For my Grade 7 (not with AB I have to add), I have to learn 4 scales studies. At the moment I am trying to perfect 2 of them (in F and G). I have to perform them in 4 styles (e.g. dolce etc). In each scale study there is: major, harmonic minor, melodic minor, major arpeggio, minor arpeggio, dominant 7th, diminished 7th, chromatic, blues scale, pentatonic, whole tone, and diminished (semitone-tone and tone-semitone). I was wondering what the best way was the make them perfect in all 4 styles and remembering them and making them sound the best I can. Any ideas? I am to perfect the F and G scales for January.

QUOTE (nicki_flute @ Dec 22 2004, 01:14 PM)

For my Grade 7 (not with AB I have to add), I have to learn 4 scales studies. At the moment I am trying to perfect 2 of them (in F and G). I have to perform them in 4 styles (e.g. dolce etc). In each scale study there is: major, harmonic minor, melodic minor, major arpeggio, minor arpeggio, dominant 7th, diminished 7th, chromatic, blues scale, pentatonic, whole tone, and diminished (semitone-tone and tone-semitone). I was wondering what the best way was the make them perfect in all 4 styles and remembering them and making them sound the best I can. Any ideas? I am to perfect the F and G scales for January.

Answer - practice.

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Answer - practice.

Hehe, I do practice, just wondered whether there were any techniques that help you remember them etc!

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Hehe, I do practice, just wondered whether there were any techniques that help you remember them etc!

But a big pad of sticky notes, write what you need to remember on them and......

cover your house in them!!

It works. But not that good for trees...or horses...nevertheless, very good for the poeple who make them!

Thanks, you see when I just play them as much of I can, I know 75% of them, but I don't know how to perfect them and in exams I just am so nervous, that I never perform up to my potential.

Imagine the examiner is your teacher, so they are not so scary. Is one suggestion

Thanks! Although my teachr is the kindest, and most amazing teacher on Earth, I always manage to get nervous in lessons, I even shake!

to stop scales getting boring, try playing different rhythms, also, doing jazz quavers or semiquaver dotted quaver and then go back to straight quavers makes straight quavers sound even.

which board are you taking?

I did trinty horn and piano, and the horn scale group was four notes, C sharp, E G and Bb or something and I had to do the major, both minors, whole tone, major and minor arpeggios, diminshed sevenths and dominant sevenths. In the end tho I did the study option rather than do scales, not that I cant do them, but its quicker to practice and more interesting to learn a study with a tune rather than scales.

perhaps using the scales as part (or all) of your warm up? or do one big practice of all of them in the morning, and then "reward" yourself for your good scale practice by playing through the pieces for the exam?

*realised I'm a complete band geek*

hope that help tho!

hornplayer xx

How do you guys get them all practiced and ready? I'm overloaded !!!!

I find that there are always at least 5 which need practice

My piano teacher makes me start them at the same time as the pieces! But its really hard to read scales from the music isn't it? Well I think so... I just can't follow it, so I don't...

QUOTE (Subatomic_Star @ Dec 22 2004, 10:04 PM)

But its really hard to read scales from the music isn't it?

VERY! but it's supposed to be really good for you....

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which board are you taking?

I am doing Guildhall, my note "centres" are F and G. (Have to do C# and Eb but haven't started those yet)

QUOTE (fluteandbassoon @ Dec 22 2004, 04:13 PM)

Imagine the examiner is your teacher, so they are not so scary.

yeh thats what i do...........




...........in piano of course

QUOTE (Subatomic_Star @ Dec 22 2004, 10:04 PM)

But its really hard to read scales from the music isn't it? Well I think so... I just can't follow it, so I don't...

i dont read scales from music, i learn them quicker and easier if i write the notes in letters out on paper then play them a few times on the piano and then i remember them!

I always learnt scales without music. Just knowing what the notes are and playing them (carefully at first of course).

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ Dec 23 2004, 11:35 AM)

QUOTE (Subatomic_Star @ Dec 22 2004, 10:04 PM) But its really hard to read scales from the music isn't it? Well I think so...  I just can't follow it, so I don't... i dont read scales from music, i learn them quicker and easier if i write the notes in letters out on paper then play them a few times on the piano and then i remember them!

thing is, if you never learn what they look like on the page, you won't recognise them when they come up in music, and so half the point of learning them is gone. memorising them is good, and also (IMO) easier, but you do need to know what they look like and be able to play them from music too.

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thing is, if you never learn what they look like on the page, you won't recognise them when they come up in music,

I never learnt scales from music, though I did have a scale book I always just played them by knowing wheat the notes are.
I see the sense of what you say, but even though I play scales always withouth music I still can recocnise scale passages in pieces and my fingers will go into automatic pilot to play them.

That's cool - for you - but I know too many people who learned scales by rote and then it really doesn't do them much good. At the extreme end, one girl in my village learned her violin scales all together - in the order she had been taught them - and she could play them all perfectly, but she had no idea what they were, and if you asked her to play them in a different order she didn't have a clue. I think a balance is good - after all, to exams you have to memorise scales. But it seems a little foolish (to me) to say "playing scales from music is hard therefore I won't try it", which is how a lot of people look at it - both ways are useful, and have different benefits.