Klarinet Archive - Posting 000227.txt from 1997/07

From: Ryan Lowe <ryan@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: Pentatonic Scale
Date: Mon, 7 Jul 1997 18:54:38 -0400

Sorry, I neglected to mention chromatic scales, arpeggios, etc... Because I
feel that these are entities of their own. I do use Baermann for arpeggios
and triads, etc... is there a better book that I should buy? Thanks
Ryan

At 05:02 PM 7/7/97 -0500, you wrote:
>On Mon, 7 Jul 1997, Ryan Lowe wrote:
>
>> But these two forms that I asked about are the most useful to learn? I am
>> trying to learn *all* of my scales. So far, I can play; major, natural
>> minor, harmonic minor, melodic minor, blues (1,flat-3,4,flat-5,5,flat-7,8),
>> "pentatonic major" (the form that I asked about) and "pentatonic minor". I
>> am well aware that there are oodles (sp?) of other scales, but in my
>> limited amount of time that I have each day, what would be the most useful
>> to practice? What do each of you practice (scale-wise) religiously
every day?
>
>I think you have a good start. I play and recommend to my students all
>that you have listed, except for me the pentatonic scales do not occupy
>quite such an important place. In part, the scales we play will be
>determined by the music you expect to play. If you aspire to be a jazz
>player, the blues scales are of very much importance, and you will want to
>include the pentatonic scales, too. Jazz players also need especially to
>work on the modal scales - dorian, phrygian, lydian, mixolydian, and
>locrian. (The major scale is also called Ionian and the natural minor is
>Aeolian.) Of these, the dorian and mixolydian are most used, but all have
>their place, along with various transformations of several of them.
>
>But, for playing all types of music, what seems to me to be left out of
>your routine are the symmetrical scales and arpeggios - the chromatic,
>whole tone, diminished 7th arpeggio and the augmented triad arpeggio.
>I would recommend playing these every time you practice for improving
>technical contral of the instrument.
>
>Be sure to use scales as a tool. There is no particular value in playing
>scales for their own sake, if they do not result in improvements to your
>playing. It would be an error of judgement to practice scales a great
>deal to the detriment or exclusion of practicing actual music.
>
>Ed Lacy
>el2@-----.edu
>
>
>