Ok, I am the worst piano pupil imagineable, I dont have a strict pratice schedule, I bring in random piano pieces to play every week, and, on my scales, My fingering, is TOTALLY wrong...

and in exams, ive got away with it

Where I take my exam there is a stage, and a grand piano, the examiners table is slightly to the left to the piano, and he cant see my hands, because hes not on the stage. Ive gotten away with the wrong fingering because they sound perfectly fine, fluent, and smooth, and quick, like scale should sound, just the 'wrong' fingering!!

My teachers given up on me now and just lets me go in and play the fingering im comfortable playing, because she knows I can get away with it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
its cheating I suppose, but its so much easier!!!!!

I probably sound really wierd now, But I have my own style of Playing, I do exams, but I just enjoy sitting down and Playing some random piece In a book ive just bought


Im still waiting for my grade 5 theory results to come through, and Hopefully i would have JUST passed, which is what i wanted anyway! Im not botherd about getting a distinction or merit, because I believe music should be something that you should enjoy, and not be competitive about. People at my school get so competitive about what grade they are on, and really..I cant be botherd what grade im on, because it doesnt make anyone a better person!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im doing my grade 6 in November (if everything goes ok with theory etc) and I dont CARE if i fail, aslong as im enjoying the pieces!!!! Its whats so amazing about piano, is the ability you can just sit down, and play!


anywho, love and kisses

anna
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Hi Anna.

I know what you mean about scale fingerings.

My GI, the examiner couldn't see me playing but on GII an III they were looking right on at me.

For those last two exams, my scale fingering was commented on.
Sometimes I will cross over with my 3rd finger instead of 4th - Dmaj and vice versa.

However, my scales are still fluent and correct.
I think you just need to have consistency with which fingers you actually use so that you aren't a finger short somewhere. Especially in an exam.

The other thing to consider is, when playing a piece which has a scale structure in it (my GIII piece had a Amaj structure in the LH) your fingers automatically know where they are going. i.e LH Amaj 3rd fing C# F# G#

Fiona

Hope your theory results come through as you hope.

Scale fingering gets more important as you get higher, as you need to play faster and more accurate scales, and pieces which have scale sections in them. The fingering helps you to build up finger memory, it should be exactly the same each time you do it to ensure the accuracy, so I suppose as long as you do the same wrong fingering each time its ok

Best of luck anyway

So long as your fingering is consistent (the same all the time) and involves no awkward movement then there is no real reason why you should not keep on 'getting away with it'.
There are conventional fingerings and the reason that they are generally accepted is that they will work...but they are not the only way to do it.
The key really is consistency (the same goes for the fingering you use when playing your pieces)... without that then one day your technique will certainly let you down and prevent you from playing as well as you could.

can you tell me the exam result (theory)?
just curious
i will take the thoery exam next year February, I am so afraid about that.
i think i will be failed. what should i do.....

Sorry to be difficult... please check out the forum rules on spamming.
You have posted this 3 times!!!!

I wont be able to tell my theory result till i've got it, like...5 weeks
dont worry about your theory, lol, if you do the opposite of what I did and went through your book, did some pratice papers, you'll do fine, you need about 66 to pass, The highest I got on a pratice paper was 65, however, what ive noticed is that it gets easier every year, might just be a coincidence though

I always understood that it was the musicality of the scales that counted rather than the fingering - i.e. if it sounds good it doesn't really matter how you achieve it.
I would assume (although as I haven't played piano for years I'm prepared to be corrected!) that the suggested fingering is probably the "best" to achieve the best played scale.

well, pink piano,

There is an answer as scales have a fairly illogical finger pattern!!! I couldn't agree more, but lets just have a look at F major left hand.

How about trying to play it by putting the left hand
3rd finger on F,
2 on G,
1 on A and
4th over on Bb. If you have followed me so far, you might find that it is the same fingering as all the flat keys (Bb Eb Ab Db major) and now makes a little more sense.
3, 2, 1, and 4 over on to a black note, for all those left hand flat scales.

Now when you put F major together, 4th finger comes together on Bb and it is a piece of cake!!!!! In fact scales can be fun.

If you can do this one, come back for more.

Enjoy!

The suggested fingering is probably the best way of doing it, no doubt, its like the standerd way!

I think i just do wrong fingering because im wierd, or i just can't be botherd to do it right!

I suppose the only problem would be if when you become more advanced you may decide you need to play them with the correct fingering for some reason, eg maybe you can't get them up to speed. If this was the case you would have to go back to the beginning with all your scales are learn them the correct way which would be an awful thing to have to do.

