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The way I'd cheat on this exam would be to just play whatever scale I've practiced and assume the examiner doesn't have perfect pitch. Having said that, I've n

The way I'd cheat on this exam would be to just play whatever scale I've practiced and assume the examiner doesn't have perfect pitch. Having said that, I've never really had trouble with scales in any key on any instrument I've played. I don't know why people training to be professional instructors are even worried about this sort of exam. Full disclosure: I took piano the first semester of college and got an F. (I don't really know why. I think I made the professor mad or something. I got a B in "intro to Java" despite getting a 100% on every homework, lab, and exam because the instructor told the class that a "d" after a numeric literal tells the compiler that the number is represented in base 10 or "decimal". That is not what that does, and I corrected him. F for participation! Yes, I did go to a terrible school.) It was at that point that I stopped taking any classes that weren't directly required to graduate; why better yourself and become more well-rounded when internships sort by GPA descending? But I digress ;)

pclmulqdq 4y ago
There are basically 3 patterns of finger movement for piano scales with ~2 special cases that don't fit into any of them. I'm guessing that most of them were training to be music teachers on some instrument other than piano, and had to take an Intro to Piano course to get their degree.
rvba 4y ago
> I've never really had trouble with scales in any key on any instrument I've played. The fact that you dont have a problem, doesnt mean that others wont have a problem. The article even states that the piano students cant play piano. Just like tons of managers cant manage, or tons of programmers cannot code. Seriously why do people even make this logical fallacy that "everyone is as smart / decent / talented as me"? I would add thinking too, in certain countries cheating is blantant, in some encouraged.
- jrockway 4y ago
  That's fair. I just assume that people who want to make a career out of music can do everything music. I don't really have a point of reference, but I kind of totally understand the product designer type of person that just wants to make nifty shit in React and has no idea how to code up a bloom filter. Maybe it's the same thing. Scales are just trivia that make a good test question, but has nothing to do with music? If that's the case, then I hate this exam. It's just making talented people suffer for the mathematical types. I have listened to music before and I think that scales are probably somewhere in between React and bloom filters, though. I got an F in music, though, so don't ask me!

pclmulqdq 4y ago

There are basically 3 patterns of finger movement for piano scales with ~2 special cases that don't fit into any of them. I'm guessing that most of them were training to be music teachers on some instrument other than piano, and had to take an Intro to Piano course to get their degree.

rvba 4y ago

> I've never really had trouble with scales in any key on any instrument I've played. The fact that you dont have a problem, doesnt mean that others wont have a problem. The article even states that the piano students cant play piano. Just like tons of managers cant manage, or tons of programmers cannot code. Seriously why do people even make this logical fallacy that "everyone is as smart / decent / talented as me"? I would add thinking too, in certain countries cheating is blantant, in some encouraged.

jrockway 4y ago
That's fair. I just assume that people who want to make a career out of music can do everything music. I don't really have a point of reference, but I kind of totally understand the product designer type of person that just wants to make nifty shit in React and has no idea how to code up a bloom filter. Maybe it's the same thing. Scales are just trivia that make a good test question, but has nothing to do with music? If that's the case, then I hate this exam. It's just making talented people suffer for the mathematical types. I have listened to music before and I think that scales are probably somewhere in between React and bloom filters, though. I got an F in music, though, so don't ask me!