One-Step Scale System System for Viola
10 Exercises to a Better Left Hand
Viola - Sheet Music

Chamber Music viola

SKU: CF.BF114

10 Exercises to a Better Left Hand. Composed by Helen Callus. Edited by Michael Lieberman Helen Callus. SWS. Book. With Standard notation. 56 pages. Carl Fischer Music #BF114. Published by Carl Fischer Music (CF.BF114).

ISBN 9780825887604. UPC: 798408087609. 9 x 12 inches.

World-renowned soloist and Professor of Viola at University ofCalifornia, Santa Barbara and The Colburn Music Academy, HelenCallus presents her comprehensive, multi-point system of creatinga solid foundation for left-hand technique. One-Step Scale System forViola contains insights that Callus has used with her students forthe past twenty years. The thorough system has been refined andrewritten to create a trim but thorough program for all ages – fromthe early student to the advanced. Scales, double-stops, intervalsand other musical aspects are examined with the goal of achievingmechanical/technical flexibility one needs before studying a piece.A welcome addition to the study of viola that will remain with eachstudent as they grow.
The foundation of this exercise system came from violistPaul Coletti, who introduced it to me as his student over twentyfiveyears ago. He recommended that I do some basic exercisesthat are useful in learning the fingerboard (separate from piecesand etudes), and from that I devised a more comprehensive,multiple-point system that I have been using with my studentsfor the last twenty years. I consider it as useful as any other systemin terms of learning mechanics (the study of the fundamentalsor elements of technique), especially when used in combinationwith the other traditional resources such as Galamian and Fleschscale systems.In this book I have refined and rewritten the variations tocreate a trim but thorough program appropriate for all ages andlevels from the early student to the advanced. It can remain usefulon a daily basis as a great warm-up or to continue to developthe skills needed to play comfortably and effortlessly in everyposition on every string before approaching music.Once we begin to study repertoire there is little time to makeall the adjustments we need to play pieces at a high technical level.We have to study the elements and gain those skills first withoutthe distraction of music. Even before we start Ševčík or basicetudes, there is an advantage to having a clear understandingand mastery of the building blocks of technique. When playingpieces, every note has its own list of needs based on the subtleand nuanced choices we must make in interpreting music, andit is almost impossible to address each one of those needs whilein the process of learning a piece. That work is generally toooverwhelming and time consuming to do along with the addedstep of learning how to play the piece and tends to give us onlylimited results. The objective with this scale system is to try tolearn the kind of mechanical/technical flexibility that one needsbefore studying a piece and becoming more comfortable withwhat might be considered a more virtuosic technique enablingyou to tackle pieces of any level of difficulty.Nothing replaces the slow work our teachers tell us we mustdo every day, and there is no way around it except to gain thediscipline it takes to do that type of work. This system can helpby covering (in a few simple exercises) every position on everystring to build the Frame of Hand. This will eventually leadyou to better intonation, shifting and ease in higher positions,giving you the time and the freedom to change your mind in amusical phrase, react spontaneously to someone you are playingwith or to just be able to realize what your musical instinct andimagination tells you to do with each musical phrase.In conjunction with other scale systems such as Flesch(which assists with scales and arpeggios going up each stringfocusing on shifting and intonation) and Galamian (that helpswith running fingers going across the strings with some shiftingbut mostly helping with speed, facility and bow distribution), youare being given a more viola specific, useful, complex system thatcovers every aspect of repertoire-based technique at the virtuosiclevel.