Technical Exercises

[pavb2]

Hi All

As an older student playing for personal pleasure due to time constraints I stopped practising scales & arpeggios.

Now on reflection I think in the long run this would have improved my playing,so

I've printed major scales and arpeggios from site do I also need to practise harmonic,melodic scales & minor arpeggios?

Should I practise over 2 octaves (as taught) or go with web print outs, also fingering differs slightly from previously taught so should I go with web print outs?

Typically how long per day should be spent practising these?

Thanks for any advice

Pavb2

[scottmcc]

all of the following responses should be taken with a grain of salt, and you will probably find at least as many different answers as concordant ones.

that said, practicing scales and arpeggios over at least two octaves is important in my mind, as the transition at the end of the octave is awkward with certain scales.  for instance, g major.  one of the easier scales over just one octave, but the f#-g move is much different when you keep going up another octave instead of just turning around.

I also think you should practice all of the forms of the minor scales and definitely the minor arpeggios, as you are likely to encounter all of them in various pieces.  if you are more jazz oriented, learning various jazz scales (ie pentatonic, different modes) is a must.

different people will advocate different fingerings.  the "standard" fingerings can be found in hanon or other books of exercises/scales/etc, but people will argue about the merits of these vs non-standard fingerings.  my belief is that you should pick one and get good at it, but then also be flexible when it comes to fingerings of scale fragments encountered in pieces of actual music.  liszt technical exercises is good at this (preparatory exercises for scales, where you go through each scale 2, 3, 4, or 5 notes at a time with shifting fingerings).

I tend to spend 10-20 min a day on scales or other technical exercises, although sometimes I can't force myself to do anything technical, and other times I get into a good flow and play exercises for an hour or so.  I spend between 1-2 total hrs playing most days, and like you I am just playing for fun.  something you can do to make your technical practice more efficient is to only practice the scales/arpeggios that are in the tonality of the pieces you are currently working on.  double bonus! 

[iroveashe]

This has been discussed before and here are some useful threads that have helped me on the subject:

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,2998.msg26268.html#msg26268

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,2429.msg21143.html#msg21143

[donnxavier]

I'm also an older (and still) student; have been playing piano now for over 60 years. Also have taught (on and off) for much of that time. I play several grade 8 Chopin Etudes and am working on a grade 10 (Torrent). Your decision to drop scales and appregios is a very bad one. Liszt practiced up to 12 hours/day when he wasn't traveling or performing, and he ALWAYS started with scales and arpeggios. I pick one of the twelve keys each day and do scales, arpeggios and chords each day to start off. Take a look at the "Vienna Piano Studio"  (just google it) - - -  a web site for the real Vienna Piano Studio founded by Paul Badura - Skoda for an excellent summery of scales, arpeggios and chords and the "Circle of Fifths". I use it with my students during every lesson. Hope this is helpful

Donnxavier

[jgallag]

HOW are you practicing them? The point of scales and arpeggios is not just to get familiar with the notes and the fingerings (whichever you choose, I wouldn't worry too much), it is also to play them at speed and with perfect evenness.

By the way, I do mean to ask HOW you are practicing them. It wouldn't make much sense for me to post a bunch of stuff you already know.

[pavb2]

As usual thanks for all helpful advice and pointers to threads,so if putting together a plan what would people suggest?

Pavb2