I'm been using scale charts drawn using a spreadsheet for a while now and I know a few other people on here have been doing something similar.

Started off using just to be more systematic about my scale practice.
Then started giving a copy to my teacher so she can just tick off which ones she's asked me each time, instead of having to write a list in my notebook each lesson and then refer back to the last few lessons' notes to work out what to ask. Also used a copy of it to get someone to "test me" by asking me random scales when I was preparing for exams (this resulted in it filling up with ticks, crosses, question marks and exclamation marks, as the someone in question devised a system to 'grade' the results).

Well, I've come up with a new thing to do with them (inspired by the cryptic pencil markings that appeared during exam practice), so I thought I'd share it in case it's useful to anyone else.

I printed off a fresh copy of the one for the flute grade I'm working for at the moment. It lists the twelve notes across the top, and the 8 scale things down the side. A few boxes are marked with an x to show that they're not on the g7 syllabus, but I'm learning them anyway. There are five copies of the table on an A4 page, with some space around them to scribble stuff down if necessary.

Instead of using one colour for each iteration of the table, to mark when each scale has been "done" (either played right first time, or played right three times in a row), which is what I did with my recorder charts this term, I'm using an extended traffic-light system.

If a scale thing is right first time, I colour its box in green.
Small slips, hesitations, etc on the first attempt, but right second time, I colour it in orange.
If it goes badly wrong and takes several attempts to sort out, but I do clearly understand what's in it, I colour it red. Also used to note extremely bad sound, even if my fingers aren't too bad.
I've added purple for ones where I'm still getting confused about what's in them and/or how to play them.
And will use black for the very worst, though I havn't hit those yet.

It's hard to give a hard and fast set of rules as to exactly what the criteria are to get orange/red/purple, but I recognise them when I play them!
Green has to be note perfect first time.

This 'diagnostic' chart gives a very clear picture of where the problems are, and if I use it either once a week or something like that (using an ordinary chart the rest of the time), it'll show what (if any) improvement is being made from week to week, as there are 5 charts on the one sheet.
I can also take it along to lessons, so my teacher can see at a glance how my scales are going. (She knows that I'm at the stage where I know when things aren't right and how far off the mark they are, so being able to see my assessment of good/fair/bad/grim/unspeakable will be useful.)
And we can set goals like 'getting it at least half green', or 'eliminating all purple/black'.

Now I just have to slog my way through F# and Ab scale sets (expecting a lot of red and purple there!) and I'll have one complete set of diagnostics done, ahead of tomorrow's lesson.

If anyone else tries this, let me know how it goes.

T.

Sounds a bit similar to my scales spreadsheet.

I'll compare notes with you sometime

I like the sound of that - I'll have to make one next time I'm learning for an exam, it would be a bit hard to manage at the moment as I'm doing each key in detail with double stops etc and adding a new key every 2-3 weeks. I'm the kind of person who's motivated by colouring things in/crossing them off - for the last two weeks I've had a chart in my planner counting down the number of lessons left before the end of term!

thanks.

I do a scale chart too - but mine's done as a table in Word. I get my pupils to stick it inside their exam pieces book usually. I have a space to mark when I've covered a scale in a lesson and then squares to mark off each time I hear them. I like the idea of a traffic light system though. I might give that a try.

I have an excel spreadsheet I built at work one afternoon, originally out of curiosity.
Across the top is grades, down the side are the types of scale (one octave, chromatic twelfth, etc).
Then in the box I've written what's needed, e.g. C, D, d, a.
But this spreadsheet has six tabs - one each for descant and treble, for each of AB, TG and LCM. I was just wondering what the differences were

I ought to make myself one for the AB G4 recorder scales though, so I can do coloured boxes, that sounds fab

*goes to make one*

OK. :-)




No reason you can't use one now, if you want to. You just have to design it to suit your current scalework.
For recorder this term, I had a sheet with two copies of the table next to each other (with "tongued" and "slurred" scribbled above them), and seven repeats of each table down the page.
You could make a table that shows every type of scale thing you need to learn for each key, and maybe fit two across the page and 6 down, so you have one table per key and could colour bits in as you master them.




Sounds like how I started to use mine this term with my teacher, except with no space to mark the covering of each scale in lessons (I'm expected to work them out for myself at this stage).




Mine are separate tables covering the requirements for a particular grade on a particular instrument.
For most I just mark x in boxes for scales that aren't required. And if most of them are, say, 2 octaves, I'll put a 3 in the box of any that are 3.

Recorder I do differently.
I put 1 (one octave), 2 (two octaves) 12 (a twelfth) or 1d (one octave and down to the dominant) in the box to show how a particular scale has to be done, and if a box is blank it means it's not on the syllabus.
(For g5 descant, the column headings were C D Eb E F G Ab A Bb B - no point having a column for something that isn't needed at all. Row headings are major scale, minor scale, chromatic scale, major arpeggio, minor arpeggio, dominant seventh, diminished seventh.)
One point about mine is that because I practice flute scales in sets of 8 things which start on the same note, my tables list dominant 7th according to start note rather than key, but there's no reason at all that you couldn't do it by key. In this case it'd mean that instead of 2 in the C column and 1 in the D column, you'd need them listed under F and G.)
My teacher knows what my chart means, and will translate accordingly when asking to hear things.

