Intermediate viola students must learn to play advanced time signatures. Playing irregular time signatures with five and seven beats per measure become more common in intermediate playing. Time signatures with three beats per measure that receive a half note per beat also begin appearing. The student must understand that a time signature consists of two parts and know what each part represents; the top number of the time signature tells the violist the number of beats in the measure, and the bottom indicates what note value holds one beat.
Intermediate players begin to learn how to slur notes by avoiding a break between each note. This presents some difficulty for the player since learning to slur requires the violist to play all of the slurred notes in a single bow stroke. A line drawn over, and sometimes under, the slurred notes indicates a slur. Slurring technique may use a down-bow or up-bow motion to complete the slur. When several slurs appear in a row, the violist will alternate bowing strokes.
Pizzicato technique involves holding the bow away from the string while plucking the strings with the bowing hand, creating a plucking sound. The player pulls his right or left hand across the string creating tension, and then releases the string allowing it to swing back to the initial position. The Bartok pizzicato involves pulling the string upward and letting it smack against the fingerboard for increased volume. While that method does occur in advanced music, an intermediate player must begin with the traditional method of pulling the string.
Students who reach the intermediate level of viola playing must learn a technique that allows them to play multiple notes at the same time. The violist can play double stops, triple stops and quadruple stops. Double stops require the violist to pull the bow across two strings simultaneously. Triple and quadruple stops require a separation between two groups of notes. Violists can't play three or four notes simultaneously due to the inward curve of the bow.