|
|
Post by princessmoose on Sept 28, 2006 13:43:09 GMT
Go together like a house on fire...  I have a student, working for grade 5 clarinet. Failed her scales in both grade 2 and 4. She does try to learn them and I know she practices but she just cannot seem to remember them. She is still playing G major with B flats ARGH!!! What on earth do I do with her? It's frustrating because playing wise she's fine, but scales let her down all the time. |
|
|
|
Post by anacrusis on Sept 28, 2006 15:53:55 GMT
Make sure everything else is ready for a good distinction! (At least, that's how I managed for grade 7, when I failed the scales...)  Or use Trinity, but then you become victim of the alternative study piece - I was lucky for grade 8, the study piece was fun to do.  |
|
|
|
Post by Dulciana on Sept 29, 2006 10:26:01 GMT
The thing about the study(ies) is that you don't have to play from memory, which you do with scales. Often I find that once I remind a pupil how to start, he/she can actually play the scale pretty well - the problem is remembering which one it is!
|
|
|
|
Post by princessmoose on Sept 30, 2006 14:08:16 GMT
They've always done AB so I'm sticking with them for most pupils. I have a few that I am thinking of switching to TG though.
I'm just so ARGH with hardly any of them knowing their scales. I have a grade 2 clarinet pupil who knows them all and I'm like YAY! Then I have a grade 6 flute who knows nothing and is driving me insaaaaaaaaane.
|
|
|
|
Post by SuzyMac on Oct 2, 2006 10:34:56 GMT
How is her theory? I had a rather dopey student whose previous teacher had just given her the scales book and left her to it. She couldn't fathom out why she had to learn them or that there was any pattern to them at all! Once we'd covered the construction of scales and why the sharps and flats were there, she was better. Not good, but better. She was delightful to teach if a touch perplexing  Can your students hear when they go wrong? Or do they just plough straight through? One of the things I never noticed about scales for years was that it really is once note of each name - just adjusted so it fits in to the established pattern. Hence all the daft double sharps and what-not. |
|
|
|
Post by Steve Hopwood on Oct 4, 2006 21:19:41 GMT
Amy-Jo came for her lesson tonight. This is not especially memorable, as she has been doing so for several years. I mention it merely to set the scene. Amy-Jo is not a memorable student. Aged 15 and just coming up to taking grade 4 is not an indicator of upcoming stardom. Those of you who know me will be unsurprised when I say that I love Amy-Jo very much. She lights up my life of a Wednesday night and has done for several years. She makes me laugh, in a nice way. Amy-Jo has been doing rather well of late. Last spring, she discovered the joys and benefits that spring from consistent practise - mostly thanks to PW, I feel. A few weeks ago, I loaned her an AB grade 4 exam book so she could play the Haughton jazzy piece whose title now escapes me - I feel a later edit coming on. Amy-Jo returned the following week and played the Haughton plus a couple of the earlier pieces, with evident pleasure and rather well. "I want to do grade 4 in November and play these pieces" she announced. The succeeding exchange went thus, with me starting: "Ok. You realise this is the AB?" "Yes." "With loads of scales?" "Yes. I will learn them." "Hmmmmmmmmmmmm." Tonight, Amy-Jo announced her ability to play the scales. She could, too. "What?" I demanded. "How dare you learn all those scales without being tortured first? Come on, what has happened to the real Amy-Jo? Where is she?" |
|
|
|
Post by kerioboe on Oct 5, 2006 21:03:54 GMT
Not exactly scales but Steve your story about Amy-Jo's change made me think of my daughter. She's nine and a half and has been learning the cello for about three years. Her idea of practice was to play through everything once and that was it. If I insisted she might possibly play something twice if there was a mistake but she flatly refused to start anywhere but at the beginning of a piece.
