Practice manual - 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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Second chapter: Finger Patterns for Violin and Viola

As I mentioned yesterday, I have plenty of videos waiting to be connected to my website. I didn’t quite realise how far I had fallen behind on actually uploading my videos to this site. To begin with I have filled in some gaps I found in the first chapter, and I have now also completed the Second chapter – Finger Patterns – for both the violin and the viola.

Here are the new playlists:

Violin: Fourth Finger Pattern – Part 2: The high first finger

Viola: Third finger pattern

Viola: Fourth finger pattern – Part 1: The low first finger

Viola: Fourth Finger Pattern – Part 2: The high first finger

I hope you enjoy practicing along with these videos and please, any feedback is very much appreciated.

Over the next few days I will start work on the sheetmusic for the first two chapters. Once they are ready I will make them available for download so you can also practice away from the videos.

Stay relaxed, be patient when you practice and if you can, please support this website so it can keep on growing!

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