Compendium of Chords for the Viola

About the Book

There are many resources for practicing scales and arpeggios on the viola, but extremely few for practicing chords. Understanding chords on the viola can be a very useful skill for violists for a variety of reasons; the most obvious of which is that chords appear a significant number of times in the viola repertoire. In addition, understanding chords: —helps you to think harmonically, —helps you to better analyze music, —improves your ability to sight read and to play arpeggios and double stops, —helps the fingers of your left hand to work better together as a team, and —facilitates composition and improvisation.

About the Author

Benjamin Whitcomb lives with his wife, Pamela, and twin sons in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. Benjamin was born in Florida, but spent most of his childhood in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He attended Oklahoma State University (BM, cello performance), Boston University, and the University of Texas at Austin (MM, cello performance; PhD, music theory), and he has studied with Evan Tonsing, George Neikrug, and Phyllis Young. Benjamin and Pamela moved to Wisconsin in 1999 when Benjamin joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he is currently Professor of Cello and Music Theory. Benjamin performs frequently in solo and chamber music recitals. He is a member of the Madison-based Ancora String Quartet (www.ancoraquartet.com) and the UW-W Piano Trio. He has also been a member several orchestras in Texas and Wisconsin. Benjamin frequently performs duo recitals around the country and abroad with pianist Vincent de Vries. Benjamin’s primary area of research is string pedagogy. Numerous articles of his have been published in such journals as American String Teacher, Strings, Stringendo (the journal of AUSTA), The Instrumentalist, and Theoria. He is a contributing author to Sharpen Your String Technique and to Teaching Music through Performance in Orchestra, vol. 3, and chaired the committee that revised the cello portion of the most recent ASTA String Syllabus. He has presented papers, masterclasses, and workshops at universities and conferences throughout the United States and abroad. His other books, Cello Fingerings, Bass Fingerings, and The Advancing String Player’s Handbooks series, have received rave reviews and are available for through your favorite online bookstore. Benjamin can be reached by email at whitcomb@uww.edu or through his website, www.benjaminwhitcomb.com.