Posted by Mike S. on May 15, 1999 at 21:08:48:
In Reply to: Re: getting used to full sized ! posted by Greg on May 14, 1999 at 09:31:17:
Hi,
>If you go over you scales every day, that might >help!!!!!!
My cello teacher (a very fine cellist, actually) used to claim that scales were totally useless. She claimed that scales were given by inferior teachers to stretch out a student's progress so that they can make more money. Though she never taught me scales, whenever scale passages were encountered in new music (sightreading), we took them at performance tempo. When I stumbled, she'd yell, criticize, and claim that my college music teachers (I was an Organ Major) "made me a dummy." I no longer study with this person.
I could never understand these claims. Considering how much orchestra music contains rapied scale passages, I consider scale proficiency to be an essential tool of the trade.
Best wishes,
Mike