Reviews for Scale System for Reluctant Scale Enthusiasts from Leading Violinists:

“A welcome addition to the ever growing library of scale systems, this well organized book opens with a detailed introduction, clearly explaining its central points. It also encourages the player to set specific goals when using it.”
-Miriam Fried: Violin Soloist, Recording Artist , Violin Professor at New England Conservatory of Music

“Her book demonstrates an intelligent and detailed system for learning, inventing, and realizing all of the basic to most advanced skills required in becoming a master of violin playing. It blends traditional principles with new and innovative methods. Only a curious and high-level teacher could present so many well-developed ideas, proving her to be a most demanding and healthy pedagogue. It covers absolutely everything possible in string technique and is very creative and well-explained. If you ask me, this is THE BOOK!!!”
-Kevork Mardirossian: James H. Rudy Professor of Music (Violin)at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music

This scale system is intended for use by advanced violin students, professional violinists, and teachers alike. It addresses the same needs as the methods of Galamian and Flesch but differs in the way that the scales are organized, including suggestions for bow technique and vibrato maintenance, as well as new techniques not found in other systems. Also included is an ornamented scale that incorporates the trill element into scale work; not only does it improve finger dexterity but helps to develop coordination for passagework in repertoire. The ornamented scale in thirds presents significant challenges to the performer and helps to develop awareness of slurred string crossings while also executing consecutive shifts. It is particularly challenging in the keys where the use of open strings is not possible, but the benefit of incorporating these scales into one's practice routine is indisputable. This is clearly demonstrated by Mr. Heifetz, who used ornamented scales in thirds in his own daily practice. These scales help to further one’s knowledge of the fingerboard and to improve the overall sense of intonation.

Time constraints often prevent many musicians of our generation from focusing on developing and maintaining their technique through the careful practice of scales. With this in mind, I have created this scale system based on over twenty years of my own teaching and performing. This system allows a violinist to go through all major and minor scales within a period of twelve days. Using this system, a violinist who has reached a complete level of comfort with the scales at the suggested speeds will require no more than half an hour per day to go through all of the techniques suggested here twice, including bow strokes, double-stops, and harmonics.

In my recently published work, An Effective Method For Teaching And Studying Violin Technique, I focused on dissecting and analyzing each individual violin technique and created a system of developmental exercises leading up to a level to which this scale system is the next logical step.

-Olga Dubossarskaya Kaler