IT HAPPENED TO ME!!!! hehehe! I just got a new piano teacher last September when I joined Junior RNCM.
My scale fingerings were ALL wrong cos i couldnt be bothered to learn them and my previous teacher got fed up of nagging me! I went up to G6 like this and learning the scales for G7 is an absolute nightmare considering I find even the simplest ones difficult!
And then theres the scales in thirds.......

Kate
x

Worst still in G.8. Scales in sixes!!
Anyway, if the music sounds nice and fluent, your fingering will be acceptable.

I like the thirds and sixths

I GOT MY THEORY RESULT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
68!!!!! whooooooo

congrats pink piano

I hate the "3rds with one hand" in grade 7 (c major)
It kills my fingers if I do the fingering in the book but if I don't it looks really weird, like a crab walking or something!

grade 8 you have to do the same in b flat. . . its not so hard seemingly. nobodys ever commented on my fingering in an exam, but i do have a tendency to get it wrong.

QUOTE

grade 8 you have to do the same in b flat

And the chromatic one is a killer!!!

I actually find the chromatic thirds easier, even though it took the longest to learn the fingering and to know where the fingers go next. I find the Bb thirds hardest because, for me anyway, the fingers don't fall as easily/automatically along the keys as they do with the C major and the chromatics.

I actually quite enjoy doing scales now, after taking the initial plunge to practice the huge Grade 8 workload. Not obsessively like the pieces but say compared to maybe most people. It is the arpeggios that I find harder, esp those on all black keys (Eb minor, F# major).

Yes, those black note arpeggios can be tricky.
I have a problem with my left thumb that makes it awkward to tuck it under and it it worst on black note arpeggios.
Alos on some uprights the piano lid gets in the way!!

The lid? What type of upright do you sometimes play on? Thankfully I've never had that problem, though I found that some of the older pianos in the music school I go to have narrower keys, so when I play on those pianos the arpeggio gaps, and all my leaps in the Chopin are a little off for the first few minutes.

What pieces are you doing for your Grade 8 sbhoa? I have you to thank for the scales actually. I nicked your practice schedule for my own use when I first knuckled down to practice them.

ooh... can I have the practice schedule too please? I'm taking grade 8 at easter (scary!!!!)

It's divided up into four groups.

Two sets of diatonic scales a day
Pick any two keys in the syllabus:-

major, harmonic minor, melodic minor,
hands seperate,
hands together - 3rd, 6th, octave apart
legato, staccato,
(melodic minor you don't need the 3rd and 6th apart)

Then the arpeggios of the two keys you picked - root, 1st inv, 2nd inv
Dominant 7th of those keys
(hands seperate, hand together)


Three sets of chromatic scales a day
Pick any three keys to start the right hand on (can be left if you want of course):-

minor third apart, legato, staccato

The same keys you picked there, do the diminished 7ths of them
(hand seperate, hands together)


Scales in thirds, two octave ones

C major, Bb major, chromatics, everyday


Altogether it takes about 40-45min a day. But I only fitted it all in within that timescale in the past month or so after I drilled in the fingering and the notes for all of them. I initially started by doing exactly the above but only one diatonic scale set a day because they took so long to learn. That plus I was going at a slower pace as well!

I found the harmonic minors a 6th apart to be the hardest to learn. It took about a month or two of tears, frustration and dogged practice to get the hang of them. I find the B minor 6ths hardest because of the awkwardness of the black keys. The thing is though, if you start to get the hang of one set, you get the rest of them pretty quickly, at least it was for me anyway.

Good luck! Advice is to get started, because once you do it is more than half the battle and now I actually enjoy them and feel more comfortable getting into the pieces after a good half hour or so of scales.

My piano teacher also said if you get a chance to go on the piano twice a day (rather than once) then divide up the scales so you do some in each session. That way you are visiting them twice a day and it gets it into your muscle memory and brain more easily. Plus 20min of scales a session is easier to swallow when you start off than 45mins!

The above is courtesy of sbhoa

thanks chopininoff and sbhoa!!!

QUOTE

The lid?

Well, the hinge part.
On my teacher's piano it is nearer the keyboard than on mine and I catch my fingers sometimes.

AS for pieces...... done the Sarabande And Rondeau and Sacro Monte.
Will be getting the new ones when they come out. (My teacher's plan).
Actually taking the exam is more of an 'if' then 'when'.
There are times when I fell that I could handle it and times when I am not so sure.
Don't know why I have this problem as I play in church every week!
Did performance assessment a couple of years ago and I think that helped a bit
I think I need to go for it as I am teaching beginners now and it would be some documented evidence of my level. I have grade 8 theory already.
Have a rather large nerves problem

Glad that you found the scales schedule useful. Takes me about half an hour.