Full Version: Scales
As you know I'm taking my grade 8 at the end of this year. My scales have always pulled my marks down and I really dont want this to happen in this exam. What is the best way to learn and REMEMBER scales!? Its something that I find really difficult to do!
The best way, asI'm sure many people will tell you, is to learn to hear what they sound like. This way you always know when you are making a mistake.
A method I use for scale practise, is to write each scale on a piece of paper and stick them in a pot. I then pull them out at random and play in the regular order or legato, staccatto, tongued or similar. This is a good way I find for learning to play them at random.
As you are working for grade 8 I'm assuming here that you aren't learning any of the scales from scratch. I found the only way to do this was to play them over and over from the book until my fingers knew them by heart.
Now I just need to figure out how to stop myself getting all the different forms starting on the same notes mixed up~ which is where the box of papers comes in!
A method I use for scale practise, is to write each scale on a piece of paper and stick them in a pot. I then pull them out at random and play in the regular order or legato, staccatto, tongued or similar. This is a good way I find for learning to play them at random.
As you are working for grade 8 I'm assuming here that you aren't learning any of the scales from scratch. I found the only way to do this was to play them over and over from the book until my fingers knew them by heart.
Now I just need to figure out how to stop myself getting all the different forms starting on the same notes mixed up~ which is where the box of papers comes in!
i just write the names of all the scales on a piece of paper...than doing it over over again...that works for me...
I have always been good at scales but that's probably just because i have a good memory. I always practice them by messing around with the rythms because they can be so boring!
So I'll start off by syncopating them, long~short, long~short then short~long, short~long.
it works for me anyway. Hope this is helpful.
Alex
xxxx
So I'll start off by syncopating them, long~short, long~short then short~long, short~long.
it works for me anyway. Hope this is helpful.
Alex
xxxx
| QUOTE (tooty_flute @ Aug 11 2004, 11:39 AM) |
| As you know I'm taking my grade 8 at the end of this year. My scales have always pulled my marks down and I really dont want this to happen in this exam. What is the best way to learn and REMEMBER scales!? Its something that I find really difficult to do! |
I always recommend that people play scales and arpeggios mainly from music because that's a great way of becoming familiar with the way the notes at the extremes of your range look on the page and feeds into fluent sight-reading. It also helps you to get familiar with the more obscure accidentals that don't crop up very often in pieces even at Grade 8.
The way people memorise things varies enormously. You may find it helpful to see how many different ideas can feed into the memorising process. For some people the visual memory is the most important, and once they have played their scales from the music a lot they can "see" the page in their mind's eye.
For some people the mechanical or kinaesthetic memory is very important. After a while, once they start a particular scale their fingers "know what to do next".
Learn the key signatures of all your scales (major and minor) and arpeggios, in a logical order, perhaps starting from no sharps or flats, working through the sharps from one to seven, going back to no sharps or flats and working through the flats from one to seven. Practise saying the sharps in order F C G D A E B and the flats in order B E A D G C F.
Discover how to work out the key signature from the tonic, or the tonic from the key signature.
Learn about the cycle of 5ths.
Learn the patterns of tones and semitones for the different types of scale.
Make sure you are very familiar with the chromatic and whole tone scales, so that you hardly have to think what's a tone and what's a semitone because your fingers are very familiar with both. There's also an interesting type of scale called an octatonic scale which is fun to work out. It has alternate tone and semitone (or semitone and tone), so 9 notes to the octave instead of 8!
Make sure you know which degrees of the scale are used for the different types of arpeggio.
It's obviously useful to know what a particular type of scale or arpeggio should sound like, but you don't really want to have to play the wrong note before going to the right one! When you are practising scales from memory, if you play a wrong note don't just follow it with the right one. If you do that, you are making two wrong moves, one from a right note to a wrong one, and another from the wrong one to the next right one, but you aren't practising the correct move at all! Always go back at least one note and then play the correct move several times before moving on.
I hope this helps.
As a teacher, accompanist, chamber music player and orchestral player I wouldn't actually care if no-one ever played anything from memory. I think it's important for people to play scales and arpeggios fluently, in all possible forms, because they are the essential building blocks of so much Western classical music, but I feel that some people waste inordinate amounts of time trying to memorise when they could be developing their technique and improving their music-reading instead.
| QUOTE (tooty_flute @ Aug 11 2004, 11:39 AM) |
| As you know I'm taking my grade 8 at the end of this year. My scales have always pulled my marks down and I really dont want this to happen in this exam. What is the best way to learn and REMEMBER scales!? Its something that I find really difficult to do! |
I always recommend that people play scales and arpeggios mainly from music because that's a great way of becoming familiar with the way the notes at the extremes of your range look on the page and feeds into fluent sight-reading. It also helps you to get familiar with the more obscure accidentals that don't crop up very often in pieces even at Grade 8.
The way people memorise things varies enormously. You may find it helpful to see how many different ideas can feed into the memorising process. For some people the visual memory is the most important, and once they have played their scales from the music a lot they can "see" the page in their mind's eye.
For some people the mechanical or kinaesthetic memory is very important. After a while, once they start a particular scale their fingers "know what to do next".
