JAVS Spring 2023

With Viola In Hand

Scaling Up Your Scale Practice by Elaine Fine

Over the past fifty years, I have spent a great deal of time practicing scales on one instrument or another. I have often found myself using scale-playing as a form of meditation, quieting my mind while making my way—in a physically relaxed state—through the major and minor keys. While practicing scales on the flute or the recorder, I would concentrate on my intonation, the quality of my sound, and my breathing; and while practicing scales on the viola or violin, I would think about moving accurately, comfortably, and resonantly from one pitch to the next, varying the speed of the bow and the number of pitches per bow stroke. There is nothing wrong with practicing scales this way, but I wanted to be more aware of what key I was playing in at a given time, and I wanted to find a way to practice scales that did not feel mechanical. I have always felt that the best way to tackle musical problems when playing a piece is to approach them technically, and that the best way to tackle technical problems is to approach them musically. I wanted to create a musical solution to the problem of practicing scales mechanically, so I spent the winter of 2020 working on two large scale-based projects to help me become more aware of tonality, intonation, sound, and phrasing while practicing scales. The first of these projects, Weights and Measures , is a series of 24 scale pieces for recorder in all the major and minor keys. I wrote this set of pieces so that recorder players could have music to play in keys that require cross fingerings and considerable attention to intonation. I made versions for both soprano and alto recorder, and later added versions in alto and bass clefs, with a second voice. I made the music available in the IMSLP with an indication that they could be played as solos or as duets for any two instruments. Weights and Measures works particularly well for two violins or two violas.

I followed strict guidelines for these pieces. Every piece would remain in a single key, and would move by step, octave leap, or repetition at the unison. The only modal alterations would be the occasional raised seventh of the harmonic minor. I also made sure that every piece would fit on a single page and used a landscape format to allow for a longer horizontal line. Traditional publishers prefer to avoid landscape format because of the complications of duplex printing, but I was able to design a PDF file that can be printed on both sides of a page using a home printer. My second project was a set of two violin scale books, Violin Scale Tales and Advanced Violin Scale Studies , that were published in 2022 by Mel Bay. The pieces in these books are inspired by the appearance and behavior of animals that have scales. I followed the guidelines I used for Weights and Measures , but included the occasional raised sixth degree of the melodic minor. All the pieces in Violin Scale Tales can be played in first position on the violin (with a jaunt here and there to half position), and in the first five positions on the viola. The variety in note values allows for the opportunity to challenge the bow arm, listen to the sound quality, engage the imagination, and think about phrasing and expression while playing scale passages. The other eleven moth pieces in Violin Scale Tales bear a family resemblance to Atlas Moth , but each has its own character. Waltz of the Moths , which comes at the end of the book, an elaboration on Twin- Spotted Sphinx Moth , makes its way through all of the minor keys by way of the circle of fifths. Komodo Dragon, one of three lizard pieces, has a lot of drama, because the Komodo Dragon is all drama, a ten foot predator with a poisonous bite. After a few starts and stops, the extended scale pattern—which moves from pianissimo to forte—serves as a dramatic release.

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 39, No. 1, Spring 2023

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