Shifting into position work
How to introduce the mechanics and what resources work best
Understanding positions and shifting is one major hurdle our students must cross. Unlike the piano or even the guitar fretboard, where the student can easily visualize all the notes, the violin fretboard can seem like a blank wilderness. For students to shift and play in higher positions successfully, they must understand how to navigate it.
Having a firm grasp of the music alphabet, whole steps, and half steps is the foundation to a good understanding of the fingerboard. One resource I love to use is Ready to Read by Tanya Lesinksy Carey. It includes over one hundred games to prepare the student for music reading. My favorite part is the included game materials, including a reproducible fingerboard map. The fingerboard map can be color-coded and helps the student understand the physical location and relationship of the notes on the fingerboard. Shifting makes sense once a student understands that the same pitch appears in several places on the instrument.
Understanding the layout of the fingerboard is not enough. A student also needs to know how to travel from one place to another physically. Shifting is not a skill the teacher should wait to teach until it appears in the repertoire. I introduce the idea of shifting very early in the learning process, for most students, within the first semester of lessons. The exercises I use are in the latest upload to the Violin Club YouTube channel and come from the fantastic warmup ideas found in Orchestra Expressions Book One.
As we learn the letter names of the notes on the different strings, we use this exercise to review them. For example, ask the student the name of the pitch they are tapping with their first finger. Then ask the student to shift their hand up to the third or fourth tape and tap again. Now, what note are they tapping? The sooner the student understands that pitches are not always played by the same finger or in the same place on the instrument, the easier it will be to tackle advancing repertoire and technique.
Here are three books in my teaching arsenal that help introduce shifting and position work:
Fiddle Magic by Sally O'Reilly. My students begin this book after completing the three minuets in Suzuki Book 1. This outstanding technique book introduces harmonics halfway through, and shifting studies begin in earnest in Group XI. I highly recommend this book to reinforce fourth finger, speed, intonation, bow arm, special effects, double stops, and finger independence. It is a gem!
Fingerboard Geography by Barbara Barber. There are many reasons I love this book, but the No Fear Shifting section is a fantastic set of exercises. It reminds me of shifting warmups my college violin professor taught us by rote and had us work on in our studio class. The excerpts that help teach shifting found in the Suzuki repertoire are also invaluable.
Introducing the Positions Vols 1 & 2 by Harvey Whistler. These are old standards, and while they are a bit dry and not very visually appealing, the exercises, etudes, and solos are excellent teaching material. I try only to cover a bit in each class session from this book and make it exciting by turning the exercises into play-offs or challenges.
What are your favorite resources for teaching shifting? What kind of resources would you like to see? Leave a comment or join the conversation on Instagram or Twitter @myviolinclub.