Posted by Richard on February 20, 2004 at 23:47:07:
In Reply to: Importance of learning scales posted by Rob McGray on February 20, 2004 at 23:16:37:
The longer I teach and play, the more convinced I am that playing all the scales, and regularly, helps build a better sense of intonation. Being able to reproduce--accurately--the intervals of a major scale will help you develop a better instinctive understanding of the intonation issues of your instrument and the overtone series. This is not something we talk about very much, but I truly believe better intonation happens when you play lots of scales and scale patterns.
Even though your band director only has a bachelor's degree, he has obviously had much better teaching than many people out there who have higher degrees. There's lots more to playing in band than only learning Prelude, Siciliano and Rondo. BTW, playing all those scales will probably help the woodwinds develop the technical skills to play PS&R, and a lot more music in addition.
Trust your teacher, until you see the results are not what you wanted. Keep a long-range approach, rather than focusing on the 10 minutes a day on scales.
Best of luck.