You sound more organised than me - mine are spread across two separate spreadsheets, both of which include worksheets for other things besides scales. One's called "descant-scales-5", the other's called "gap-year-reading-list", and the tabs have names ranging from "sheet2" to "FlutesScales7". ;-)




General point - I /could/ just use the charts on the computer, and colour in boxes using the software. But I like being able to actually colour in boxes on a piece of paper, using coloured pencils. Also means I can log stuff even if I don't have my computer to hand, and can easily take charts to lessons.

T.

I did daily piano scale charts as part of the CT course. Lots of pupils find them useful - they're on my website and pupils print them off. When the scale requirements change soon I'll need to change them all. It will be worth it though.

I have a similar thing with a red / amber / green colour code so that I can see at a glance what I need to work on. It worked really well for my G5 piano.

However, I win the most pathetic as I wrote a computer programme which randomly selects scales for me to play (it has two sections, one which is all scales and one which only includes the ones I have problems with). I found if left to my own devices I ended up playing the easy ones all the time.

Only problem is, there is a slight prob with my random number generator and so it seems like I get the really difficult ones all the time

*goes off to found the Excel lovers club and the 'get a life' club*

The need to pay more attention to the scales I don't like is what prompted my first scale charts. Made myself work through the whole lot before going back to the 'nice' ones again. And the bad ones get more attention because if I play one right first time, I move on to the next, but otherwise I work at it until I play it right 3 times in a row.

T.

In an attempt to get my scales sorted before last minute (ie the week before the exam), i made a table of all my scales at the weekend and stuck it to the piano. If i get it right first time, it gets fully coloured in, right after practice = half coloured, otherwise, nothing. It's really working - even the staccato scales and sixths are almost working!! and i still have a term left!!

A much more sensible way of doing it, but I'm not that disciplined unfortunately

If at first you don't succeed - give up and go onto something easier. My parents and friends are actually amazed that I've kept up the piano for so long as normally if I'm not instantly good at something, I just ignore it

I use a less technological method to do a similar thing. For some grades I have cards for each scale, and once I've been through all the scales, I use the cards in lessons. They choose a card, without looking to see what it is, and they play the scale. If it's okay I tick it off on the chart and put the card aside temporarily. If they don't get it right they are told to practise it, and it goes back in the pile to be chosen at random another week. I also let them take the cards home to use there.

I tell my pupils to work at their scales etc in family groups. I have not read the entire thread so i don't know if this has been mentioned before but it is a good plan to practise C major scale with separate hands, in similar motion, contrary motion, in octaves and thirds, the same with the minors as appropriate, C major broken chords or arpeggios with their inversions, diminished and dominant 7ths on C, chromatic scales on C and so on. It seems far more logical to me and it will seem as if there are far less of them to learn.

That's what I do for woodwind. Pick a note and play everything I can that starts on it.
My charts are laid out with note names across the top and a list of "scale things" down the side.
Not yet working for anything that requires thirds or whole tones (and the separate hands/similar/contrary motion thing doesn't apply), so it's just major and both minor and chromatic scales, major and minor arpeggios, dominant and diminished sevenths.

My keyboard charts are laid out the same way, but I don't use them for routine practice as I just rattle through the whole lot in one go. I try to mix it up a bit from time to time, but usually go through type by type (either round the circle of 5ths, or moving up in semitones). I don't envisage switching to doing them in sets as I tend to do all the pedal scales together, all the pedal/LH contraries together and all the manual stuff together.

T.

Well, I took my new 'diagnostic' chart along to my lesson today and my teacher agrees it's useful. She could see exactly which areas I'm having the most problems with and was very quick to grasp the slightly fuzzy line between orange and red. As I often play individual scales either better or worse in my lesson than they've been in practice sessions, it also lets her see how they're going at home.

One trend that was much clearer on the chart than it might've been otherwise was what's going on with my chromatics. Orange for C (I'd had a slight stumble sliding my pinky between C and C#), then several green, followed by several orange, followed by several red. We both already knew I wasn't as happy with the higher ones in general, but this made it apparent that it's actually very specifically about altitude! So, some very careful work on chromatic in the upper octave is in order.

I'm going to do another round of diagnostics every week or two, and take the sheet along to my first lesson next term. It'll be interesting to see how things progress. In between times, I'll do a mixture of my normal scale practice routine (once each if right firts time, otherwise work until right 3 times in a row), and more targetted stuff (where the 'safer' ones get skipped entirely in favour of some very targetted work on the main problem areas, like Eb and Ab minors (the only purple so far) and the high altitude chromatic.

T.