ContinueABRSMViolinScalePracticeOnlineAfterLeavingBeijing
Shang Kun 2026-09-21 1
It happens more often than you might think. A student moves away from Beijing—maybe for a job transfer, family reasons, or to study abroad—and the first thing that gets put on hold is the violin. Especially the dreaded ABRSM scale practice. Scales are the part of practice that feels like homework. Without a teacher sitting next to you, it is far too easy to skip them, rush through them, or simply give up altogether. I have seen this pattern repeat itself for years, and each time it breaks my heart a little. Because the truth is, leaving Beijing does not have to mean leaving your progress behind.
Why Scales Matter More Than You ThinkIf you have ever prepared for an ABRSM exam, you already know that scales account for a significant portion of the marks. But the real value of scale practice goes far beyond the exam room. Scales are the grammar of music. They teach your fingers where to go, your ears what to expect, and your bow arm how to distribute weight evenly across strings. When students stop practicing scales after moving away, their intonation drifts, their bow control weakens, and their confidence in shifting positions slowly erodes. I have had former students email me months after leaving Beijing, saying they felt they had lost two years of work in just three months. The frustration was real, and completely preventable.
The ABRSM syllabus for scales is especially demanding. It requires command of multiple patterns, arpeggios, dominant sevenths, and diminished sevenths, all at a steady tempo. Doing this without guidance is like trying to navigate a foreign city without a map. You might find your way eventually, but the detours will cost you time and effort.
The Common Traps: What I See Students Fall IntoOver the past 20 years of teaching, I have noticed three recurring mistakes when students try to continue scale practice on their own, especially after leaving their regular teacher.
Trap one: Relying only on memory. Many students think they remember how a scale should sound, so they play it from muscle memory alone. But muscle memory fades quickly when you are not being corrected. A slight shift in finger placement, a slightly different bow speed—over weeks these small errors compound. By the time the student realizes something is wrong, the bad habit is already ingrained. Fixing it later takes three times the effort.
Trap two: Ignoring the bow. Scale practice often becomes a left-hand exercise. Students focus on hitting the right notes and completely neglect how the bow touches the string. ABRSM examiners are trained to listen for bow distribution, tone quality, and evenness. If you are only thinking about finger patterns, you are training only half the instrument.
Trap three: Practicing scales in isolation. Scales are not just a warm-up. They are connected to everything—pieces, sight-reading, ear training. When you practice a scale without thinking about its musical context, your brain treats it as a separate task. That is why so many students can play scales perfectly in practice but then struggle to recognize the same patterns when they appear in a piece.
How to Actually Continue ABRSM Scale Practice Online After Leaving BeijingThe good news is that online learning has matured a lot. But not all online approaches work equally well for scales. Here is what I have found to be effective, based on real outcomes with students who moved away.
First, establish a real-time feedback loop. Recording yourself and sending it to a teacher is fine, but for scales, live correction is much more powerful. A good teacher can hear in the first two notes whether your third finger is slightly flat or your bow is slipping toward the fingerboard. With modern video tools, the teacher can ask you to pause, adjust, and replay. This kind of micro-correction is what builds reliable muscle memory. Without it, you are likely reinforcing mistakes.
Second, use a structured scale calendar, not random practice. Many students open their ABRSM book, pick a random scale, play it a couple of times, and move on. That is not practice, it is repetition. True scale practice requires systematic coverage. For example, one week you might focus on all major scales in two octaves with a specific bowing pattern. The next week, you add minors. The third week, you switch to arpeggios. This kind of rotation ensures that every scale gets equal attention, and your brain builds a coherent map of the fingerboard.
Third, combine scales with ear training. If you can sing the scale before you play it, your intonation will improve dramatically. Many students who leave Beijing feel they lose their "ear" because they no longer have a teacher playing along. The fix is simple: use a drone note. Play an open G or an open D and then practice scales over that sustained pitch. It forces your ear to adjust. Even 10 minutes a day of drone-based scale practice can reverse the deterioration of pitch sense.
