# Scale practise.



## Jaws

If you are wanting to join an community orchestra, wind band, brass band, string quartet, play chamber music you will need to practise your scales. 

In the UK there is a music exam board that misleads people into believing that the best way to practising scales is by memory. Good experienced teachers realise that the best way to practise scales is to read them. This helps with sight reading, sense of key, fast eye to hand recognition. Playing scales without the music only helps with playing scales without the music and nothing else. The UK music exam board could check that people knew their scales by putting metrenome markings that the scales have to be read and played at.

If your instrumental teacher in the UK is asking you to play scales from memory I would suggest that you ask them why? Especially as playing scales from memory can really slow down how well you learn to sight read, and this can impact on how much pleasure you get out of playing ensemble music.


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## MaestroViolinist

The way I learnt scales was from a book, but I'd only be able to look at them for so long and then I'd have to play them by memory.

Just one question, how does reading scales from a book help sight reading? I would imagine that constantly playing new music would help with sight reading. And being in an ensemble group in itself would be helpful.


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## LordBlackudder

makes sense


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## Jaws

Playing scales, scale patterns and arpeggios from the music helps to internalise fingerings of read patterns so that when scanning music people recognise groups of patterns when they read them and don't have think about fingerings. This doesn't work unless all scale patterns are read, because it is speed of recognition that you are after for successful sight reading.


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## MaestroViolinist

Mm, I guess, but that's not going to help with all the sections inbetween. I still say just constantly playing new pieces would be just as good. Also when you sight read there are certain things you should do first, like look at the key signature, time signature, look through the whole thing, notice any sections that look harder and quietly play them on your instrument. Change any fingerings that you don't like. Stuff like that. Scales aren't going to help if there's a little section in the middle of it with jumps all over the place. 

I must admit though, arpeggios are good thing, because you will find them everywhere in music, but not exactly a plain scale.

Also, studies are just as good.


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## Jaws

I have a book of scales and scale exercises that has about 28 pages of scales. This may not sound a lot but each scale and scale exercise is written in one key. When I practise them I add the key signatures. What is brilliant about them is that they don't all start on the key note of the scale. I am a really good sight reader. I sight read music in sections not bars. I don't read every individual note just large groups of notes. I don't have to think about fingerings when I am sight reading, because I have done so many fingering patterns in scales and studies. Because of the scales and studies, I can also sight read all dynamics,and the phrasing.


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