Scales

[zummerzet_lou]

Ok, I admit it ... I've let my scales slide as always want to jump into playing a piece.

I *NEED* to get back into scales big time. I understand they will make me a better player, and have their place.

So .. I'd be interested to hear which scales you practise, in which order etc.
When I do practise, I usually got through the major scales, using the circle of 4ths/5ths to order them. With each major scale, I practise it's relative minor also.

So, for example C major, A minor (harmonic), A minor (melodic),
Followed by F major ..... etc

[Phineas]

Easy answer.


All of them. I start from the lowest note on the flute (B or C) and play all major scales as far as I can play. This is painful at first, but after a while it will become second nature.

B scale, C Scale, C#/Db Scale, D Scale, Eb Scale, Etc......

Phineas

[zummerzet_lou]

Thanks Phineas ... my flute teacher was telling me I should be playing scales over the entire range of the flute, rather than as ABRSM test you on - (ie. B->B)

Do you play 'just' the major scales, or do you then play ALL and then play all minor scales?

Do you also practise other scales daily? I'm thinking of chromatic scales, whole tone, diminished and dominant 7ths .... tongued / slurred?

I think part of my problem is that at my current speed, it will take me an hour to do all of these ....

[lianeandflute]

you could try the moyse daily exercises (these cover whole range), moyse 480 exercises on scales and arpeggios or taffanel & gaubert 17 daily exercises… or something else that i haven't thought of.

also, you don't have to do the same thing every day either. for example 1 day you could do as you do now, the next day all majors - everything, including dom. arpeggios, broken chords, thirds etc. or for 1 week do it that way and the next week all minors. or you could do everything on one tonic a day or a week. eg everything on C - major, minor, chrom, whole tone, thirds, arpeggios, dominant, diminished etc. then the next day or week everything on C#. etc. that way it's interesting and you can cover lots of things properly over a period of time. doing it all at once isn't always the best or most efficient way.

also it is of course good to practice lots of articulations. if you can't do a variety of articulations on each scale played, you can try doing 1 or two on each one and mixing it up maybe. like major scale: tongued and slurred, minor scale: slurred in pairs and double tongued, major thirds: triple tongued and two-tongued two-slurred. etc. so again, you can cover a variety of things without spending more time than you have on it. this is probably the smart way to do it (doing everything every day never works - from my experience anyway)

[Phineas]

Thanks Phineas ... my flute teacher was telling me I should be playing scales over the entire range of the flute, rather than as ABRSM test you on - (ie. B->B)

Do you play 'just' the major scales, or do you then play ALL and then play all minor scales?

Do you also practise other scales daily? I'm thinking of chromatic scales, whole tone, diminished and dominant 7ths .... tongued / slurred?

I think part of my problem is that at my current speed, it will take me an hour to do all of these ....

I play major scales daily, then work on others as needed. I do work on my diatonic arpeggios daily in all keys.

Hey if C going up.(Doing this in every key as well)
CEGB
DFAC
EGBD
etc.....

Lately I have been concentrating more on whole tone scales. But it will change as time goes along.

Phineas