Scales are, I was told, SO boring! Is there a simple/effective way to make practising scales interesting? If not, can one be a good violinist without having to do them? They don't sound musical to her. I once read that Menuhin said he had to learn them afterall at 19/20 (from Adolf Busch or something like that) but then what do violin teachers on THIS forum think?

First and foremost, can they be made FUN? If not, can they be lay aside for the moment till beyond grade 8 level like Menuhin?

Any thoughts welcomed.

Tess (on behalf of VN)

How abaut changing the scale "un petit peu?" (a little?) It will be fun. (It will be fun but if you change it too much, it will transform into a piece... )

I'ts good when you have to check the notes by listening verrry carefully to the pitch!

Pick a tune, nursery rhyme, current favourite, a classic, anything but something quite easy. Then play it in the key of scale you are trying to learn, then just transpose it for the next scale. But... you have to use the right fingerings - for that scale. Do this a few times, then try and play the scale, its amazing!

Start at the top instead of the bottom

Change the rhythms, and see if it sounds like a tune you know.

Try different bowings (use some of Sevcik's 4000+ as ideas)

Play them near the bridge or on the fingerboard, experiment woth soundpoints

Play them loooong and sloooow (son file)

And all the time listen very carefully for intonation and tone, thinking what it is you are doing that makes a difference in both

Oh and thought of another...pretend you are playing the Beethoven Violin Concerto, which is after all made up of lots of scales and arpeggios.

... or try them with your eyes closed, it's good for memorising them too

Vn, scales are not boring! Myba the way you are used to playing them is though. I would stay away from weird bowings until your tuning is really bang on, but anything you can do like splitting them in 3rds (eg, C major: C E D F E G etc), or playing them in octaves but not double stopped (eg, low C, high C, low D, high D etc), or playing as much of a scale as possible in 1st position, then 2nd position then 3rd (keep going up until you get as high as you need/want), you are still thinking like you do when playing normal scales, but making it more interesting.

If you still hate them, then I really think you should do them anyway. Like you, I didn't really find them useful, and so after my grade 5 I did 4 years with no scales at all. Then suddenly I had 2 months to learn them ALL for my grade 8 exam, and double stopped scales, chromatics, dom 7ths, dim 7ths...the lot. Well over 100, and then slurred! Now that took me 40 minutes every single day, and was really hard work. I wish I had started them a long time earlier and built them up gradually. Now my new teacher has made me start the Carl Flesch scale method. If you want, I can describe what you have to do for that, and you will be grateful for normal scales So now I am still doing 30 minutes or more a day, but because I've got a solid foundation from when I learnt them, I can progress much faster. Once you're over that first hurdle, it won't be anywhere near as bad, honestly!

Go on VN, just get on with it Remember that grades aren't just pieces...technique is really important, and intonation. Scales help everything

EDIT:
By the way, 2 weeks ago I started a piece which has a reeeeally fast 3 octave melodic minor scale, slurred in it, and I didn't need to practice it once. I already knew it from scale practice! Saves a lot of work. They honestly are the basis of everything.

I whole heartedly second bohemian's reply.

You might not like scales, but you do need them!!

I think scales are cool and when you can play really really fast and people will go
May be try to control the tone and speed of the scale so its sound smooth??

Like have you seen the one from www.violinmasterclass.com/ ??

http://violinmasterclass.com/scales_qt.php...ca1&sctn=Scales

I agree with Amanda and Bo, scales are important - take it from someone who doesn't know hers well enough on the fiddle and often struggles because of that, and who has discovered she is a much better sight-reader since she started doing lots of scale work on her flute