Scales are a big thing at my school. I got all of them from memory, Talking about the Major scales btw. I just have trouble remembering the notes fast enough. We have to play all 12 in 2 minutes. preferably 2 octaves each. So any helpful tips?

Even though we may have our scales memorized we may not "know" them. You know them but do your fingers and lips?

Here is what I teach my students. Set your metronome at 60 and play each scale in quarter notes. When you can play each and every scale at that tempo without error then the next day move your metronome up to the next marking. Follow this practice one beat per note, when all scales are correct go to the next tempo marking on the metronome. Do these every day and eventually soon will be able to play all twelve scales in 2 minutes.

JOhn

thanks. I got all but 2 at the tempo I need. I just need to practice those a little more and I got it. =] this is gonna be my best audition ever!

Well, you didn't exactly read my instructions. You should only play your scales as fast as your slowest one. So having all but two is not doing the exercise properly and not improving your skills across the board.

John

Do they need to played in any particular order? If not, you could play the scales in chromatical order (C major, then C-sharp major, then D major, etc.). That could help you play them one right after the other because you wouldn't have to make a lot of jump from one to the next.

Well we start on G concert and go chromatically up. And keeping that in mind has helped me alot. I've been practicing them more using the technique John suggested above that I neglected a while ago. So they'll be ready by next audition. thanks everyone.