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Re: other extended scale studies

Author: Fuzzy
Date: 2022-08-29 23:24

Ken,

I really appreciate your suggestion. Coming from a reading background myself, I found roadblocks that were tough for me to get around.

Many issues I had weren't exactly technical issues with fingerings, embouchure, or the myriad of other things we usually see discussed on the bboard - though the same "fixes" were suggested by my instructor(s) (play the pattern slowly/fingerings/scales/thirds). My issues were, instead, the result of a glitch in my thinking. My thoughts would get all flustered for a millisecond or two, and then a few milliseconds later my fingers, voicing, embouchure, etc. would expose the flustered thought. Being told to practice a pattern slowly was of no help whatsoever, nor were any of the other often-quoted "solutions." Rarely, such suggestions would help with that one exact item that one time I encountered it, but it never fixed the underlying problem.

I don't know why I had the mental roadblocks I did, but getting away from the printed page - playing in various keys and hearing the relationships between the notes (without the visual cues) really helped me get past most of those roadblocks and helped me to think in context of keys and direction (of melody/harmony). It helped me "know my way around" the instrument much better too.

Seabreeze mentioned "5 golden arpeggios" in another thread. I think that idea is a great one too, as it helps train the ears/fingers to become comfortable with the types of intervals that we're surrounded by when playing music today.

Not everyone has the mental blocks I did (perhaps no one does), but if they do - I'd strongly recommend trying your suggestion (and seabreeze's).

Thanks,
Fuzzy
;^)>>>

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