Chamber Music Violin
SKU: CF.BF131
Composed by Roland Vamos.
With Standard notation.
168 pages. Carl Fischer
Music #BF131. Published
by Carl Fischer Music
(CF.BF131).
ISBN
9781491153765. UPC:
680160911264. 9 x 12
inches.
Inspired by
Clarence Cameron
White’s book The
Violinist’s Daily
Dozen, The Violinist’s
Daily Sixteen is a
collection of daily
exercises compiled by
Roland Vamos. Intended
for student and
professional violinists,
the collection provides
the performer with a
variety of exercises for
daily warm-ups. Mr. Vamos
also focuses on
developing dexterity and
flexibility in the
fingers and joints, the
first and fourth fingers
in particular. Each of
the sixteen exercises is
notated for each of the
four strings, and Vamos
recommends that the
exercises be practiced as
warm-ups, choosing a
different string for each
day of practice.Also
included with the Daily
Sixteen is a
comprehensive set of
studies for developing
fluency with scales and
arpeggios. Mr. Vamos’
unique methodology is to
begin with major scales
and arpeggios, followed
by minor scales and
arpeggios, all of which
are notated in two, three
and four octaves.
Alternate fingers are
provided, as well as a
variety of slurred and
mixed bowings using the
three parts of the bow
whenever feasible. It is
a remarkably systematic
approach to performing
scales and arpeggios on
the violin and will
surely benefit students
and professionals
alike.
ForewordThis
short hand-setting set of
exercises was inspired by
a book entitled The
Violinist’s Daily
Dozen, conceived by
Clarence Cameron White, a
prominent
African-American
violinist, composer and
arranger who enjoyed the
bulk of his career in the
first half of the
twentieth century.I have
practiced this set of
exercises since I was
twelve years old. It has
served me as a superb
warm-up and hand setting
tool. Over the years, I
have found that there are
some aspects of this
warm-up routine that were
not given sufficient
attention or not
addressed at all.
Consequently, I have
expanded the Daily Dozen
to create a new work
entitled The
Violinist’s Daily
Sixteen.I have also paid
particular attention in
this work as to how these
exercises are to be
practiced. In exercises
one and two, I have
indicated some notes to
be played before the
actual written exercises.
This is to ensure that
the fourth finger will be
over the string in a
position ready to strike
even though it is not
being used. Before
playing exercises three,
four, nine, ten, eleven
and twelve, I have
indicated silent fingers
to be placed on the notes
they would be playing if
they were being used.I
have replaced Mr.
White’s grace notes
with notes of specific
value and have slowed
down the exercises so
that the first joint (the
joint nearest the string)
of each finger can move
with flexibility and
strength. At no time
should the first joint
buckle.In Mr. White’s
version, the last
exercise gave the first
finger some very valuable
backward extensions. In
this exercise (number 14
in this book), I caution
the student not to move
the hand along with the
first finger. The hand
should remain in position
while the first finger
independently moves back
and forth.It became
obvious to me that if the
first finger were given
the opportunity to
develop the dexterity
that Mr. White’s
twelfth exercise
emphasizes, the fourth
finger could benefit from
an exercise that gives it
a forward extension.
Consequently, I added
another exercise to
create a Baker’s Dozen
(thirteen).Several years
later, I felt that the
second and third fingers
should also have an
exercise to further
develop their
dexterity…hence
exercise fourteen was
added to create a
“Vamos Dozen.”Because
the first finger did not
have sufficient practice
in the development of the
first joint in the
original version, I have
added two exercises to
precede White’s fifth
exercise. After
re-working and
re-numbering these
exercises, I have come up
with a total of sixteen
exercises. It is my
suggestion that these be
practiced as a warm-up,
choosing a different
string each day.—Roland
VamosEvanston, Illinois
2017 PrefaceScales are a
means of teaching a
person the fingerboard on
his or her instrument.
The fingers move across
the strings and are
required to make shifts,
all in highly organized
patterns. Scales and
arpeggios are the
foundation upon which our
repertoire is built. Many
scale books have been
written; each one being
organized in its own
specific way. The Flesch
Scale System has been a
standard for many
decades. It is very
comprehensive and
systematic. From the
point of view of
establishing similar
patterns, it has one
drawback: it is organized
by starting with a major
key, followed by its
relative minor, going
through the circle of
fifths. I believe that it
is more profitable to do
only major scales with
their arpeggios first,
going up chromatically,
and then follow them in a
similar way with the
minor scales. In using
this approach, the
similarities in
fingerings between the
various scales are more
apparent. It is also
profitable to have
alternate fingerings
whenever possible. My
approach to scales and
arpeggios includes a
variety of slurred and
mixed bowings using the
three parts of the bow
whenever feasible. These
bowings are not
all-inclusive. Whenever a
particularly awkward
bowing pattern is
encountered in the
repertoire, it can be
practiced as an
additional bowing
variation in the scales
and arpeggios. I
have chosen to introduce
the three and four octave
scales by teaching two
octave scales across the
strings in one position
going up chromatically
through seven positions;
starting on the first,
second, third, and
finally fourth fingers in
major and melodic
minor.—Roland
VamosEvanston, Illinois
2017.
