scales is considered by most of us students 'the boring thing' but the benefit we get from it is huge. So put your votes and we will see.

I voted 'I can't get myself to play'. I often used to leave my scales to the last minute and then learn them frantically before the exam came, and I'd somehow get very high marks for them.
Now, I see how beneficial they are, they improve your sightreading, and they warm up your fingers aswell and make you give a better performance when playing your pieces. But, yes it is very boring.

it is important.and i also know .but it just a lil bit boring.although it's important.i will force myself to play for my own good.but definitely not interest.

Scales are my comfort blanket... solid and predictable settle me down when I am feeling agitated.

I find that it's actually relaxing, I just find myself in another zone when I'm doing them for long enough, I let my mind wander.

Tis a very biased question if I may say so

QUOTE (sammy @ Dec 17 2004, 04:16 AM)

scales is considered by most of us students 'the boring thing' but the benefit we get from it is huge. So put your votes and we will see.

what benifit do you get out of playing scales?

Well, when I am playing them I quite enjoy it. The hard part is starting - I would much rather play something more interesting. It is nice to play something which I know by heart and requires little effort sometimes, though, and scales fit the bill nicely. I think the hurdle is that I know "I have to..." and they never go away (unlike pieces, which you eventually complete and move onto something new).

Fred

QUOTE (sammy @ Dec 17 2004, 04:16 AM)

scales is considered by most of us students 'the boring thing' but the benefit we get from it is huge. So put your votes and we will see.

I think scales are good for your technique, but there are an awful lot to practice, and one is simply spoilt for the choice.

not boring if its done right

QUOTE (Fred @ Dec 17 2004, 08:26 PM)

Well, when I am playing them I quite enjoy it. The hard part is starting - I would much rather play something more interesting.

I totally agree with that- I hate starting, but when I've actually started they're ok.

QUOTE (sammy @ Dec 17 2004, 04:16 AM)

scales is considered by most of us students 'the boring thing' but the benefit we get from it is huge. So put your votes and we will see.

Scales do not have as much benefit as technical exercises do (Czerny, Hanon), because those exercises are more specific and specialised. However, a concert pianist still plays scales as a method of warming up before a concert, and that's useful. I've also read playing the scale of D flat major, for example before playing a piece in that key makes it easier to play all the flats.

QUOTE

what benifit do you get out of playing scales?

If you are learning a piece of music and you can spot a scale passage or arpeggio figure you can easily work it out using the scales you already know, particularly true for baroque and early classical but really almost anything. I am teaching a Kabelevsky piece to one of my students (can't remember the name lol i'm hopeless with names sometimes) that is almost entirely constructed of scale passages, my student was able to practically memorise the music from scratch in half hour flat as we went through sorting out all the scale passages. Much easier than working out every note. Scales are a means to an end, not just an end in themselves and a way of torturing students! They make reading, sight reading, and playing music so much easier.

Why are there so many more options for "boring" than "not boring"? I personally like scales.

QUOTE

what benifit do you get out of playing scales?

Every piece of music you play uses a particular scale or scales. Therefore in the long run, if you know your scales well, you can play anything.

Knowing your scales well is also a mental roadmap of your instrument.

QUOTE (DGA @ Dec 21 2004, 03:57 AM)

QUOTE (sammy @ Dec 17 2004, 04:16 AM) scales is considered by most of us students 'the boring thing' but the benefit we get from it is huge. So put your votes and we will see. Scales do not have as much benefit as technical exercises do (Czerny, Hanon), because those exercises are more specific and specialised. However, a concert pianist still plays scales as a method of warming up before a concert, and that's useful. I've also read playing the scale of D flat major, for example before playing a piece in that key makes it easier to play all the flats.

I don't think they have "not as much" benefit... they have different benefit.

Probably more for other instruments than the piano because let's face it, with the piano all the notes are there - you just have to hit them in the right order. For flute, for example, you have to learn how to play evenly over 3 octaves despite differing fingerings and the varying difficulties in the 3 registers of supporting the tone and not going wildly out of tune/wildly up and down dynamically.

As Amanda says, for *any* instrument, if you know your scales (and arpeggios, etc) well, if you can play them fluently from memory and from the page, in any key and any register, then you can play half of the music that's going to face you as soon as you see the notes. You will also know your instrument much better than someone who can't be bothered with scales.

Scales are less boring when you learn to play them really well and see how much they improve your general playing... you have to be able to see the point to them, but then you'll never not be bothered because you will realise it's a long-term investment in your playing which will pay off for all your playing days.

Practise systematically. Don't just play the ones you like, play the ones you hate and learn them properly, then you won't hate them any more.

if you know your scales you will

- know your instrument better
- be able to play in any key
- be able to sight read better
- be able to play large chunks of some music with amazing ease and fluency because it's based on all those scales you just learned.

i used to like them. now im told they are ###### i dont!!

QUOTE (Saxophonist @ Dec 17 2004, 07:18 PM)

QUOTE (sammy @ Dec 17 2004, 04:16 AM) scales is considered by most of us students 'the boring thing' but the benefit we get from it is huge. So put your votes and we will see. what benifit do you get out of playing scales?

i do NOT like scales AT ALL, but you do get benefits from scales. it keeps your fingers fit and fast well my piano teacher said so (piano). and u learn scales! helps for composition, in my opinion

I actually like practising scales, I feel like I'm really doing something that will help my playing in the future so I feel like I'm being good!

i said i can't get myself to play scales but with exams you have 2 know them

i learnt that in november

i thought i could get away with not learning them very well but i couldn't n did nearly every scale wrong

even the ones i knew!!!!

that ll teach me

i used to like them, i now despise them

I think of scales as a means to an end ......I have a friend who is extremely talented he plays some bits which sound fantastic and then tells me its just certain arpeggios and scales...so I am excited to think that all the monotony could lead to this....
BDFN Mike

I Love playing scales........no doubt about it.........nothing can be done without it.....every practice, i ll start playing scales first

I usually start with scales, to warm up as much as anything. Then return to them to work on later in the practice.

I like the way the Guildhall board gets you to play scales in their jazz exams: with the emphasis on every other note.

A well-known musicologist once said you should practise scales musically, otherwise they become technical exercises that lead you to play scale passages too technically. If you practise them musically you'll be more likely to play scale passages musically too.

Violinia

I do find scales boring, but i still try to practise them. The strange thing is i usually do really badly when it comes to playing the scales in the exam but i still get good marks. Is this just my mind or do i relly do well???????

I think people think it's boring coz we play the same notes all over and over ascending and desending non stop

@___@ it drives me mad sometimes

I was playing the G# minor scale on the piano and I nearly fell asleep because the tone of it was just ...

I love playing scales. I find them totally relaxing!