With plenty of scale and arpeggio patterns, Harry Schloming’s Study No. 1 in C major is quite the workout …. a great way to get in shape, and to stay in shape!
With plenty of scale and arpeggio patterns, Harry Schloming’s Study No. 1 in C major is quite the workout …. a great way to get in shape, and to stay in shape!
This famous Viennese Waltz by Johann Strauss II was inspired by the river Danube, one of the longest rivers in Europe.
This famous sea shanty from the 1800s tells the story of sailors hunting whales near New Zealand. Here's an exclusive ViolinSchool / Violin Orchestra version!
My Bonnie lies over the ocean, My Bonnie lies over the sea, My Bonnie lies over the ocean, Oh bring back my Bonnie to me … a delightful traditional Scottish folk song.
Hark! I hear the foe advancing … where are those Men of Harlech! This is a traditional Welsh song about the seven-year siege of Harlech Castle between 1461 and 1468.
Flex your pinky with this set of 4th finger exercises! Make sure it lands perfectly in tune every time, don’t let the other fingers lead you astray … naughty things!
Time for some pinky power! Get your 4th finger in tip-top shape - strong and sturdy, supple and sprightly - with this super set of workouts!
A galopede is not a type of fast-moving insect, but an especially energetic English country dance!! See how fast you can gallop the galopede, but practise slowly first!
A march fit for a king … a 10th century High King of Ireland, no less … Brian Boru of the Dalcassians! Brian must have been a fan of dotted rhythms and string crossing!
Dvořák wrote his set of Humoresques in the summer of 1894 when he must have been in a pretty good mood! The 7th one is probably the best known and probably the best!
John Eccles wrote this achingly beautiful music for a stage play by John Fletcher, a tragicomedy called The Mad Lover. It’s also a really good string crossing exercise!
It’s always worth getting a second opinions! Hopefully, 2nd position doesn’t disagree with 1st position too much! The aim of these exercises is to achieve consensus!
Make 2nd position a winning position with this series of broken chord exercises in C, F, and Bb major. Every note needs to be in tune to win the trophy! Good luck!
Wait a second, take a moment, and make sure you’ve got the right fingers on the right notes in these soothing 2nd position exercises. Time well spent … every second!
Hmm … not sure Henry VIII would provide good company to pass the time with, but he certainly knew how to write a good tune! Great rhythms, too … enjoy!
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!
Practise the perpetual motion of your fingers - lifting and dropping with speed, dexterity, evenness and accuracy! - in this chirpy Perpetuum Mobile by Ernst Schmidt.
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!
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.
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!
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.
