Benefits of practicing scales as a beginner LA violin student

Starting the violin as a beginner in Los Angeles can seem daunting at first. There are so many details to focus on, you might be feeling overwhelmed and have no idea how to practice. Hopefully, your teacher will guide you in the right direction during your lessons, helping you structure your practice routine at home.

The most essential warm-up exercise for any instrumentalist is a scale, since it is also the most complete. You can work on your tone production, intonation, shifting, vibrato, and bow strokes with scales. The ultimate scale method for the violin is Carl Flesch. You won’t be ready for it as a beginner, but once you are at a higher intermediate level you should definitely buy the Flesch. It features scales on each string with arpeggios and chromatics before the full three octave scale with all its variations, not to mention double stops, octaves, tenths and harmonics.

I like practicing a key I am playing a piece in so it can get my ears and fingers ready for that piece. What is crucial for students to understand is that technique warm-ups like scales will make playing songs/pieces much easier, whereas skipping exercises and diving right into music will only frustrate you in the long run. You will have a lot more difficulty throughout because your fingers are cold, and you won’t be able to express the phrasing because you will be too focused on playing correctly.

I hope you are convinced of the importance of scales for your violin studies in LA! Follow your teacher’s lead as far as technique warm-ups are concerned. It will be hard to have the discipline for it every day, but you will notice improvements right away and will soon be converted into a technique lover! Happy practicing and thanks for reading!