Hi! I'm doin my clarinet grade 7 exam in april and need some help. If anyone has any practice routines that'll help with scales etc... they'd be really appreciated! On top of all this practice I'm doin a lot of work on my second instrument (sax) and jazz music in particular (not for any qualifications) so any other help in that direction'd be good too!

Thanks
Justdroppedtheclarinet

Heya. I'm also doin Grade 7 on clarinet as well. I'm quite worried but mty teacher said the only way of doing well (in any grade, really) is scales. Just do them and redo them (and redo them). It'll help your playing. Also, what I do is play Grade 8 pieces. (Try Fughetta by Finzi, Boosey&Hawkes), its hard but somehow it seems to make the Grade 7 pieces really easy. I'm doing V from Visions which is hard and heavily chromatical, but scales is definitely the way forward to play this sort of pieces!

Hope this helped. It's a bit like what you've probably heard many a times before, though.

In my experience, scales are not all theyre cracked up to be - people say they help technique and sight reading - i really have never been able to see how. The only problem is taht they are really improtant for Jazz - so you kinda have to know them.

one way i find of learning them is playing in different styles. Play the scale starting on a different note (eg C maj on e etc.) - this is very useful to jazz and helps you remember.
Also try playing them in thirds (1,3,2,4,3,5,4,6,etc...), and JAZZ EM UP.
Also... try Jamey Abersolds book - VOLUME 24 - "MAJOR AND MINOR" - it has tracks on it that help you learn scales for jazz on ANY INSTRUMENT - which helps you learn both your scales and your Jazz. Try it out on jajazz.com or order them frrom one of his agents in enlgand - eg jazzwise.

Hope this helps - just stick at the scales - they borin but important for jazz.
Keep up the sax - it rules.

I'm quite worried but mty teacher said the only way of doing well (in any grade, really) is scales.

Hi I did my grade 7 last summer and working for grade 8 now (i like the finzi ) anyway i got a merit and did really badly on my scales (as usual) you should try the best you can to learn them but don't get too stressed about them, just try your best!

Scales are really really helpful on woodwind instruments, with getting used to going over breaks etc, with knowing the fingerings for the whole range of your instrument really well, etc etc. And once you've buckled down and learned them they're not that bad, and serve as a great warm-up.

I wouldn't worry too much about scales. Of course you need to know them well if you're aiming for a distinction but i''ve always mucked up on scales (failed a few times!) and still got good merits. I don't really see how scales help you play - I manage runs, alternate fingering and things like that all fine, despite my poor scales! They just seem to make me more confused! maybe it's because I don't have a very logical, mathmatical mind?...