Anyway, at the beginning of September (before her first lesson) she announced that to be sure she was doing her 20 minutes daily I should put a timer on for her. (What 20 minutes I thought but did as she asked). To my astonishment she know does what I consider to be proper practise (looking at the music before she plays, playing the difficult bars in isolation etc.) and has started to complain that her teacher just doesn't give her enough work on pieces to fill up the 20 minutes! (Actually this is true). All by herself she decided that this meant she would practise scales everyday for however much time she had left!
|
|
|
|
Post by Steve Hopwood on Oct 6, 2006 7:37:42 GMT
Not exactly scales but Steve your story about Amy-Jo's change made me think of my daughter. She's nine and a half and has been learning the cello for about three years. Her idea of practice was to play through everything once and that was it. If I insisted she might possibly play something twice if there was a mistake but she flatly refused to start anywhere but at the beginning of a piece. Anyway, at the beginning of September (before her first lesson) she announced that to be sure she was doing her 20 minutes daily I should put a timer on for her. (What 20 minutes I thought but did as she asked). To my astonishment she know does what I consider to be proper practice (looking at the music before she plays, playing the difficult bars in isolation etc.) and has started to complain that her teacher just doesn't give her enough work on pieces to fill up the 20 minutes! (Actually this is true). All by herself she decided that this meant she would practice scales everyday for however much time she had left! You find yourself wondering, "Ok, what happened to my real daughter. I must have put her down somewhere and lost her." ;D To most children, 'practice' and 'playing' are the same thing. The majority learn their pieces by playing them through over and over again, stumbling in the same places. Eventually one of three things will happen: they will master the difficult passages alone; their teacher will help them master them; their teacher will decided that enough time has been spent on the piece and move them to something new. Teachers tell our charges how to practice. When we decide to spend most of a lesson tackling a difficult passage in the right way, we always finish by pointing out that the child could and should have done that by herself. "Playing through and practising are not the same thing, dear. I believe I might have mentioned this before." ;D Mostly, it is like talking to the wall, because kids will work in the way that they perceive to be best, regardless of what anybody tells them. They will start to practice properly when it dawns on them that it is more productive to do so. Teachers gently drip-feed correct practice methods in the hope of accelerating this enlightenment. Mind you, to decide on a regular practice session length and then fill unused time with scales is not something any of my lot do - I wonder why not. ;D ;D I love it when a kid shows some initiative and learns a different piece without prompting. Granted, they make a lot of mistakes but that is not the point, and I never criticise the results of such work. Would your daughter's teacher take the same attitude if she filled out some practice time by learning something on her own? You need to find out because a, "Oh no. You absolutely MUST NOT learn pieces I have not set you because you will get them all wrong" reception would be a real enthusiasm-killer. Steve |
|
|
|
Post by petite joueuse on Oct 6, 2006 9:39:16 GMT
I've got a book called "Practiceopedia" which has quite a few wacky and bizarre ideas for getting kids to practice - I think there's a web-site linked to it.
Greatest motivation to practice for my son is when his teacher genuinely notices that he HAS practised (with me standing over him, making him do it!) - he likes the fact that she notices and he clearly wants to please her, so even scales get a look in.
Greatest motivation for daughter is the wide range of gorgeous music her teacher gives her - she comes home with a new piece every other week (Debussy's Arabesque this week - YUM!!), but scales seem to be pretty far on the importance list until exams demand them.
|
|
|
|
Post by meepmeep on Oct 6, 2006 10:26:38 GMT
Is Practiceopedia the new Philip Johnson one?
|
|
|
|
Post by petite joueuse on Oct 6, 2006 13:06:38 GMT
Yep, that's the one!
Its quite fun in places!
|
|
|
|
Post by kerioboe on Oct 6, 2006 18:59:47 GMT
Mind you, to decide on a regular practice session length and then fill unused time with scales is not something any of my lot do - I wonder why not. ;D ;D I love it when a kid shows some initiative and learns a different piece without prompting. Granted, they make a lot of mistakes but that is not the point, and I never criticise the results of such work. Steve Actually every week since lessons started again my daughter has been learning an "extra piece" all by herself. (OK they are only four lines long) and her teacher has appreciated it. The scales came in for two reasons. Firstly daughter thought one extra piece was enough and secondly she remembered that her teacher had said playing scales was good for improving intonation and so she thought maybe she would give it a try. As you say, I wonder where my real daughter has gone. |
|
