Scale Exercises

[zangerzzz]

Is there a good scale exercise book out there that goes through all registers that does not have to be read down an octave?

[PaulMaybery]

Depending on what you are looking for, Rubank publishes the "Pares Scales" (Gabriel Pares) for various instruments including Tuba. The range is not that high or low. Pretty much 2 octaves F to f.
Also not all the keys are covered, but the basic keys for band and orchestra playing. There are a handful of exercises in each key also some in minor keys with mixed articulations. I usually tackle a couple of them each day to get started. The way they are set up, good breath control is needed to make the phrases work and in many cases the mixed slurred passages help quite a bit with embouchure, jaw, and tonguing. Though they are not terribly complicated or advanced technically there is much to benefit even the accomplished player.
My 2 cents.

[williamp]

I use the Allan Street Scales daily. There's one copy used at Amazon here:
https://www.amazon.com/Scales-Arpeggios ... B0000D3UNM" target="_blank
Covers all keys and variations and is written in the tuba register. Fine as is, but can be easily expanded up and down octaves to increase range. It's my morning daily meditation.

[hup_d_dup]

The best scale book you could possibly own is the one you make yourself, written out by hand or in Finale or Sibelius.

My own book, about six years old now, is huge and covers everything . . . and I mean every key, every range, major, minors, whole tone, pentatonic, even interval jumps. Meters in 2/4, 6/8, and 5/8, with duple and triple articulation. The range of my scales goes lower and higher as my playing range increases.

Make your own collection and add a couple each day. You will never run out of new scales to add.

Hup

[Art Hovey]

Mr. Miagi say: "Huh? You learn scales from BOOK?"

[swillafew]

http://www.encoremupub.com/daily-routin ... ll-scales/

I started on these in 1979 from the old Bill Bell book (Thanks Paul Maybery!). I never looked for anything better...

When I was 14 I auditioned for the "all city orchestra". My band director told me: know your scales. Me: what does that mean? Him: do you know a chromatic scale? Me: yes. Him: figure out the major scale on each note of the chromatic scale. Me: ok. ( I did it).

I knew the fingerings, played the notes, and was not very well informed otherwise. Splurge and buy the book.

[PaulMaybery]

Wow! Some really great insight on here. It's really hard to dispute the value of scales and the various ways of learning them and using them as well. I suppose that depending on what your modus of playing is, that is reading or playing head charts, your needs will vary. But facilty with scales (as is also with intervals, lip slurs, etc.) is a valuable skill that is transferable to countless musical situations.
In a lesson with Arnold Jacobs back in the 70s he made a case for scales etc, in relation to ones playing. The issue to which he was referring was about "reception and transmission." And, how it is difficult to do both simulataneously with 100% efficiency. His point: as we read music, we are in a reception mode where we take information and process it in the brain and then respond with the appropriate sound, fingering, breathing etc. YET, at the same time we need to listen for intonation, balance, tone quality, phrasing and make countless and tiny adjustments all on the fly. BUT the problem comes into play when we do all this reception stuff when we are actually trying to transmit a musical idea. I like Blokes term "auto pilot".
If we are trying to receive and transmit information simulataneously, it would be helpful that much of it does not need to be thought over and processed. That only impedes the flow of genuinely beautiful musical ideas. The more skills we can commit to auto pilot, the more we can focus on transmitting great musical ideas. But if our jobs require us to be readers, then it is critical that we can glance at musical patterns and without thinking convert them to sound. On the other hand, to those who improvise in Jazz and other aural forms, then having the skill sets as an aural skill is key. If you do both, then you need both. I seem to recall certain musicians that play by ear and sound world class, but put a simple chart in front of them and they sound like a beginner picking out notes.

Wow! I sure got off on this one. Paul

[Michael Bush]

Micah Everett has good scale books here at different skill levels, for free.

[imperialbari]

viewtopic.php?p=323516#p323516

[Paul Scott]

I’m a big proponent of scales for several reasons, (range, even articulation in all registers, etc.). In addition to the “patterns” that become internalized there is ear training involved too. So many students come to me totally unable to play anything without a written part in front of them and playing scales by memory puts the emphasis on the ears as opposed to the eyes. I will allow a student to read scales for a lesson or two (I don't see anything inherently wrong with that) but after that they have to play them without music for me. That forces them to listen to what they’re playing. They also “learn the horn”, in other words they work out how to move in half-steps and whole-steps on the tuba, (I call this learning to “climb the ladder”). I want them to hear the sound of the scale played correctly and self-evaluate their performance based on that.