Best way to learn & remember scales & arpeggios

[pavb2]

Hi all I'm taking abrsm grade 5 and looking to put some order into my practice of scales and arpeggios rather than just randomly going through them.

Should I practise them in the order of the circle of 5ths or in the order in my abrsm manual of scales arpeggio book.

What I'm trying to do is adopt a systematic approach to help me remember them

[nyiregyhazi]

Hi all I'm taking abrsm grade 5 and looking to put some order into my practice of scales and arpeggios rather than just randomly going through them.

Should I practise them in the order of the circle of 5ths or in the order in my abrsm manual of scales arpeggio book.

What I'm trying to do is adopt a systematic approach to help me remember them

Cycle of 5ths mostly. But also organise fingerings and understand them. Group them by the two basic fingering arrangements and notice the common trends, even where they are less obvious.

https://pianoscience.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/scale-fingering-made-easy.html

Trying to learn merely by rote repetition is slow and laborious. You should understand the basic fingering systems from the very beginning or you will waste hours on needless trial and error. The rest is really very easy if you get how fingering works.

[kobethuy]

Hi all I'm taking abrsm grade 5 and looking to put some order into my practice of scales and arpeggios rather than just randomly going through them.

Should I practise them in the order of the circle of 5ths or in the order in my abrsm manual of scales arpeggio book.

What I'm trying to do is adopt a systematic approach to help me remember them

One thing for sure, if you have been playing long enough you start to have a "feel" for the scale's melody. That is, you can distinguish a major scale from a minor scale, diminished, etc... and you can anticipate the upcoming notes of the scale. Also you can use a universal rule that formed a scale to map out every single scale (the whole-whole-half-whole semitone thingy).

In the case of arppegios, you would want to train your eyes so that they highlight the notes in the chords, plus train the hands to follow the pattern when playing arppegios. Combine them together and you'll be in good shape.

Good luck,
Kobe Thuy