i can't do the melodic minors for my exams. ive tried learning them but they just will not stick in my head. its so frustrating

i did some on clarinet one friday night and when i tried to do them again on the saturday- i completely had no idea.

what am i going to do

Are you playing them looking at the scale book or are you playing them without the book, listening to what they sound like & thinking where your fingers are going. I'm not very good at some of them but i have got better - on the way up you play the major scale but just flatten the 3rd & on the way down you flatten the 7th & 6th as well. I find the coming down more difficult than the going up so I also practised starting at the top & coming down. Keep going Nat if I can do it so can you!

I don't use the book, otherwise i would have the problem of then trying to play them without the book!

I know all this flatten this note thing i just cant seem to remember it all and play it.

And as for what they sound like..ha...im deaf remember...they dont sound like anything to me! just weirdness

Hello Natalie

Well there are different ways of looking at / playing melodic minors. One way is to go up as the major scale of the same name , but with a lowered third note. Then come down as the scale of that note!

Eg. if it's E minor - E F# G A B C# D# etc (E major but with the lowered third = G)
Then - come back down with only an F#, as if you were in the key of G major (the relative major key). Does that make sense?

Rosemary

yeah rosemary that makes sense. on sax i can do basic ones like A, D and C minors, but even the harmonic ones of G#, Bb, Eb drive me mad let alone melodics

and for grade 6 clarinet they've got horrible ones like G# and Bb in the requirements

ive got no hope....................

Nat, play them slowly and in sections until you have your head round them. Do the bits that you really fluff up (maybe the turn at the top? or bits where you fingers have to do a lot of keywork) real slow and steady, I mean reeeeeeeeeeeeally slow, until you really know them. & try to concentrate on one or two scales at a time rather than playing them all and thinking "I can't do any of them!"

Sometimes checking it out in the book when you are playing through them slowly can be good - apart from anything else it will mean you can play them slowly and REALLY accurately, which will help a lot with developing muscle memory for those scales.

And remember also that in all of your exam, scales only count for 21 marks, of which only a small proportion will be minors, and only say half of those will be melodic minors. So don't panic - it's not the end of the world. And I'm sure they'll come with time. Be patient with yourself! Remember how nervous you were about grade 6 piano scales, and you passed that just fine!

Learn one octave at a time and repeat it over and over until you can't get it wrong then do then do the same with the second octave. You will be able to play them if you learn them that way. Have you got a date for these exams yet? Instead of learning them from a scale book, write them on a piece of paper the way Rosemary did in her post, sometimes seeing the letter names can help learn scales quicker than reading them from music.

QUOTE (sarah-flute @ May 24 2005, 09:53 PM)

Remember how nervous you were about grade 6 piano scales, and you passed that just fine!

yes but i did not get good marks for scales at piano grade6..and he commented that the melodics were not secure yet

i have to get good scale marks to make up for disastrous aural marks

no date yet thank goodness

BUT... you still passed.... and at least you are doing grade 6 aurals for at least the 2nd time... Remember, and keep reminding yourself, that you can only do your best - don't beat yourself up about it, or tell yourself you will fail... just keep telling yourself that you will do your best and give it your all, and that's all anyone can ask of you (including yourself!)... you are doing these exams on really short notice, especially the sax exam (grade 8 after such a short time is very very good) so just do your best... try and have a positive attitude, you'll help yourself much more than telling yourself you are going to fail.

Listen here Natalie! PRACTISE, then PRACTISE, then PRACTISE AGAIN. People gave you wonderful advice with your piano scales. No reason why that should not work on your clarinet. I found Rosemary's description of the melodic minor the best way to think, even though it's not the correct way. And since like me you have probably done all of them on the piano, that should help you remember them. I know it's easy to forget. In my grade 8 I remember the examiner said B melodic, and I played B harmonic (oops!)

To repeat myself, stop puting yourself down like that. That won't help you remember scales!!! Just keep working at it and you'll get there. It IS painstaking work, but it makes the effort worthwhile. Save your frustration for that BT man!!!!!!

Are you having trouble ascending or descending (or both)? Ascending just think of it as two things that you can already do: the first three notes of a harmonic minor then the rest is a major scale and keep going up. The descending has to be learnt newly as the key signature (or as others have suggested is a major scale that starts 3 notes lower).

By the way it's good to see you're playing your clarinet again since you fell out with it .

The previous suggestions are all good, I would like to add one more. I know you dislike aural, but learning to sing a melodic minor scale will help and really shouldn't be impossible if you give yourself time. I am sure you can sing the first two notes right? Add the third note this afternoon, then the fourth tomorrow morning... The advantage of this is it doesn't eat into your practice time as you can hum quietly to yourself walking between classes, or on the bus or any other time you aren't doing much. Also play the ones you can do until they sound right rather than a jumble of notes. Once you can hear what to expect you should have an easier time.

QUOTE (erard @ May 25 2005, 03:05 PM)

Also play the ones you can do until they sound right rather than a jumble of notes.  Once you can hear what to expect you should have an easier time.

Hi Nat - I agree with this - once you've the sound in your head they'll be much easier. If you play a harmonic, then a melodic, until you're used to hearing the difference I'm sure they'll stick! Or first try distinguishing them on Ear Trainer - good luck!

QUOTE (Jen W @ May 25 2005, 03:41 PM)

QUOTE (erard @ May 25 2005, 03:05 PM) Also play the ones you can do until they sound right rather than a jumble of notes.  Once you can hear what to expect you should have an easier time. Hi Nat - I agree with this - once you've the sound in your head they'll be much easier.

Definitely.

I imagine C minor or maybe A minor you can do both? get them into your brain!

Hiya!! I sympathise with you completely Nat!!Im learning grade 8 sax scales at the moment and its an absolute nightmare!! I've resorted to learning 2 or 3 keys a week eg this week i learnt everything in E and F it is so much easier that way cos you only have to think about a couple of keys rather than all of them at once. Also every time i pick up my sax i play through all the scales i have learnt so far which is about 4 times a day so i am constantly going over them. It does take time but you will begin to remember them after a while - promise! x x x x x x