Learn the key signatures of all your scales (major and minor) and arpeggios, in a logical order, perhaps starting from no sharps or flats, working through the sharps from one to seven, going back to no sharps or flats and working through the flats from one to seven. Practise saying the sharps in order F C G D A E B and the flats in order B E A D G C F.
Discover how to work out the key signature from the tonic, or the tonic from the key signature.
Learn about the cycle of 5ths.
Learn the patterns of tones and semitones for the different types of scale.
Make sure you are very familiar with the chromatic and whole tone scales, so that you hardly have to think what's a tone and what's a semitone because your fingers are very familiar with both. There's also an interesting type of scale called an octatonic scale which is interesting to work out. It has alternate tone and semitone (or semitone and tone), so 9 notes to the octave instead of 8!
Make sure you know which degrees of the scale are used for the different types of arpeggio.
It's obviously useful to know what a particular type of scale or arpeggio should sound like, but you don't really want to have to play the wrong note before going to the right one! When you are practising scales from memory, if you play a wrong note don't just follow it with the right one. If you do that, you are making two wrong moves, one from a right note to a wrong one, and another from the wrong one to the next right one, but you aren't practising the correct move at all! Always go back at least one note and then play the correct move several times before moving on.
I hope this helps.
As a teacher, accompanist, chamber music player and orchestral player I wouldn't actually care if no-one ever played anything from memory. I think it's important for people to play scales and arpeggios fluently, in all possible forms, because the are the essential building blocks of so much Western classical music, but I feel that some people waste inordinate amounts of time trying to memorise when they could be developing their technique and improving their music-reading instead.
| QUOTE (dacapo @ Aug 11 2004, 10:50 PM) |
| I wouldn't actually care if no-one ever played anything from memory. |
Three cheers for you!
Hi,
I have never had a problem with scales, in fact, I've always liked playing them. I believe that there are two parts to learning scales and arpeggios. One key issue is FINGERING, the other is KEY SIGNATURE. Knowing these two well is two-thirds of the battle, and since you are talking about grade 8, tempo is a final aspect, together with 'shaping' your scales.
With FINGERING if you look through the scales book you begin to notice that various scales share similar, if not the same fingering, e.g. C major/minor (melodic and harmonic) and E major/minor (melodic and harmonic) - I can't remember the grade 8 scales off the top of my head.
With KEY SIGNATURE, you just have to learn them - there is no other way off putting it. One way of doing so, is to initially learn them by starting with C major, then going through each major scale each time adding a sharp to your key signature, so next would be G major, F sharp, then D major, F sharp and C sharp etc. etc. Similarly, do this with major keys that have flats in them. Then repeat but looking at minor keys. This way of thought covers more than is required for grade 8, and is actually a grade 6 scales requirement. HOWEVER, this method will prove helpful in your sight-reading.
Hope this helps!
I have never had a problem with scales, in fact, I've always liked playing them. I believe that there are two parts to learning scales and arpeggios. One key issue is FINGERING, the other is KEY SIGNATURE. Knowing these two well is two-thirds of the battle, and since you are talking about grade 8, tempo is a final aspect, together with 'shaping' your scales.
With FINGERING if you look through the scales book you begin to notice that various scales share similar, if not the same fingering, e.g. C major/minor (melodic and harmonic) and E major/minor (melodic and harmonic) - I can't remember the grade 8 scales off the top of my head.
With KEY SIGNATURE, you just have to learn them - there is no other way off putting it. One way of doing so, is to initially learn them by starting with C major, then going through each major scale each time adding a sharp to your key signature, so next would be G major, F sharp, then D major, F sharp and C sharp etc. etc. Similarly, do this with major keys that have flats in them. Then repeat but looking at minor keys. This way of thought covers more than is required for grade 8, and is actually a grade 6 scales requirement. HOWEVER, this method will prove helpful in your sight-reading.
Hope this helps!
I have a very simple method. I hope you are doing piano as I am only good in that. I really don't know anything about flute.
I suggest you to hands seperately first. It also helps because the examiner might ask you to play scales in seperate hands. Then match them both in. Start with one octave and then to 2 and 3 etc. Gradually increase your speed. Make sure you get the notes and fingering(the one you are comfortable with and that doesn't interupt the notes. You can do so for 3rd and 6th apart too.
I suggest you to hands seperately first. It also helps because the examiner might ask you to play scales in seperate hands. Then match them both in. Start with one octave and then to 2 and 3 etc. Gradually increase your speed. Make sure you get the notes and fingering(the one you are comfortable with and that doesn't interupt the notes. You can do so for 3rd and 6th apart too.
| QUOTE (tooty_flute @ Aug 11 2004, 11:39 AM) |
| As you know I'm taking my grade 8 at the end of this year... |
Apologies for the long duplicate post. I'm still getting to grips with the system!
When i practise my scales, i first practise the ones with 4 sharps/flats and above
i get the hard ones over and done with first.
and then i play them all over and over and over again till i memorise it and my fingering comes on automatically
i get the hard ones over and done with first.
and then i play them all over and over and over again till i memorise it and my fingering comes on automatically
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