Practising scales
Just wondering if you could share some tips on practising scales?
I guess there are two ways of practising scales – one is to learn them to play correctly in an exam, and the other is playing to maintain technique (if you aren’t doing exams or when you’ve passed them all!). The approach for each will probably be quite different.
When I was studying for the ABRSM exams (violin), after carefully playing and memorising each scale, I used to then group the scales according to their fingerings and practise a different group every few days. So the major scales Ab – A major would be one group, Bb – F would be another, etc. I found this to be an efficient way to learn all the scales. Closer to the exam, I would then pick scales/arpeggios in random order to make sure they were all strong. Whatever methods you use, the key is consistency and year-round practice, rather than a frantic dash two weeks before an exam!
Playing scales is a great way to maintain technique. Good for tuning, learning new music and keeping the fingers (and brain) agile. So it’s great to do this regularly, even if you aren’t taking exams. To maintain technique, I like to the Carl Flesch scale system. It’s fun to take a new scale each week and I find it certainly keeps my fingers nimble 🙂
Rhoda Barfoot is a violinist and experienced strings teacher and is director of The Strings Family. Think of Rhoda as your personal shopper for the stringed instruments world! If you have a question about stringed instruments, music study or related topics, check with Ask Rhoda on The Strings Family website.