![]() I include a section on tuning the instrument (and no, it’s not a viola joke…), because you can’t play a scale in tune if the instrument isn’t itself in tune to start with. Therefore exercises for sound production and for harmonic context are important parts of my scale method. I have often felt that the emphasis in scale practice is too much on speed and fluency and not enough on harmonic awareness and sound. And four octave scales, double-stopped tenths and fingered octaves (which can be dangerous activities for violists) are often carried over from violin methods to their viola versions regardless of whether they are useful or practicable. ![]() Are we so in thrall of violinists that we have to copy everything they do?!Īdapting a violin method for the larger viola involves solving problems of both content and fingering, and in some adaptations the fingerings are simply left unchanged – I have seen so many violists struggle to traverse the fingerboard using the 'traditional' violin fingerings. I often wonder why there are so few dedicated scale or study materials for the viola. But they all have one thing in common: they are violin methods that have been adapted for the viola. There are others of course - by such established names as Mogill and Ševčík, or more recent ones by Barbara Barber and Simon Fischer. Roger Benedict - The scale books of Carl Flesch and Ivan Galamian are omnipresent in teaching studios around the world, and they have clearly stood the test of time. «What’s wrong with Flesch or Galamian?» some said. When I told friends and colleagues that I was publishing a new scale method for viola, I was greeted with a few raised eyebrows. ![]() ![]() Balancing the Scales - why I created a new viola scale method ![]()
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