Most violinists or violists who’ve decided to perform as a career have played exercises from these books. They are not quite etudes in the sense that Kreutzer or Rode are, but still much more music-like than Dounis exercises or scales.
I find they are incredibly useful, especially the first book in teaching the hand proper motion between different placements of the fingers. What I mean by this, is that when a player begins ascending in pitch, placing more fingers upon the string, the hand changes its “center” from an open to closed position. With this change, there is a slight motion up the fingerboard with the entire hand, a slight shift with the first finger’s contact with the string moving from the pad to the tip. This way the fourth finger is above the string, ready to fall in its correct position.
These simple physical changes are demonstrated easily in a lesson with Op. 1’s first exercise. A simple up and down scalar pattern can go a great distance when the hand position and facility needs to be taught.
Sevcik Op. 1