25-minute Daily Warm-up

It is tricky to slow down and warm up when balancing a busy work, performance, and travel schedule. And, at least for me, it always feels like I need to warm up in strange and uncomfortable situations:  when I am tired, in freezing dressing rooms, in a hotel room with a practice mute…. 

One thing we can control is consistency despite external variables.

On every “normal” morning, I have a cup of black tea and then get right to my warm-up. (When I am travelling, this means bringing my own tea bag and brewing a cup with the hotel room coffee maker. Not the most delicious but helps me get my warm-up done before I leave the room.) Here are my biggest tips for keeping on task:

STEP 1: GOODBYE PHONE, HELLO TIMER!

First thing in the morning—maybe you did not sleep well and are tired, know that your inbox is full and waiting for you, so you feel compelled to scroll through Instagram or Facebook…don’t do it!

• Make your phone inaccessible! When I am home, I turn it off and/or put it in another room. On the road, I put it in airplane mode.

• Set a timer to 25 minutes and let it tick down. For me, the timer is a reminder to stick to the task at hand. Usually, I have no trouble focusing once I get started, but the timer helps with the hardest part. Getting started without giving into distractions.

• (I also have 15-, 5-, and 2- minute versions for extraordinary circumstances.)

STEP 2: SLOW SHIFTING

• I cycle through 1 Ševčík Op. 8 shifting exercise per day, repeating the next day if shifts are not in tune, clean, and executed with ease.
  

STEP 3: SCALES AND ARPEGGIOS

I play through 1 scale (Major, parallel minor, and all arpeggios) each day as follows:

• Major and minor scale with drone on the Tonic or Dominant: slow, full bows listening for sound and intonation

• Galamian’s “acceleration scale”: With the metronome set to quarter note = 60, start with half notes (1 per bow) then quarter notes (2 per bow), accelerating through 4, 6, 8, 12, and 24 per bow. Listen carefully for sound and intonation, making this a priority. (Set the metronome slower if needed.) I alternate between smooth/slurred and stopped bows. At the faster tempos, the stopped bows become up and down bow staccato.

My scale approach is personalized, but most of this information is available in Galamian/Neumann Contemporary Violin Technique, Volume 1. For arpeggios, I use series and fingerings from Carl Flesch Scale System. 

STEP 4: DOUBLE STOPS
There are so many excellent options for double stops, and I continue to experiment with this portion of my warm-up.  These are some of my go-to exercises, but I tend to adjust which ones I include in my warm-up based on the needs of my current projects:

• Ševčík Op. 9 for slow, intonation work

• Dounis, Artist’s Technique of Playing Violin—I always come back to the thirds and fingered octaves exercises.

• Carl Flesch Scale System for incorporating double stops into scales.

And when my timer rings, I feel warm, focused and ready for the rest of the day!