C SS — 7 o-—- 8 o : ie Se ot Me © Brian Head, 1995. Used by permission.rm Scales: Control ano Velocity Control is more important than speed. Ifyou can exercise control while playing, speed, when necessary, will follow easily. ‘There are several general misconceptions about speed, especially in scales: Misconceptions about spe 1. Without a certain amount of apeed one is not a good player. ‘The fastest players are not necessarily the best players, 2. Speed isa goal-—rather than a tool. Speed is something we use towards a musical end. 3. One must beable to play very fat for long stretches of tine, Many students fail o recognize that the vast majority of scale passages in the repertcire requiring speed are only one or two measures long: ‘There are four elements to be mastered for the development of scale speed. They are: 1. Right-hand velocity. 2. Synchronization of the right and left hands 5. String - crossing, 4. Piecing together. Each clement shall be addressed briefly, along with an exercise, Hand Right-hand velocity refers to how well you're able to pluck a series of notes in rapid succession with your right hand. Towards this end, practiceved hurits. A peed burat is along string of slow notes interrupted by ashore burstof fast notes. AL first, you should frequently return to the slow notes between bursts; the slower notes act asa launching pad for the quick ones. loc =} Here are a series of speed-burst exercises, Make sure each exercise is secure before moving on to the next one. While they're new to you, practice them using rest atroke, being strict about the staccato markings. After that feels good, try playing them using a legato free stroke. 62 Seales: Control and VelocityScales: Control and Velocity 63———— | pee tt tt te ede 64 Scales: Control and VelocitySyrebrvnization means playing the right-hand fingerat the exact same time as the left-hand finger. In the exercise that follows, set your tempo with the sixteenth notes in mind. Play as slowly as necessary to remain in control of the sixteenth notes. Push yourself to faster tempos a little at a time. When a passage feels good and in control at « given tempo, turn the metronome up just one notch or two until you reach. the desired speed. =aString Crossing AA good deal has already been said aboutstring crossing. [tis covered in the “Right-Hand Independence” section on page 57. ‘The exercises presented there are the best ones on which to focus for improving finger accuracy and speed during crossing strings. Also, see the section about marking string crossings on page 71 Piecing Things “fogether Assuming you've been working on your string crossing, the speed bursts are now comfortably speedy, and your hands are synchronized, the most logical thing to do now is to put everything together: ‘The easiest skill to acquire in the realm of speed is playing fast on one string. ‘The situation that slows us down considerably is having to switch strings. Familiarize yourself with the next little exereisc, but don't srop there, Work out all your most difficult scales the same way. 66 Scales: Control and Velocity’Reel This is my favorite exercise for working up speed. T us, though, make Here is a chromatic scale in groups pf three. particularly like ro push this one up one metronome notch at atime, For technical foe ure your bands are synchronized! Seales: Control and VelocityHere is a chromatic scale with some rhythmic variations. Practicing scales with various rhythmic varia- tions is invaluable to making them faster and cleaner. Notice that certain rhythmic configurations, including dots, triplets, etc., create short speed burst situations. ‘The variations below are just a few possibilities. Practice them with this chromatic scale fingering. You should apply them to your other scales, as well. Rhythmic Variations * 68 Scales: Control and Velocity‘now, for more fun, try these! Group #1 cancentrates on one string, Group #2 on two strings, and in #5... anything goes! Remember, you can only go as fast as you caa play the sixteenth notes, so these out slowly. ‘To reap the maximum benefits from these, think before you play every note, and each note as you play it. Speed Bursts wea wrt (DBE (Kin imimt om ttn OC) me toe intmimio = reer = i e eet. See @ mo tmimim (im gy tom Lom miming tate : 2 Scales: Control and Velocity 69“Sometimes your Joy ts the source of your Smile, sometimes your Smile can be the source of your Joy” * Thich Nhat Hanh “CR” 70. Scales: Control and Velocity :