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Re: Why Momorize Scales, etc?

Author: srattle
Date: 2011-01-29 19:54

It's great to do rudimentary work, but I'm surprised everyone is talking about scales as though the only way to work on them is to mindlessly bash them into your fingers. Memorizing is fine, but if you actually work on scales then there is no 'memorizing' to do.

I find scale work to be very useful, but not JUST to learn the scales so they can be repeated, but they can be useful to learn so many more things.
Scales are a really great tool to work on sound, evenness, response, air flow, articulation and a number of other essential clarinet related things, specifically because they are so simple.

I go completely crazy practicing scales if I am doing it to just learn the scale, put it to memory, and move on. Honestly I don't see the point in that, not because it's useless to know your scales, but because that, to me, it completely wasted practice. Instead, I actively engage my mind, and use the scales to focus on many other factors. In the end, of course the scale gets learned.

Normally, when I 'practice' scales, I will never go through all the keys in 15 minutes and pack away, but rather put in 1 hour of work on one scale (this is the amount of time I feel I can get the full amount out of that scale) and then I leave the next scale to the next day. It makes no sense to be able to play every scale sloppily, without really understanding how each note works, not knowing which chords each note of a scale can take you.

I completely advocate learning scales, but learning them in a smart way, not mindless. Then both your fingers and your mind can know intimately how to play the scales when it comes to the real music.

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Why Momorize Scales, etc? new

CarlT

2011-01-29 00:41