I have come across a couple of good practice techniques for scales recently, which is good as I was really lagging behind on them - I've posted about splurts and chromatic scales, and I just wondered if anyone else has any good techniques/strategies you use for learning scales?

As well as what I have posted about, I keep a record by each scale of my best fluent and solid speed on that scale, so that it is obvious which ones need the most work; I also try to play both from memory as in an exam, and from the notation so I recognise the scale patterns (hopefully!) when I come across them in pieces. I also try and do slow scale practice especially for passages that are awkward/in the high register and for the turns at the top of the scales (particularly for melodic minors where the top 3 notes up and down ie raised 6th and 7th, tonic, lowered 6th and 7th) can be really easy to fluff.

I would really like to get my scales up to scratch (or even work ahead and be ahead of myself on them as I am on piano) so any ideas you have or techniques you've used to get your scales good which you can share would be great, and maybe we can all help each other?

i've found that going the opposite way helps, and in mixed articulations and rhythms helps

do you mean starting at the top?

The opposite way gets you thinking! Alternative articulations help me to concentrate too. Slur in 2s 4s, slur 2 staccato 2 slur 3 stac 1 etc

yes

e.g. C major 2 octaves on flute

start on top C, go to bottom C and back up and repeat 3 times

Have you ever tried crabwise scales? It is where you go up in C major, come done in Db major, back up in D major etc.

I keep meaning to try that Nicki, but I need to be feeling brave....

Well, once you have gone throuhg it really slowly, it starts to make sense.

i do that a lot. B flat major and B major confuse me at the top

I shall try it one day - I want to make sure I know all my grade 6 scales though, Majors would probably be OK because I actually know them all, minors would be scary! (melodic? harmonic? decisions... then moving up a semitone!! )

Down and up.

Different rhythms, e.g. swung quavers - makes you think, and makes you practise steps between the notes more quickly. But if you start with a long swung quaver, do the scale again starting with a short swung quaver.

Have two boxes labelled "can do" and "can't do". Write the scale names on bits of paper and put them all in the "can't do" box. Each day, pull out a scale, try it tongued and slurred. If you can do both perfectly at a suitable speed, put the paper in "can do" and try another. If not, it's back in "can't do" for that one. I'm not sure whether you play them all every day, but you can do as many as you like this way. When they are all finally in the "can do" box (and this can take me a week or so), put them back in "can't do" and start again!

Take the first group of 5 notes and go up and down those. Lets take Eb major scale as an example.

Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, Ab, G, F, Eb as many times as you need to, to make them even and with a nice tone.

Go one step up, F, G, Ab, Bb, C, Bb, Ab, G, F

And again: G, Ab, Bb, C, D, C, Bb, Ab, G

When you get to the note which would officially be the top (ie high Eb), carry on in that key (up to top Bb) and back down still in the groups of 5 until the lowest ote possible (low C) and back up to the note you started on (in this case, Eb).

Well thats what my flute teacher teaches. It's a very laborious method though.

Dotted rhythms help a lot.

i.e. dotted quaver followed by a semiquaver.

And when you have that working well, you reverse the rhythm! It shows up all the problems with fingering - so you know exactly what you need to work on - and the process itself will help sort out the problems.

That's what I was trying to describe (except 'swung' - doesn't matter too much) except you explained it so much better than me!

ugh i hate chromatic scales, the only two scales im good at is the concer B-flat, and the f major scale.

I'm doing my grade 8 clarinet in four weeks, this topic has been helpful, thanks everyone !
I still have probs with my minors. It's a shame you can't play the major first !! I hava a clicky little finger on my right hand which locks from time to time, I wonder if the examiner will understand.

Hope they go well!

If your scales are learned really thoroughly then you can get to the stage where your body knows how to play it even if your mind pulls a blank... useful! I find that as there are more scales to learn though it takes more time to get each single scale that good... I try not to do all my scales *every* day because otherwise it seems terribly daunting!

Thankyou sarah-flute, so do I !! I am trying to 'cool off' at the moment but I must keep doing my scales because I am far from perfect.
I keep thinking 'must be mad, putting myself through this at 45"
But I need the push, the stimulation the exams give me, without that it's all a bit empty.

Goos luck!

I practice my scales evry day but don't spend very long on them. I practice them by playing each catagory (malor, melodic minor, harmonic minor and chromatics) up the chromatic scale ie. Cmajor, C#major, D major etc. It doesn't take long and gets my fingers warmed up!

When I did grade 8 clarinet I had to do half an hour on scales before breakfast each day, because I wasn't very good at them (and my teacher entered me for the exam a term after grade 7, so that it wouldn't interfere with my school exams).

Just adding links to some more helpful posts about scales...

Dominant and diminished 7ths, helpful stuff from Andante and Barry

On using scales to help improve the top octave

Detailed description of splurts

Andante's patented target your scales method for grade 5

The same but tweaked for grade 8

TSax on scales as more than just scales!

F&B's scale pot

Staccato tonguing on the clarinet by Elmo

High notes on the flute

Advice on grade 3 clarinet scales

I've meant to say several times, Sarah (including at Egham) that I've used the 'splurts' technique with various people over the last two weeks with a lot of success. What is more, I splurted part of the second movement of the Mouquet over a 30 minute session, and could still play the run fluently two weeks later with no intervening practice of the section. I've even got No 3 son doing it on his sax (Grade 6 in 2 weeks and he's not practising enough ).

