Author: allencole
Date: 2005-05-23 06:24
Given that I work with schoolchildren for the most part, it's hard to nail down one specific thing. Support, embouchure and tempo are matters for steady ad nauseum nagging and I happily carry out the task.
The thing that bothers me the most is that so many students learn their scales mentally rather than physically and make unnecessary calculations regarding note content and concert vs. written key. The result is additional mental burden rather than relief from that burden.
I will ask many a student for an E-flat scale, and the reply will be "that's E-flat, A-flat, and B-flat...right? My reply is "no, finger an E-flat and let your fingers do what they've practiced." (followed by a quick silent prayer on my part that they actually have practiced the thing)
I will ask others for an E-flat scale only to have them immediately launch into an F scale because they are used to getting their scales asked for in concert key.
And then, there's "i KNOW the scale, if you'll just let me look at the scale sheet!"
Finally, there the attempt to apply that scale to reading a piece of music only to find that the student has been visually conditioned to respond to a given note position with the first fingering they ever learned, even though they know that the same note might be sharp, flat or natural.
Solutions applied:
1 - Relearning scales by adding one element at a time and going down as well as up.
2 - Encouraging students to practice scales from the written music and to write the sharp, flat or natural symbol by any note that they miss more than once. (many try to memorized scales via guesswork rather than repetition)
3 - Using newly learned scales to execute simple songs by ear. The First Noel is a very easy one for this application. Ode to Joy also works well, although its range runs from fifth to fifth, instead of inside one complete root-position octave.
4 - Having the student play fairly simple pieces written in one key, but doing it in a key with the same key name altered to sharp, flat, or natural. (i.e. take a piece in A major, and read it in A-flat)
Allen Cole
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