ways, but there is no doubt that our entire technique benefits greatly from scales. Therefore those exercises should be an important part of our daily work.
Of course, the violinist playing scales should possess a certain maturity and self discipline because they are a bit dry, some would say boring, compared to, let’s say Sibelius Concerto.

The Hungarian violin teacher Carl Flesch wrote an amazing book, called Scale System. It should be a part of anyones bookshelf.
Flesch organized his system in musical keys resulting in a huge book. Unfortunately he didn’t include a manual how to practice the scales. So many violinists are literally on their own.
I’ll try to provide some sort of operating manual how to practice Flesch. It’s not the only possibility to play his scales. But it’s one of the many options we have and certainly one of the better ones.

We start on the A-string because the grip is very comfortable. The lowest tone with the first finger is the B flat. So we end up in B flat major.
In the Scale System we look up this key and stick to one string at the beginning. We see all sorts of scales, triads and diminished chords on all four strings.

We should avoid playing all of them in one go. On the contrary – we focus on one scale, on one triad and so on. We play this part in different speeds until we are happy with that. Then we go on to the next triad.

That would look like this:

But please remember – all of that takes place on the A string solely. Our metronome should show something ranging from 56 to 66.

Repeat this and carry on:

Of course, the fingering is the same as above. We double our speed, but the bowing speed remains the same, resulting in more notes on one bow.

Repeat this and redouble:

That’s getting difficult. Perhaps here is the end for the next weeks. If you keep on practicing you’ll be able to double again after some weeks:

Focus on precision. Don’t sacrifice precision and intonation just because you want to play it that fast. If you don’t succeed at the beginning wait for two weeks and try again.

If we have done the scales we go on to the triads:

Same as above, same metronome speed, remain on the A string. Repeat this and go on to the next tempo:

Fingering is the same as above. Then comes:

If you were successful try this one:

That’s a hard one again. That should have been sextuplets, actually. But my freeware notation software didn’t have this option.

After this do the same with the following triads B flat major, g minor, e flat major and e flat minor.

Speaking with Monty Python – And now for something completely different:
The diminished seventh and the major seventh chord:

Remain on the A string as usual, repeat it and carry on:

Boring? Try this:

Are you still there? Here we go:

This is really hard. Especially if you chose a tempo of 66 on your metronome. Be patient, your fingers need some weeks to adjust.

If you have done that carry on with the major seventh chord.

Don’t forget – it’s a matter of practice. In the beginning it will be very difficult or even impossible to play all four speeds. That doesn’t matter at all! Play three speeds. Or two. Or just one.
The most important thing is: play it daily and precisely and you will succeed!

Next week we’ll go on in our Flesch Operating Manual.
So stay tuned!

Have you got an iPhone? Did you ever have a look at the vast array of applications, the so-called apps downloadable from the iTunes store?
There are thousands of applications coping with all imaginable tasks, starting from a simple to-do-list to scientific calculators, from project planning to entire dictionaries.

Of course there are various musical apps as well. Many of them freeware, others for a few bucks at the iTunes store.
A couple of weeks ago I installed an app, Stay in Tune, version 1.3 written by Sonzea, LLC. It’s a chromatic tuner, driven by the iPhone’s built in microphone.
When I started using this app I was a little sceptic. Would a cellphone meet my demands as a professional musician? Would the software be precise enough and easy to handle?

Installation went flawlessly via synchronization with iTunes. When we start the app we see a large and very clear display:

The tuning is done very easily. The bar doesn’t jump around and the tuning is supported by additional red and green marks showing if you have tuned precisely.

There are some default configurations showing correct tones for different instruments. That’s particularly interesting for people having less experience with their instrument and helps to identify the right tone.

For the violinists among us a 5-string banjo isn’t exactly what we are looking for but the violin/mandolin works fine. With increasing experience we’ll probably chose “chromatic” sooner or later.

