Here's the scale of G Major in one octave. Listen, sing, then play along with the track until you know the pattern from memory!
The skeletons come out to play in Danse Macabre, Op. 40 by Saint-Saëns … full of unnerving tritones, bone-rattling staccatos and weird waltzing melodies!
For a piece about witches, this is a surprisingly chirpy tune! It's full of crisp bowing and sparkling arpeggios. Play it nicely, or you may discover their dark side!
Practise the perpetual motion of your fingers - lifting and dropping with speed, dexterity, evenness and accuracy! - in this chirpy Perpetuum Mobile by Ernst Schmidt.
A jaunty Baroque dance for two! This famous tune by English composer Henry Purcell will have your fingers springing sprightly up and down the G major scale!
Creep up the chromatic scale and watch out as the note patterns change from one bar to the next! The more careful you are, the less likely you’ll be to get caught!
Go to the Next Level as you play a series of eight different arpeggio patterns in A major and A minor, starting with one octave … then two … then three!
Telemann’s Canonic Sonatas are an absolute marvel. Both musicians play exactly the same thing, but one bar apart … and, amazingly, they still sound really nice!
A rondo is a piece that repeats the main tune again and again and again! Locatelli cleverly shares out the repetitions between the parts in this quick, quicksilver duo.
Each finger experiences the highs and lows of first position in this super-useful exercise! Listen really carefully to make sure you don’t go too high, or too low!
Rejoice! Here's the popular Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's oratorio Messiah. In this arrangement, you only need to use one finger on the strings. Hallelujah to that!
Practise lots and lots of different combinations of tones (whole steps) and semitones (half steps) to create some fabulously evocative patterns!
Juuuuuuump! You’ll need really agile, accurate shifting and string crossing for this exercise. If you miss, the Lazy Dog could very quickly become an Angry Dog!
There’s lots and lots of double stopping in lots and lots of different keys in these exercises … so much so, you’ll probably need to do a few double takes!
Drill those scales with these punishing exercises! Get the metronome going and then lift and drop the fingers with energy and precision of timing and tuning.
Ready … Steady … Galop!! This riotously fun piece by the master of violinistic bonbons, Carl Bohm, is also a fabulous bowing workout. See you at the finish line!
Adolf Grünwald’s scale-based Study No. 18 in D major is a great workout for the fingers, helping to develop dexterity of movement and accuracy of placement.
This lovely duet by the lovely Jacques Féréol Mazas has lovely tunes and lovely interplay between the two lovely parts. What could be more lovely!
Greetings! A warm welcome to The Bureau of B-flat major … a key department of major importance in which everything operates perfectly efficiently! Honest!!
Time to go on some enlivening excursions in the key of Eb major. Practise the different note and bowing patterns to become familiar with the 1 octave Eb major scale.
Move up and down in half steps (semitones) on each string to play part of the chromatic scale. Making sure everything is nice and smooth and nicely in tune!
Leap acrobatically up and down the chromatic scale, checking each note in relation to the open string to make sure you are jumping exactly the right distance!
Time to Cast Your Note! Move smoothly up and down in half steps (semitones) on each finger and on each string. Remember … Every Note Counts!
Jump from the open string to the notes of the chromatic scale with grace, agility and precision! Listen carefully to the intervals as they expand and contract.