Try it, folks, it works.

Flute: using scales to help learn to double tongue

Andante, that's great!! I haven't really tried it on pieces yet, but glad to know it works! I'm really happy that it helped

It can be a bit deadly, especially on scales (if I could force myself to really do it properly more often my scales would be amazing ) but it really does seem to help. Ahhh I'm dead chuffed now

Query and suggestion on how to practice scales over the whole compass of the instrument

Using scales to learn double tonguing on clarinets

Another one about scales and tonguing

Recorder scales: slurring

Scales & double tonguing again

Scales for tone on the clarinet

Eb, G# and Bb minors on the flute

Flute: keeping fingers close to the keys for fast scale technique

Hand position and disliking scales...

Why practise scales?

Improving chromatic scales, specifically B and Bb

Flute: F# major arpeggio

Oboe scales

flute, slurred scales (fuzziness)

Flute: tonguing chromatic scales

Minimum speed for scales

Using scales to help improve tonguing speed

Flute: getting top notes in scales

Flute: fuzziness in slurred scales

How to slur arpeggios in 12ths

Using scales to pinpoint intonation issues

Using scales to practice vibrato

Using the chromatic scale as a warm up

Link to a website which gives you drills on key signatures and scales.

Using scales to help with the higher registers on the clarinet

Grade one scales, meandering onto grade 8!

Coping with clarinet and flute scales

Using scales to practice the top register on the flute

Scales and slurring

Blues scales

Chromatic scales

A method of scale practice.

Staccato scales in the high reg (clarinet)

Thanks so much Sarah, you're a star

Well, what can you say? If it's a woodwind scale question, it's probably here!

This is really good Sarah, well done!

That's why she won the Most Useful Poster award!

Car Expert

Thanks Sarah! I shall have a look through when I start learning grade6/7 scales.

Hope it comes in useful. I'll try to post anything new that's about scale here too, and if anyone thinks of any good scale tips then please do add them as posts or links

A thread full of suggestions on how to learn scales

Help with grade 7 clarinet scales

A suggestion on how to practice scales

The theory behind major scales

How to learn minor scales

Refers to how knowing scales and arpeggios well can help with sight-reading

Flute: using scales to help in the high register

This thread contains some of the reasons we learn scales in the first place, worth reading through.

Suggestions on how to make learning scales more useful and interesting and ideas for motivating yourself!

Another ideas on learning scales post ...and another!

Playing Ab major on the oboe

High notes in scales - flute (also G3 requirements)

E melodic minor on the oboe

Advice on finger flexibility

Memorising diminished scales and another one

Scales and arpeggios for G3 alto sax

Just thought I should update this thread - I think I have got all the scale related threads since I last posted.

Please feel free to add other links/other scale learning ideas...

Something I just kind of discovered my accident... I generally work my way through scale books etc from the front. Which *should* in theory be OK, as I start where I left off - however, in practice it tends to mean my major scales are very good and then it all starts to go downhill.

So I have been working from the back: it helps to fill in the gaps, and it means there's a general trend (not absolute but vague) toward scales being easier the further I go, as I get towards scales which are lower and have been practice more!

Scale speed consistency

Scale patterns for dom and dim 7ths

Scales for double tonguing

Help for G4 flute scales

G5 flute scales

Help about the "minimum" speeds in "These Music Exams"

Breating and scales (oboe)

Tonguing at speed in chromatic scales

Chromatics going high on the flute

Evil minor scales on flute

Minimum speeds for bassoon scales

Chromatics on clarinet and sax

I find it a good idea to work through scales beginning with the major with no sharps, then one sharp, then two and so on. Do the same with flat scales too and then with minors of both forms. When you think that you really know your exam scales well ask some kind friend to test you by calling for scales at random. Having to produce each one correctly the first time is not as easy as it sounds as we all know.

Scales on Bb or A clarinet?

troubles on and tips for B major 2 octaves on the flute

Thank You Sarah. There are many useful and informative links there. I shall get started on scales later today after i have gone bed and woke up and try and use some of the techniques mentioned in the links

Ben

You're welcome, Ben, hope you find it useful

Just in case anyone wants a challenge to learn scales with others...

Just spent a bit of practice time working on Dorian minor scales. I've discovered that, since I know all my majors, the dorian isn't too bad, you just have to remember that it's as if you're starting on the second of the scale, so starting on, say, G, you're effectively working in F! it's confusing but it was very satisfying to realise that I can moreorless play 2 octaves of dorian on everything from middle C to the B above it

Thought it might be a good practice technique for checking you know your major scales, as you have to be on the ball to play with the right fingering even though you're starting on different notes. I expect it'd work quite well with other modal scales but one in a day is enough for me

Memorising scales, different tips and techniques, learning key signatures, and why the clarinet overblows at the 12th not the octave! *phew*

scales on the recorder

Scales and double tonguing

Pros and cons of learning scales, scales on the recorder, memorising scales, sax scales

Using scales to get used to how the clarinet overblows at the 12th

More ideas for scale practice

The benefit of scales esp for jazz

Making scales more interesting/musical

More ideas for memorising scales

Hi Sarah-flute ---

You have a really acute sense of hearing!
did you actually HEAR that I was going through my scales??

Not intentional, onnist guv

Over-the-top(!) scale learning method

the differences between slurred/legato/staccato etc for scales

hitting the high notes in flute scales

sax scales, where to start them

grade 6 flute scales

breathing and scales - flute