Upper String Scale Introduction
I have always loved scales. They are the first thing I try to figure out whenever I am handed an unfamiliar instrument. Because of my obsession with them I have found, modified, and invented many different ways to practice them. As a teacher, I love them because they can be used to work many different aspects of technique. I find it easier to keep students engaged working things like bowing techniques with the scales rather than plain open strings. In order to use them to effectively work more advanced technique we have to first master the scales themselves. For that I use a system I developed after discovering Barbara Barber’s finger pattern descriptions in her Fingerboard Geography series.[1] When I discovered those patterns I set out to see how I could incorporate them into my teaching. The scales seemed an obvious place to start. The usual music theory ways of explaining a scale can be confusing in conjunction with learning to play the instrument. The pattern of half and whole steps are not super helpful in the beginning, because it can be a difficult sequence to memorize when the student barely has a grasp on the difference between a half and whole step, especially for younger kids. There are countless scale methods geared toward the intermediate and advanced player, including one written by Barbra Barber herself. What I needed was an easier way to introduce scales to beginning players. Enter the finger patterns.
I began with the major scales, as those are the simplest and most common. I went key by key and started looking at the finger patterns and figuring out the structure of each scale. I quickly discovered that every one octave scale consists of a single color, and each scale could be sorted into one of the four colors from Barber’s set of Basic Patterns (Figure 1). Which color is used depends on the finger that starts the scale. This means that students only have to memorize four patterns instead of isolated, individual fingerings for the twelve major scales.
Once I figured that out it became fairly clear that there were some scales that were still friendlier than others; C Major versus C-sharp for example. So I then split them into Primary Scales and Secondary Scales (Figure 2). The Primary Scales are generally the friendlier scales because they have more open strings to resonate, making them easier to tune, and giving them a more pleasing sound. The Secondary Scales tend to be the keys that are much less common in the literature, and are frequently labeled as difficult, or even impossible, to play in tune. Labeling them this way creates a psychological barrier for the student that often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. These scales are usually trickier in terms of tuning because of the lack of sympathetic vibrations from the open strings, but by studying the primary scales and then moving up or down by a half step, the student should have no problem playing them in tune.
For the primary scales I follow the order of finger pattern introductions from Fingerboard Geography (red, blue, yellow, green). For the secondary scales I work my way up the fingerboard (first finger, second finger, third finger, fourth finger[2]). Once the student has made their way through the primary scales they have covered many of the most common keys.
It should be noted that I do use enharmonic scales in this system. Once the student begins doing two and three octave scales it makes very little sense to distinguish between keys like C-sharp and D-flat. I cover it in one octaves because it can help with later fingerings for passages of repertoire that are in those keys. I am fully aware that pieces will usually be written in D-flat, but I think being able to handle reading in C-sharp is good too. The distinction is made by which finger is playing the pitch. C-sharp major is a blue scale because it starts with the third finger. D-flat major is red because it starts with the fourth. You might think it’s overkill for your students, but I find that doing it this way for the one octave scales lead to a more complete understanding of the instrument and general music theory.
There are five two octave scales that are playable in first position (G, A-flat, A, B-flat, B[3]). I introduce each of these scales as their second octave comes up in the sequence, so I’ll introduce a two octave G Major between the primary blue and the primary yellow scales, by stitching the low, red octave and the high, blue octave together. All scales that require shifting I teach based on what positions are necessary in the literature, and almost always after the student has completed most of this basic scale system. The nice thing about this system is that all of the skills transfer, so it is easy to work in new positions using the scales and the color patterns as shown in Figure 1, comparing the colors of the first position scales and the colors of the new position scales. C Major in third position for example, would be a yellow scale, because it would start on the first finger.
A difference must be noted between the color of the scale and the colors used across the strings to play in that key in context. C Major is a good example of this. It is a blue scale because the blue pattern is used for the majority of the scale on the D and A strings. When playing in C major on the G string however, the hand should be in the red pattern. The distinction between the color of the scale and the colors of the key should eventually be made clear to the student. I usually wait until all of the primary scales are comfortable, because the student should be used to playing pieces that use different finger patterns on different strings by then, and should also be able to handle the information without much confusion. Occasionally students will ask about it before that point, in which case I make a judgement call about how much I’ll explain based on the individual student.
I stick with major scales until I have introduced all of the primary scales. I begin to introduce minor scales in tandem with the secondary majors. That sequence will be detailed in a later post.
Link to Barbara Barber’s Author Page at Alfred Music
[1] Read about the finger patterns in more detail here. [Insert appropriate links].
[2] There are no secondary scales that begin on the open strings – those are all covered in the primary red scales.
[3] I do not count the variation of C Major that uses the extended fourth finger. That is one of the fingerings I cover when we reach third position, but personally try to steer my students away from.