Thursday, September 13, 2018

What is the point ...

... of practicing scale


Piano practice stock image
Piano practice stock image. Picture: Getty stock image
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They're the bane of every young (and not so young) musicians' life. But why have scales become so key to music practice?
By Victoria Longdon, ClassicFM London
Did you learn an instrument at school? If so it’s highly likely that your teacher gave you scales to practise. These humble little exercises consist of playing set patterns of notes up and down, and are a staple of most mainstream music exams.
It's also highly likely that your teacher never explained to you why you had to learn these (whisper it) boring exercises, or the multitude of benefits they can bring to your playing.
Because – believe it or not – scales weren’t invented purely to make exam candidates sweat.
So let’s demystify this musicians’ ritual.What is the point of scales, and why should you include them in your practice?

Building Blocks

Scales are like a musical laboratory, or testing ground. Stripping back the intricacies and details of music allows you to focus on perfecting the foundations:

Timing

Playing scales might seem relatively straightforward, but set a metronome going and you’ll soon realise that playing them exactly in time is very hard. A good sense of internal time is a must for every musician. You need to be able to keep time accurately yourself, but also play together in larger groups. Practising scales with a metronome helps you to learn to place each note in just the right place.
TIP: Once you’ve nailed your timing, scales can also be a great practice ground for trickier rhythms, such as quintuplets and sextuplets. Just set a slow metronome and try to fit four, then five, then six notes evenly into every beat.

Play your scales and you might be able to play like this one day

Ingolf Wunder - Mozart's Piano Sonata in F Major
One of Mozart's greatest piano sonatas, from a bird's eye view.

Intonation

Unless you’re playing an instrument like the piano, scales give you the opportunity to fine tune your intonation. As they develop their listening, sensitive musicians come to understand the individual tuning ‘fingerprint’ of different scales, and how to tune notes differently according to where they fall within this.

Coordination and Dexterity

When you are learning a musical instrument your muscles need to get used to moving in detailed patterns with speed and accuracy.
When it comes to training this muscle-memory, scales will be your best friend. Drilling these exercises allows you to focus on the foundations of your technique: posture, breath, finger movement etc. to make your playing effortless and serene.

Sight-Reading

via GIPHY
DON'T FREAK OUT. Scales can help here too. Put simply, scales are just sets of patterns. Knowing them will give your sight-reading a boost because a lot of music is based around fragments of the same patterns. But the benefits don’t stop there. Key signatures, chords, modulations and more difficult aspects of music theory are all much easier if you have a solid knowledge of your scales.

Improvisation

Practising scales doesn’t just help you refine your technical ability. If you’re a jazz musician, knowing your scales inside out is the foundation of improvisation, and we’re not just talking major and minor, there are a whole host of different ‘modes’ (different set patterns of tones and semitones) which give flavour to improvisation. Mastering all these different modes gives you a wide choice of palettes from which to improvise...
Scales may not sound like much, but when you hear a real master play a simple exercise like a scale it highlights the level of perfection that every musician could strive for in their playing.
Better get practicing...

A 'boring opera' and Andrea Bocelli


British tourists who paid £1,400 to watch Andrea Bocelli complain he sang a ‘boring’ opera


Tourists complained about a 'concert' starring Andrea Bocelli
Tourists complained about a 'concert' starring Andrea Bocelli. Picture: Getty
By Maddy Shaw Roberts
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A number of British tourists have complained they were ‘misled’ by a tour company, believing they would be seeing Andrea Bocelli in concert with ‘special guests’.
The advert claimed fans of Andrea Bocelli would be treated to a spectacular summer concert in the beautiful Tuscan countryside with the Italian singer and ‘special guests’.
Instead, they were presented with a little-known 19th-century opera, featuring only fleeting appearances from Bocelli.
A handful of tourists have complained, saying they were expecting to see Bocelli singing his greatest hits, such as 'Time to Say Goodbye' and 'Perfect Symphony', alongside the likes of Ed Sheeran and Barbra Streisand.
Anita Lowe, who went on the 11-night trip with her husband Christopher, said she broke down in tears because she was so disappointed with the event. She complained to the tour company, Leger Holidays, who offered her £350 as compensation.
She told the Daily Mail: “I wanted to see him singing his well-known songs. We didn’t book to see an opera. I thought it would be like a concert at the O2 in London, where he performs his greatest hits with guests like Ed Sheeran.
Watch Ed Sheeran and Andrea Bocelli sing 'Perfect' together live
Credit: Youtube / MrNoseyman61
“When he did it in New York he had Barbra Streisand, so when it said special guests we expected stars. If it was La Traviata or Verdi or something it would have been better, but it was a classical opera that no one knew anything about.
“I watch some opera on TV and I like Pavarotti, but this was a full opera with wigs and heaving chests. We couldn’t understand the transcript – it was all in Italian.
“We wouldn’t have paid all that money if it had been advertised as an opera. It’s like booking tickets to see the rugby and getting there and being greeted with a ballet.”
The opera was ‘Andrea Chenier’, a work by Umberto Giordano about the life of the French poet Andre Chenier, who was executed during the French Revolution.
The concert, which took place in Bocelli’s hometown of Lajatico on 27 July, was part of a package coach tour which also included visits to Pisa, Lucca, Florence, Montecatini Terme and Volterra.
Jenny Bell, who was also on the tour, told the Daily Mail: “I was beyond disappointed. I thought the opera was maybe being put on as an intro for the first 15 minutes, [and then] I thought the concert was about to start. Some people didn’t even know Andrea Bocelli had been on because he had a very minor role. It was a very boring opera.”
Andrea Bocelli sings ‘Time To Say Goodbye’ (live at The Global Awards 2018)
Mrs Lowe said ten tourists on the trip had since been offered a total of £1,650 by Leger Holidays.
In a letter, the travel company apologised and claimed they were also unaware of the details of the concert.
“[We] must categorically stress to you that we, like many other independent visitors of the performance, were not made aware that the concert was due to be an opera, as naturally we would have made you and your fellow guests aware of the information.
“Nonetheless... I am truly sorry for the prolonged disappointment you have been caused by the performance of Andrea Bocelli, and if you believe you have been misled by Leger Holidays.”
In a statement, a spokesman for Leger Holidays added: “We are particularly concerned regarding the disappointment our customers have experienced and we are liaising with our guests individually.”

Andrea Bocelli performs at the Classic BRIT Awards 2018

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