Posted by Dean on February 21, 2004 at 07:52:57:
In Reply to: Importance of learning scales posted by Rob McGray on February 20, 2004 at 23:16:37:
You are saying this in ignorance, so it is excusable.
Most band directors these days just drill and drill their music--over and over to the metronome. Why? Because they gotta get a 1 at festival, or they gotta impress this guy and that guy, and "our band has to be better than your band" kind of thing.... THe bad thing is--at these schools, the kids cant read music worth a *&^#$&. They know their band music, sure, but thats only because it is pounded into their fingers and chops measure by measure for 3 months to get ready for the big bad band competition.... Then, when you get these kids in a private music lesson, they cant read JUNIOR HIGH level music, unless I beat it into their heads the same way...
That is what happens when you just "skip over" the fundamentals--warming up, breathing exercise, scales, flexibility, long tones... Ahh, we'll just get right to the "real" playing... The fundamentals ARE the real playing!!
In a given day of practice, if you've only got 15 minutes to play your horn, and you wonder whether you should play warm-ups and scales, or your new fun solo... play the scales!!! Much more important!
Myself, I avoided scales like the plague as long as I could, and I was the worse for it. I learned them, sure, but only enough to "get by," in my lessons, even in undergrad. When I got to grad school, I decided to really give scales some due time. I found out then that scales are amazing for the general well-being of your playing.
You know how we all have ups and downs in our playing? How some weeks, or months, we play at like 80%, and some other times we are up to 95-100%??? Well, always, since I started working on scales, the two are directly related. When I give my warm-ups and scales their due chop time, I am playing EVERYTHING 100%. When I just skip over them, I am a worse player for it. Why would I want to do anything to make me a worse player?
You may not see it, but you will appreciate these scale exercises in the future. Your band director is a smart guy--he is trying to TEACH young people to BE musicians, rather than "just" teaching the music. Believe me, it will make his music rehearsal time all the more productive than using that 10 minutes on the programmed music!