Worst Scales You've Ever Heard . . ., Hoping to make other worried teachers feel better . . . Options

[dolce@piano]

I have a Grade 2 student who got 116 in Grade 1 with 16 in scales. Perfectly reasonable, you'd think.

She, however, has wild swings, particularly in scales. She has huge difficulty remembering them, can't really hear when they're right or not and, obviously, hates playing them, backed up by musical parents who think they're a waste of time. Last week they were pretty much in place but I knew it all depended on the day.

So she goes into Grade 2 and . . . you've never heard anything like it. There were scales with 18 notes going up and 12 coming down. Ones that went up as D major (ish) and came down as G minor (ish). Arpeggios that were random plonks.

Her pieces were very good (she likes bright, loud, dance-y pieces) but the scales were just hysterical. I wonder how low a mark one can ever get ?

Anyway, hope it makes you all feel better . . . . you've got to laugh sometimes.

[bobziekins]

This might sounds weird, but I quite like practicing scales sometimes... when I can play them.

I'm fine in exams, but I remember one lesson, I tried to play F minor after I had supposedly had a week to practice. It went oh so badly. My teacher just laughed and said "You're not supposed to be playing a chromatic!"

[SueHM]

One of my adult students is really strugglng with scales. If you read the mark scheme in "These Music Exams" it seems you can only score zero if there is "no work offered". The next lowest band of marks ie a bad fail seems to be 7+. So if you play anything at all, I think you probably score 7. So then you are only really worrying about another 6 marks in order to pass the scales section. Looked at in this light, it puts scales in proportion.

Musical parents who "don't believe in scales" - what planet are they on? How very irritating.

[jenny]

Don't get me started! I have a student (a 15 year old boy) who has never been able to play scales, and it's just because he can't be bothered to put in the work needed. He got by with them in Grade 1, but really struggled with Grade 2, getting a fail mark for scales on the day. I told him at every lesson that he'd got to get down to learning them, with very little result , and before the exam I told him that I'd never sent anyone into an exam not knowing their scales before, but he still didn't learn them. Having deliberately waited for 2 years in between Grade 2 and 3, and making sure both he and his parents understood why, I'm now having the same situation with his Grade 3 scales. We decided to wait until the autumn because he's been doing GCSEs and to give him more time to learn his scales. At his lesson this week, I asked him to play C major (thinking I'd give him a gentle start) and he couldn't even play that with the correct fingering. I'm so frustrated by his attitude! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif)

[funkiepiano]

Yes, a lot of my pupils struggle with scales - so I do sympathise. Some of it's down to laziness I know, a lot of them who know the notes use random fingerings then get in a mess. I'd love to know how to push the standard up, any tips wd be welcome!

[Louise H]

I've used the 'Get Ready for Major Scale Duets' published by FJH which are a fun way to learn scales.
The accompaniments are in a range of styles so vary according to which scale is being played.

There are others in the Get Ready series - one octave scales, minor scales and pentascales as well.
If the pupil struggles to remember the patterns, then they might not be useful but they can make scale
learning more fun.


Louise

[Czerny]

There are others in the Get Ready series - one octave scales, minor scales and pentascales as well.

I'm assuming that's the first five notes of the scale, as distinct from an actual pentatonic scale?

[TSax]

I'm good at scales, I mean really very good at scales, most types of scales including obscure jazz scales, in any key. When we do scales exercises in our jazz class I get set some kind of pattern in quavers or triplets while everyone else is playing the straight scale in crotchets so it's not too easy for me.

On a course I was on over Easter they asked for a volunteer to play Bb harmonic minor, that's easy I think, and put my hand up. Only to screw it up in an inconceivable manner. None of my regular playing partners could quite believe it. It was yet another lesson for me that playing well in class doesn't necessarily translate to playing well when it counts.

[Louise H]

There are others in the Get Ready series - one octave scales, minor scales and pentascales as well.

I'm assuming that's the first five notes of the scale, as distinct from an actual pentatonic scale?

Yes - it's the first 5 notes of a scale. In fact, with the pentascale duets, the first half of the duet is major and the second half is minor - so from an aural point of view, these help the pupil learn the difference between the sound of major/minor as well. They only have to learn that the 3rd note changes in the second half.

I use them (the pentascales) as finger exercises and the duet part makes it more fun as well has having other musicianship benefits - rhythm, ensemble. I teach them initially by rote rather than from the music so the pupil learns the pattern - I do this with octave/2 octaves scales as well though.


Louise

[Cyrilla]

I'm just wondering why they call them 'pentascales' - could potentially be confusing - I'm used to referring to 'pentatonic' and 'pentachordal'.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

[chocolatedog]

There are others in the Get Ready series - one octave scales, minor scales and pentascales as well.

I'm assuming that's the first five notes of the scale, as distinct from an actual pentatonic scale?

Yup it seems to be a silly americanism for 5 finger hand position in X major/minor whatever...... I came across it in Faber and Faber Piano Adventures first....... the phrase really bugs me......... I'm sure it was never used when I was learning.......

[Cyrilla]

There are others in the Get Ready series - one octave scales, minor scales and pentascales as well.

I'm assuming that's the first five notes of the scale, as distinct from an actual pentatonic scale?

Yup it seems to be a silly americanism for 5 finger hand position in X major/minor whatever...... I came across it in Faber and Faber Piano Adventures first....... the phrase really bugs me......... I'm sure it was never used when I was learning.......

Hmmm, yes - pentatonic and pentachordal are certainly accepted terms, whereas 'pentascales' does seem to be a bit of a 'pop term'...

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

[Louise H]

Hmmm, yes - pentatonic and pentachordal are certainly accepted terms, whereas 'pentascales' does seem to be a bit of a 'pop term'...

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

I agree that the name is confusing - I rarely call them 'pentascales' to my pupils. I rather boringly call them a '5 finger exercise' or 'stairs' exercise - unless I or one my pupils can come up with a more exciting name.

I fear that this doesn't really help the OP with their pupil learning to remember the scale patterns though.


Louise

[maggiemay]

Yes, it seems to be a 'coined' name.

I sometimes do 'five-note scales' with my near-beginner pupils - I find it's a useful part of early key-familiarity, and a helpful hands-together exercise at the stage before they can properly do a complete scale octave with both hands - but I haven't normally mixed major and minor in the same one

[Crotchetymum]

So she goes into Grade 2 and . . . you've never heard anything like it. There were scales with 18 notes going up and 12 coming down. Ones that went up as D major (ish) and came down as G minor (ish). Arpeggios that were random plonks.

Her pieces were very good (she likes bright, loud, dance-y pieces) but the scales were just hysterical. I wonder how low a mark one can ever get ?

Anyway, hope it makes you all feel better . . . . you've got to laugh sometimes.

At least she went up first and then down (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)


My son is due to take his Grade 5 tomorrow and I told him about this. He's not too bad at scales (fingers crossed) and I think this made him feel a whole lot better, so thank you!