Learning the Violin Scales: An 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. As a student I always found them to be a good way to work aspects of technique without getting too bored. The long tones that one of my teachers wanted me to do on open strings are a good example. Doing them with scales instead gave me the same benefits without getting too bored droning a single note for long stretches of time.
How to Group Scales
When I discovered Barbara Barber’s finger patterns from Fingerboard Geography I thought they would be very handy for scales as well. 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.
Simplifying the Scales
The great thing about using the finger patterns here is it allows us to simplify the scales. A one octave scale has eight notes that we play up and down. Each of those notes could also be flat or sharp. That gives us thirty two things to think about, plus where to start, and where to end. If we group the scales by the color patterns that decreases things to three; where to start, where to turn around, and what color pattern to play.
Primary and Secondary Scales
There are some scales that are more friendly to string instruments than others. Because of that I divided all of the scales into Primary and Secondary categories. 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 aren’t practiced as much by most people. But working them with the finger patterns makes them much easier. For the Primary Scales I follow the order of finger pattern introductions from Fingerboard Geography (Red, Blue, Yellow, Green).
Some of the Secondary Scales are what we call enharmonic scales. Just like notes can be enharmonic (F-sharp and G-flat for example) scales can be too. The way we distinguish them is with what finger plays the first note, but the specifics of that will be covered later.
There are also five scales that we can play in two octaves. We do this by stitching together two one octave scales of different colors. Those will be covered as we go through each step in the process.
The Rest of the Series
To begin with, each color of scale will have it’s own post; Red, Blue, Yellow, and Green. These will be the Primary Scales. Then the Secondaries will have a post of their own. Following that will be five posts that focus on minor scales. The specifics there will be covered in their own introduction.
I have had a lot of success using this system with my students. With it I have had very young students play every possible scale on the Circle of Fifths, something that a lot of professional musicians don’t do on a regular basis. By going through this series and working one step at a tie you can build up your skills in a simple way that can bring immense benefits.