i am struggling to practise grade 7 scales on violin. i'm wondering how do you guys practise them? i struggle on the shifting and trying to do three or seven notes to a bow. how do you do that?

I play them with seperate bows up and down a few times until the sound is fixed in my head and I'm comfortable with the fingering, and then I try them bowed with the different bowing options and finally decide which I prefer.

*Sardine does a little dance as she realises that she never has to do scales ever again after taking Grade 8 earlier this afternoon*

Ahem. So yes. Hope that helped a bit! Good Luck

grade 8 wow lucky you
how did it go Sardine?

& if u don't like the fingering they've given u, u can always change it. eg. shifting in a more easier place.

Hi Cecilia, it didn't go too badly, thanks for asking! Had a hard examiner who wasn't particularly friendly but hey. I think I should have done ok

Im struggling on the gr 7 scales 2! i can cope with some of them, but others are just awful. then again, i did fail the gr6 ones!

Yeh I hate the grade 7 scales too...
In TCL exams you have the option of not doing scales... sigh...

are you kidding? ARE YOU KIDDING!

I've never tried this, but heres a suggestion:
try playing it seperate bows, then two notes to a bow, then three, then four, then five etc. till you've got all that you need in a bow and don't move on till you've got each bit perfect at least a few times.

oh that's a good idea! i have tried it before but only two notes to each bow!!

[QUOTE]In TCL exams you have the option of not doing scales
Really? But how do you go about doing so?

I've big trouble with scales too!the more i practice, the worse they seem..... really frustrated to play them

happygirl

you can do a particular study instead...
don't know which ones for which grades though... grade 6 was a Mazas one.

hey, sounds hard, I find if you practice the scale first with what ever bowing you're used to (just to learn the scale first) you can give more concentration to the bowing later

Helped me anyway, Good luck!

Yes, 7 notes to a bow is difficult for scales.
Sometimes, I mark a half way point on the bow with a piece of chalk and see it you have played 3-4 notes by the time you reach this. I think bow distribution is important and very few people use the heel of the bow efficiently!

yeah! it's always really important to use the whole bow from tip to heel. i never thought about it at first but now you have to!

I find scales of D major and D minors particularlly difficult for the last few notes. Any way to improve it?

yea PUI, i find that d major and minor are quite tricky!

Just keep practicing the last few notes up and down then. I guess it's the same problem as piano, when you first learn it, C major on the piano and D major on the violin is the easiest. Then along the way you don't play it that often... until you get to Grade 5 or 8 then a lot of people complain that it's difficult. So my advice would be to continue playing the scale at least once a week even if it's NOT an exam requirement to refresh your memory of it before it gets difficult.

Don't try slurring the scales until you are very sure of the notes and fingerings. It helps to do the slurred scales at a faster speed. It's easier to fit all the notes in the bow! So just push yourself on the speed when trying them slurred!