FINGER PATTERNS

• The major string class method books on the market all begin with open strings and move early on to the notes of the D major scale.  D major works well for beginners on all the instruments.   Thankfully the tonic and dominant tones will be in tune provided the instrument is tuned properly.  Intonation is bearable while posture, hand positions, tone production and early note-reading are being solidified.  Students are happy to be able to play dozens of familiar tunes:  early success is possible, and success is the greatest motivator.

• Problems come, however, when the first chromatic alterations begin to appear and when tonic becomes something besides an open D string.  Certain fingers need to be placed in different spots in order to make the music sound right.  Some students seem to be oblivious to this notion and continue to play everything in D major even though C-naturals or B-flats are required.  Perhaps they figure, “Hey!  I’m a beginner;  I’m allowed to sound bad.”  If the teacher agrees, the future is bleak.

• Teachers need to have strategies for introducing and perfecting the other finger patterns that allow for the production of ALL THE CHROMATIC NOTES in first position.  Experienced teachers have devised  their own bags of tricks.  Younger teachers need to begin, perhaps, by emulating an old-timer until such a time as their own methods are seen to work.

• My approach to introducing new technical topics is a FIVE-WAY APPROACH.    Every new bit of learning must be addressed in terms of

1. SOUND-   How it is supposed to sound
2. SIGHT-    How it is looks
3. FEELING-   How it feels
4. NAME-     What we call it
5. CONNECTION-    How it relates to other things we know

• The finger pattern charts (downloadable below) are named for the classical modes.  Each instrument can play only 3-5 pitches on a given string without shifting.  A Tetrachord is a 4 note scale.

• SOUND: How to teach these patterns for SOUND:
  • Play the tetrachords and modes on a piano or another instrument.
  • Have the students sing the tetrachords and modes.
  • Get them to a point where they can identify them solely by sound.
  • Play them yourself then have them echo them back.  Mix them up.  Let your best student be the leader.
  • Accompany the class on a piano;  verify the pitch of every note.
  • Play “old” tunes in a different mode;  example:  Twinkle in Dorian
  • Play “old” tunes starting on a different finger and decide which pattern needs to be used.
• SIGHT:  How to teach these patterns using visual methods
  • Draw a pattern on the board to show where fingers are placed;  this is especially useful when different patterns are needed on different strings.
  • Show modes or tetrachords on a piano keyboard wall chart so intervals can be understood.
  • Find photos of fingers on the fingeboard for a pattern.  Method books have these.
• FEELING:  How to teach these patterns for kinesthetic elements
  • Place half-steps really close on violin/viola.  Half-step fingers HUG one another.
  • Practice stretching the whole steps far enough, especially between 2nd and 3rd fingers.
  • Cellos need to know how to extend forward and backward. What does the thumb do?
  • Basses need to know how to go to Half Position.  Move the whole hand.
  • Move from one pattern to another with freedom. Learn to cancel the feel of one pattern when changing to another pattern, especially across strings.
  • As an excercise use one tetrachord ascending and a different one descending.  Get fast at this.
  • Adjust for mistakes by moving the finger as needed.
• NAMES:  Use names as an efficient way of retrieving old learning.
  • Get students to play any tetrachord or mode given only the name and the starting string.
• CONNECTIONS:  How to relate this learning to other knowledge
  • Learn the note names for each finger in a given pattern.
  • Refer to a pattern by its structure;  example:  Play the pattern that starts with a half-step (Locrian);   or Play the one that begins with 3 whole-tones  (Lydian)
  • Connect certain key signatures with the patterns needed.
  • Read tetrachords or modes from notation (Download below).  Print tetrachords on cards and draw them out of a hat at random.
  • Play CDs musical examples or other compositions in other modes.

• Failure to break out of D major early enough and to remain in that key too long is a prescription for real trouble.  In recent years I started a class of beginners in September, I would have them playing in Dorian by Thanksgiving and in Locrian by January.  Students could play a chromatic scale by rote through all of first position by Easter.  Connecting to the reading carried over into the 2nd year.  Have the courage to defer the theory and reading aspects in favor of getting all the mechanical and intonation factors right.

NOTE:   Violin, Viola and Bass charts show the open string and four stopped pitches.
Cello charts only show open string and three stopped pitches.
In mixed classes teachers can either have the cellos add a rest or have the others omit the fifth note.