Practice with Me: Scales! How I Practice Violin Scales 

Thank you so so much for your kind words!! You have no idea how much they mean to me. I am so happy to hear that this video helped you. I wish you all the best in your practice and other endeavors! :)

Agreed!!!!!

Wow, that's amazing! Thank you so much :)

Thank you so much!!! :)

Absolutely! I also think there is much benefit to practicing scales with vibrato-- though I have never thought about it to promote ease and dexterity. I had mostly used it to practice even tone. Thank you for sharing about the tension that can come with practicing without vibrato! Definitely something to also pay attention to. I appreciate your comment!! :)

@@SophieCViolin :D and thanks for your reply! It's always a little "eeeeeee..." when us classical musicians get together and talk about differing ideas. To be clear, I LOVE your videos. I wasn't a conservatory grad (although I spent significant time with a conservatory teacher), so I really enjoy seeing what you're up to at Peabody. It's such an institution in our field and I'm just grateful that you opened up this line of communication. I had the pleasure of auditioning for the doctoral program, but not of seeing it through :) All this to say-looking forward to seeing what you post. I'll be practicing alongside you in my own musical journey (no longer in MD!). Cheers!

@@ajsmusicstudio I totally get that! Sometimes differing opinions about certain techniques can be very divisive. I don't see it that way, though, and always think there's room to grow and at least consider the other thoughts. Thank you so much for your kind words and support! It's always great to hear from another fellow musician:). Cheers indeed, and happy practicing!

Hello! Thank you so much for your kind words. I am so happy you find my videos helpful!! I’m also practicing and trying to get better just as you are. Still very far from perfect, so happy practicing to us both! :)

Thank you again! :) ❤

Hi!! Thank you so so much for your kind words. I'm so happy you enjoy these videos! I totally understand about being lazy with scales and arpeggios haha. Let this be my reminder to do more of those as well. Best wishes! :)

So happy you enjoyed! Have a great day as well! :)

Thank you for watching!! So glad you liked it. Tenths are super hard indeed haha. Happy practicing to you!

I am so happy you found this helpful! Happy practicing! :)

Thank you so much!!! 💜

Thank you so much!! Love you, Helen :))

glad you liked it!! :)

Hahah I switch around 😛 I'm so glad you've learned a lot!! I hope the practice has been good! :)

Wow!! This truly made my day to hear all of this! I play on a 4/4 violin, and I believe most adults do. It's really interesting-- you'll see people of all different heights and builds, yet everyone is playing on the same size instrument, whether it's a piano, cello, viola, trumpet, etc. Some people have a great advantage (like you mentioned, people with bigger hands might have a much easier time with octaves on violin, for example) in certain areas, but struggle in other areas (maybe the same people with big hands struggle with smaller intervals as the distance gets smaller on higher notes). I can't even imagine playing a trombone with my short arms haha. So, my point is, that it's ultimately all fair when it comes to what we can do with our instruments. We just have different battles to fight and different things to adjust to :). As for the pain you mentioned while practicing, that is not ideal! I'm glad you stopped before truly getting injured. I wish I could give more specific and personalized advice, but I have not seen you play nor can I tell exactly what the problem is. I suspect the pain might be more due to the posture, and less due to the size of the violin itself. But again, I can't be sure since I don't know the full situation! Do you have a private teacher, or are you learning violin on your own? I'm so glad you enjoy my videos, and I hope this response helped you with some of the questions you may have! Feel free to ask more anytime; I would love to be of assistance where I can. Best wishes! :)

Hi dear Sophie! Thank you so much for taking time to reply! Appreciate your insight! I take private lessons and my teacher suggested for me to use a 3/4 size to avoid any discomfort. She said that I seemed to play more comfortable on a 3/4 violin. When I checked the different arm measuring charts on the internet, it seems like I could use a 4/4 size. I really love the sound of a full size violin! I pray everything works out well. Thank you Sophie! God bless you!!

@@damarishead Got it! Well, I think if your private teacher says 3/4 might be good for you, then that should be okay. But yes, definitely keep experimenting if possible to see what can suit you best and fit your needs. Full size does have a wonderful sound! My pleasure to be of any help. God bless you as well!! :)

Thank you so much! I will definitely work on that as it’s also something my teacher has pointed out :).

I hope it helps! :)

Hello Myriam! Thank you so much, I'm so happy you enjoy them. Great question. I actually do strive to reach the tip of the bow each time, so if you see that I'm not doing it, it means I need to work more on it. 😅However, it shouldn't be tense or painful for you to do so. Don't worry too much about it, though! It will come if you keep practicing open string and the transferring of weight from frog to tip (see my video for better tone production; it explains what I'm talking about in more detail). I struggled a lot (and still do) with using my entire bow, but it should not hurt you to do so. Ideally you can find an angle where you can use the full bow with no pain, and then work on getting more comfortable with that angle. Slow practice and being aware is key! Thank you for asking, and I hope this made sense. In summary, don't stress toooo much about it especially if it's causing pain. Working more on other things may help for now :)

Of course!! :) I might recommend Essential Elements scales or if you just google violin 2 octave scales online, those would probably be easiest to start. There is also the Hrimaly Scale Book that might be helpful. Best wishes to you!

That's okay! Keep working hard :) you've got this!

@@aliceackerman7451 hey! I totally understand. They’re hard! My best quick advice is to practice those positions while focusing on your right hand. It feels counterintuitive because all of our attention gets directed to the left hand when we play higher positions (it’s uncomfortable at first!), making us lose control of the right hand. Hope this can help!

Hello! I use a combination of Carl Flesch and Hrimaly currently, but when I started I remember my teacher just finding scales printed from online. The Carl Flesch can seem overwhelming at first, so isolated scales printed from various websites/practice books can be a great place to start. :)

Thank you! :)

Hi! I use the Carl Flesch scale system paired with the Galamian scale system. I believe you can google them for sheet music :) Hope this helps!!

Hey! I just go by the scale book and play the single line scale, thirds, octaves, fingered octaves (kinda) and tenths. I don't think I could give a page # because they are all different keys but the same patterns. I play the double stop scales with the bare minimum ascending/descending, so it doesn't always match the music exactly. I hope that makes sense 😅 let me know if you need more clarification!

Hi! I play my fingerings on scales based on the fingerings in the Carl Flesch scale systems (mostly, a few exceptions with special fingerings given by my teacher haha). For pieces, that's a great question! You choose based on what you think sounds best. What fits the color of that phrase? For example, is that phrase darker and warmer sounding? Maybe a lower string, higher position would be better. Is the phrase brighter and more brilliant sounding? Then open/higher strings might be more fitting. I hope this helps!

@@SophieCViolin ah I see, now it does make sense to me , thanks so much !

@@dora9103 absolutely!! :)

Sometimes fingerings in orchestra is like a puzzle where you have to find the optimal way to get to all the notes. Then I look at my stand partners fingerings and realize there was a better way. I find trying lots of combinations helps find the best one.

@@jjrussell Thanks for the information !

Hi! You mean the note names like "CDEFGAB?" Is there any way I can help to clarify something here in the comment section?

I understand 😅it definitely takes lots of time to build up to this point! Add in some things you enjoy to make things less boring :)