How can I improve intonation beyond 3rd position – especially up high on the A string?
Best way to get your bearings in that top octave is to play Carl Flesch Scalesystem’s one-octave A string scales, arpeggios, chromatic scales, broken third scales – and add to that whole-tone scales. Start with keys such as D, G, A in which using your own D string as a drone can be helpful, then go on to keys with more sharps and flats. If your teacher or a friend plays along with you two octaves below (either on viola, or in octaves or tenths on well-tuned piano) it can help you develop a strong sense of the core of the pitch as you play in the highest register. Supplement this with selected higher position exercises in Sevcik, op. 1, part 2, as well as the shifting op. 8, and Schradieck vol. I. Another interesting exercise is in Louis Kievman’s Practicing the Viola Mentally/Physically, where you imagine a specific high pitch and prescribed fingering, and quickly find it right out of silence, to see how well you know your fingerboard without playing up a scale. It also helps to play t
