Charles de Beriot - Mark Pedus' Violin and Viola practice manual

Scales for violin: duets by Charles de Beriot

Last month I started recording Chapter 3: Scales in first position by Charles de Beriot.

As always each exercise comes in different speeds but for the first time I get to use the student/teacher duets! These duets by Charles de Beriot make practicing scales a lot more fun and even more relevant. Improving your intonation and understanding of scales is so much easier when you get to play with an accompaniment. Children tend to adjust their intonation instinctively to the accompaniment, making it all a lot less tedious and academic.

Enjoy and good luck

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Violin Chapter 3: Scales

C Major Scale Duets by Charles de Beriot edited for the viola

I finally got there. I just added the first scales to my practice manual! I gave the honour to the viola, because, why not. Starting to learn the viola about 6 years ago taught me more about teaching than you can possibly imagine. I realised that the viola relates to an adult the way a violin is measured to a child, and that the solutions I discovered to deal with the extra weight and size could really help my students solve their issues better. By placing myself, in a way, in their shoes, I understood their struggles a lot better and it allowed me to find efficient solutions.

If you compare what I teach with how you see great virtuosi hold and handle their instrument, you might wonder why I insist so much on posture, relaxation, thumb position, etc. However, once you have a few decades of experience under your belt, an instrument that is proportionally tiny and often with mythical qualities, you will also be able to break some rules.

Until then, be patient and enjoy your scales for now. Things will get easier and more diverse very soon!

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Please help

Defeated by WordPress

I know it has been a while since I last posted anything new here. But don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about you all!

Over the last few months, I struggled with WordPress. I am used to being able to ‘figure things out’ if I try hard enough. However, I have too many gaps in my knowledge of webdesign, or understanding of computers in general, and I wasted weeks ‘experimenting’. I can proudly say that I successfully managed to slow my site down, with no solutions in sight! 🙂

So today I decided to look for some professional help and I hope you will soon be able to have access to a more streamlined and user friendly violin/ viola education.

On a positive ♪, I have continued recording and editing and I am almost halfway ready with chapter 3, the scales. The simplicity and predictability of scales are an ideal and efficient way to put everything you learned in chapters 1 & 2 together. I chose the accompanied scales composed by Charles de Beriot to make the entire experience even more fun and easy going.

Over the next few days I will start connecting my videos to the site and I wish you all a lot of courage and fun!