Fourth, treat bowing as a separate but equal element. I often tell my students: the left hand is the dancer, the right hand is the music. For ABRSM scales, you need to practice different bow strokes—legato, staccato, martelé, spiccato—all within the scale framework. A great exercise is to play the same scale four times in a row with four different bowing patterns. This not only builds technical control but also prevents boredom.
The Role of a Teacher: What Online Guidance Looks Like at Kun ViolinThis is not a pitch. This is an honest description of how we work at Kun Violin, because I want you to know what to look for in any online teacher, whether it is us or someone else. Mr. ShangKun has been teaching the violin since 2003, and he has developed a specific approach to scales that has helped many students achieve high marks in ABRSM exams, including Grade 8 and beyond.
When a student leaves Beijing and continues with us online, the first thing we do is assess where their scale foundation actually is. We do not assume they remember everything. We run a diagnostic session. Then we design a scale practice plan that fits their new schedule. Some students have only 20 minutes a day. That is fine. The key is consistency and quality, not quantity.
We also pay close attention to the psychological shift. When you are not physically in the same room, motivation can dip. So we set small milestones—like a "scale checkpoint" every two weeks where the student performs all required scales for that grade. It mimics the exam pressure but in a supportive way. Many students tell me that this structure is what kept them from quitting.
The online lessons are one-on-one, live, and personalized. Whether you are in Shanghai, London, New York, or Sydney, the lesson feels like a continuation of what you started in Beijing. The same methodology. The same attention to detail. The same belief that every student can master scales if they have the right guidance.
What You Should Look for in an Online Scale TeacherIf you are searching for someone to guide your ABRSM scale practice online, here are a few things to check. First, does the teacher have experience with the ABRSM syllabus specifically Not just violin teaching in general. The ABRSM scale requirements change periodically, and an experienced teacher will know the current expectations, including the exact number of keys required for each grade and the tempo marks.
Second, does the teacher offer real-time correction Some online lessons are just watching a video. That will not help your scales. You need someone who can stop you mid-scale and say, "Your fourth finger is sharp, and your bow is not parallel to the bridge." That kind of feedback is what builds accuracy.
Third, does the teacher have a system for tracking progress Scales are cumulative. If you do not track which ones you have mastered and which ones need work, you will waste time on the easy ones and avoid the hard ones. A good teacher keeps a simple log and rotates the focus.
Finally, does the teacher understand the emotional side Let us be honest: scale practice is repetitive. Without someone who cheers you on and shows you how each session builds toward the next, it is easy to lose steam. Look for a teacher who listens to your struggles and adapts.
A Note on Choosing Between In-Person Intensives and Online ContinuationSome students who leave Beijing choose to come back for short-term intensive courses. That is an option we offer at Kun Violin. If you can spare a weekend or a week, an in-person intensive can jumpstart your scale practice in a way that online alone might not match. But for most people, the best solution is a hybrid model: weekly online lessons with occasional in-person intensives when you visit Beijing.
That said, do not underestimate the power of a good online relationship. I have had students who started online after moving to another country and within a year they passed their ABRSM Grade 7 with distinction. The key was consistency and trust. They trusted the process, and we never let them coast.
Final Words: It Is Never Too Late to Pick Up Where You Left OffIf you are reading this and feeling guilty about the scales you have neglected since leaving Beijing, please let that guilt go. You are not alone. Many students go through this. What matters is what you do next. The violin does not forget; it just waits. And the scales are still there, waiting for you to pick up your bow and find the center of each note.
The best time to restart was the day you left. The second best time is today. Whether you choose to continue with Kun Violin or find another teacher, make sure you set up a system that holds you accountable, gives you live feedback, and keeps your ears open. You have already done the hard part—you learned the basics in Beijing. Now it is about maintaining and growing that foundation, no matter where life takes you.
And if you ever wonder whether online scale practice can really replace in-person lessons, I will tell you this: I have seen students who moved across the world and still passed ABRSM exams with flying colors, purely through online guidance. It is not the distance that matters. It is the quality of the instruction and the honesty of the effort. That never changes.
