the joy of scales

I didn't get round to talking about scales and technical exercises last week so here goes.

I used to hate playing scales/ arpeggios when I was a child. I don't think I really saw the point and I just found them incredibly dull.  I have since seen the light. I know LOVE practising scales and find them a really useful tool for improving all aspects of my playing and developing a sense of key.  Aside from that I find them quite engrossing and really good way into the practising mentality.  It is almost like meditation, they fall under the fingers so easily that I don't really have to think about what note comes next, or the rhythm, I can focus full attention on the sound and the smoothness of the line.

I always start my practice with scales, before my grade 8 I had a routine which took me through all the scales I needed for the exam every 2 days, with all scales in all articulations every 6 dyas.  I feel slightly lost without the confines of an exam syllabus but also it gives a freedom to work different configurations and spend more time on other technical exercises. 

So what does my practice consist of now:

SCALES
Run through one set of scales - either major, harmonic minors or melodic minors.  I am trying to move away from 2 octave scales and play from topic up to either top F#/G, down to bottom B/Bb and then back to tonic.  So far doing this for majors only and will then move on to minors.

One set of arpeggios - major, minor, dom 7ths, dim 7ths. Sometimes will play these as broken arpeggios or broken chords.

Chromatic scale: full range of instrument.

Scale of the day : this week is F major.  I do an exercise based on doing 5 note runs up and down repeated 3 times, then moving up to the next note and repeating.  This helps iron out the tricky bits that it is easy to skate over.

I am also trying to learn all my major scales in thirds, I'm just focussing on the first octave at the moment so spending the week getting F in my head.

TECHNICAL EXERCISES
These use the scale of the week as a basis for focussing specific aspects:

Tone: I do a slow scale thinking about thh tone of each note and trying to make as beautiful as possible before moving on to next note.  Only doing 1 octave of this at the moment as otherwise it takes too long.  I also do octaves at the end on the tonic to try and match the tone and tuning. I also watch very closely in the mirror at my embouchure.  I need to ensure that I keep it secure when I change notes as I have a tendency to have a little "wobble", I am trying to build more stability.

Dynamics: tone exercises are followed by more long notes, this time with dynamics, starting softly building to a crescendo on 9th beat and then decrescendo to ppp by the 16th beat.  The aim is to widen my dynamic range and open up my sound, as well as being able to control smooth changes in volume.

Vibrato: I use the metronome set between 60-72bpm and repeat the scales with 2,3 and 4 pulses on each note.  

Articulation: scales with repeated notes to get my articulation going, this is something I really need to work on.  I also sometimes repeat the first scale exercise with tongued notes or mixed articulation.

That seems to have taken longer to type than it does to do!  It usually takes me about 20 minutes to get through that lot.  Though I think I could easily spend about an hour if I had the time....

STUDIES AND PIECES
Luft study is coming on, focussed a lot more on where to breath, practising the sections between breaths and then linking them together in twos. I spent too much time on the Telemann which is GORGEOUS and also trying to sort out the basics of the Richardson piece (notes, rhythm, articulation).

Total time 75 mins,I would have played longer but my embouchure was not having it.

Orchestra rehearsal tonight and tomorrow afternoon for Mahler concert tomorrow evening.