The value of scales
-
I know, and I don't like to be a stick in the mud but I've seen threads fall apart because of too much humor.
If we want to keep members and attract new ones who come here looking for help and suggestions with their playing then we should take a long hard look at what we are doing.
Kehaulani, who I hope is okay because he hasn't been here in sometime, was one who shared my thoughts on this matter. He felt there was too much humor in threads dealing with the technical aspects of playing the trumpet.
1960s King Super 20 Silversonic, 1940 Olds Recording, 1942 Buescher True Tone 400 ,1999 Conn Vintage One Bb trumpet, A 1952 Selmer Paris, A 2020 Getzen 400 and a Manchester Brass ACB custom pro Bb trumpet, a 1962 Conn Victor 5A Cornet.
-
@georgeb said in The value of scales:
I know, and I don't like to be a stick in the mud but I've seen threads fall apart because of too much humor.
If we want to keep members and attract new ones who come here looking for help and suggestions with their playing then we should take a long hard look at what we are doing.
Kehaulani, who I hope is okay because he hasn't been here in sometime, was one who shared my thoughts on this matter. He felt there was too much humor in threads dealing with the technical aspects of playing the trumpet.
In the old days of TrumpetMaster, many threads devolved into joke time. It seemed to be a popular pastime for contributors. In contrast, TrumpetHerald attracted fewer jokesters. Therefore if I wanted knowledge, I went to TH. If I wanted silly, I might visit TM. I rarely found anything of valuable (for me) content on TM. But I still visited it and now TB on a daily basis just in case. I frequently start to comment, but then think, oh why bother and skip it.
Richard III
1943 Conn 80A Cornet
2008 York Eminence Cornet
1903 Conn "The Wonder" Cornet
1947 Cleveland Clevelander Cornet -
@richard-iii
I know what you're saying and I have to admit I felt the same as you about the situation. The only thing that kept me as a TM member was the people. They were more civil and much nicer than those at TH. I feel the same about TRUMPET BOARDS. I am always looking to learn something new about playing the horn and there is far too little of that here, but I really like the members and that's why I stay.For those of us who enjoy a little laugh, we have a board for that.
-
I think the thread had already lost its way when step-wise movement was considered a scale. I posted "The Blue Room" to show that there was not actually a isle in it. There was a line from leading note to leading note as an intro to the bridge. This is nothing like the Do, Re, Mi, Fa,So, La Ti, Do of a regular scale. The reason I referred to the Pas de Deux in my first reply is that the whole piece is based on a major scale. I purposely did not include a link. Did anyone listen to it?
Ivan Hunter
Player, Designer, Builder, Writer, Teacher, Repairer
Jaeger Trumpets
Convener of Trumpet4Fun Trumpet Saturdays -
@trumpetsplus
I really don't think the thread lost its way as you state, Ivan, but we are all are entitled to our opinions, and in fact I liked your first reply. Different points of view make subjects that more interesting. And because your knowledge of music is far superior to mine, I will not debate what is or what isn't a scale. -
I do not consider scales to be evil or out of place. They are simply part of the low impact repetition toolbox that can give a student patterns for recall in many different contexts. They are an essential part of holistic development in my world. I use them for teaching just about every technical discipline that a trumpeter must develop: time, transposition, intonation, articulation, range. Naturally they are not the "only" things taught. We had a discussion about proportions during practice/ lessons at TrumpetMaster. I remember agreeing with several about approximately 1/3rd body use, 1/3rd technical studies and 1/3rd tunes/repertoire. We discussed the issues surrounding a "too rigid" structure and having the student in clear focus. During periods of high dedication, we the teachers can raise the bar at many levels - if we have a method to even define the bar..
My personal view is that we must feed our internal reward system. Measurable success changes the way that our central nervous system processes stimuli. Mosche Feldenkrais and several Yogis deal with this at an even higher level.
Proper use of scales makes the Haydn, Hummel, Neruda, Tartini, Verdi Requiem, Tschaikowsky 5 certainly "easier".
-
As always, Robin, I look forward to, and cherish, any input you have on interesting subjects such as scales. They have done, and continue to do, so much to help me play the trumpet, especially now that I am in my mid-80s and finding it tougher to play well each new year.