The actual tuning is done very easily. Push the icon, wait for two seconds and start tuning until the bar is in the middle and you get a green light. That’s it. No adjustments, no fumbling, no fiddling. It’s simple as that.
Of course, if you are unsure how the correct “A” would sound like you have the option to let the software play it for you.

An essential point for us is the option to calibrate the tuner. Orchestra musicians nowadays will almost always tune their instruments with a 443Hz A, not the older 440Hz.
The software is able to calibrate the A from 400Hz to 480Hz, a huge range that will be sufficient for nearly any situation. Without such a calibration a tuner would be almost useless for anyone playing in an orchestra.

The display is very large and clearly visible. If you are not happy with the default depiction just turn your iPhone 90 degrees and it will show the display in the landscape mode:

Now comes the most interesting part:
How precise is such a cellphone/software solution?
As I wrote at the beginning I was sceptic. But when I tried it out I was amazed how precise this tuner works. I compared it with my Korg tuner and some sinus waves as well and I must say precision is very good.

There is just one issue I have come across. Calibration seems to be exactly 1Hz off, at least on my iPhone. To tune your instrument to 443Hz you’ll have to calibrate the software at 444Hz.
The first picture was made with a 443Hz sine wave. The tuner was calibrated to 444Hz. As you can see we are exactly on the spot.
I checked it with different sine waves, it seems to happen with any frequency. Always calibrate 1Hz higher and you’ll be fine.

The developer wanted to check this issue. Perhaps there will be an update to fix this.

Let’s come to the price. You’ll have to spend $3.99 at the iTunes store to get this app. I think that’s a very fair price looking at the overall precision, the ease of use, the clear display and the option to calibrate this thing.

Despite the issue with calibration being exactly 1Hz off I highly recommend this app. If you own an iPhone anyway you might as well save your money and use this app instead of an external device.

Stay in Tune 1.3
Sonzea, LLC
Price: $3.99

Despite the fact that this is a blog with many readers coming from various countries it’s nevertheless the Canadian Violin Blog.
Today, on July 1, 2009 Canadians celebrate the 142nd birthday of their nation, the so-called Canada Day.

So, no matter if with or without your violin -

Happy Canada Day!

This morning I stumbled upon a video a didn’t know so far. I couldn’t resist to share it with you.
Have fun!

This weekend we’ll have a pretty extensive update going on here.
First of all the entire system will be upgraded to WordPress 2.8 – I think it will be a little faster and hopefully as stable as the previous version.
Second, the theme I’m using, Thesis, will be updated as well.

So, if anything looks a bit weird or not as usual it’s probably because I’m fumbling around some code or widget…

Thanks for your patience!

Up to now I’ve been a little hesitant when it came to hints and tips concerning fingering and bowing since they are very personal and depend to a certain extent on our personal taste.
But I was asked about a particular passage in Bruch’s Violin Concerto that is much easier to handle with a different fingering than often published.
It’s the largamente passage after the chords from the previous article.
Occasionally the entire passage is played on the G string which makes things much more difficult than necessary. I suggest another fingering:

We avoid the large shift into the seventh position to the b flat without sacrificing too much sound, provided that we use enough bow.

For the subsequent measures we need the G string however. The long “a” sounds much better and somehow richer and fuller when we play it on the G string. I prefer the third finger because the vibrato is easier to play, but that’s a matter of taste.
Let’s try the shift upwards:

Still unsure? Isolate it further:

We focus on the shift solely. If that works ok we can try the previous version again.
Now we have to descend to the second position to be able to play the trill adequately:

Again we try to isolate our problems as much as possible. You see, the procedures in practicing are basically the same.

Let’s go further to the second page, shortly before poco piu lento. Directly before the trills we find this passage:

Not difficult at first sight but perhaps therefore dabbled so often. We should put the “f” onto the A string for sound reasons and descend after that for the trill.
We practice the shift:

If this is ok and we are happy with the vibrato on the “f” we have a look at the part which sounds washy very often:

Be sure to play the sixteenths very clearly and defined but whithout playing any accents.
Finally we put the passage together:

Always be sure to listen to every note in a given passage. It’s worth the effort!