Viola Gauntlet, Day 3 (Wednesday): Double stops - key of G major (cadences also in D). A daily practice routine for viola with a play-along backing track: the score scrolls with a playhead, every exercise has a 2-bar count-in. Double stops in G: open-string pairs first, then the scale in thirds, sixths and octaves, slow and sustained before they move. A low G and D drone sits under the scales so every interval can be tuned until it rings, and the week's chord work closes with I-IV-V-I cadences in G and D.
1. Open-string long tones - One unbroken tone per bow, in tune with the drone; halfway point, let the string ring after each bow (stretch: 12-beat bows with no audible bow change) 2. Drone intonation - Each note rings with the drone - no beats; thirds low, leading note high 3. Fifths across strings - One finger flat across two strings: a pure fifth means the hand frame is right 4. Double stops with an open string - The open string is your drone: tune each stopped note until the pair rings 5. Finger pairs (Sevcik op. 9) - Two fingers move as one unit: both notes land together, in tune, no gap 6. G major in thirds, 2 octaves - Major thirds low, minor thirds high: every third rings against the G drone (stretch: the top octave (5th-7th position) as clean as the bottom) 7. G major in sixths - Neighbouring fingers on neighbouring strings: major sixths low, minor high 8. G major in octaves - The hand frame again: 1 and 4 a fixed octave apart, moved as one block (stretch: the eighth-note pass with every octave still pure) 9. Three-note chords: I-IV-V-I - Ring three strings at once: bow near the frog, weight into the middle string 10. Fingered octaves (stretch) - Octaves without sliding: 1-3, 2-4, and the hand opens instead of shifting (stretch: the whole exercise: fingered octaves are a long-term target) 11. Chorale in thirds and sixths - Make double stops music: one voice sings on top, the other supports it
Full week, PDFs and backing tracks: https://www.grahampaasch.com/viola-gauntlet