On the Shires homepage: Alessi ScaleUP and ExcerptUP series. I cannot find more info about this. Can someone tell me what these series are?

I believe its a little squishy ball/12 sided die that has a scale on each face.

Thank you! Sounds a bit expensive, otherwise I would have bought some for my students...

You can buy standard 12-sided die on Amazon. Just assign a scale to each number. I use these with Sam Burtis’s method.

This actually exists?! Cool!

Why stop at 12? How will you know whether or not to play a Cb scale? You at least need a 15 sided die. Surely a "serious" student could make use of a D20 or even better, two D10s, and REALLY start practicing actual neglected scales. Forget about Cb. How will you know when to practice the Ukrainian Dorian scales...?

You can also be ready for DnD this way...

Jokes aside, it must come with a book or something right?

There's a video from Shires w/Joe - I think it's just a way to "randomize" your scale practice. If you're the type of person who is organized in your practicing - no real need. If you're a bit less organized, using one of these could help make sure that you find time for the less "user-friendly" scales.

Jim Scott

Why would anyone buy such a thing? Determine your worst scales (or any skill on the instrument) and just practice them! There are these great things called "honesty" and "maturity" and they are free!

I’ve got a 12 sided die that has scales instead of numbers. I like it, and I use it every day (thanks Gabe!). It helps to add some chance into the routine.

This kind of thing is useful for teachers too.

Didn’t Sam B have a way of using a deck of cards to choose scales to practice?

Eg.

Spades = Major scales

Clubs = minor

Diamonds = mode

Hearts = dim

You probably already have a deck of cards.

There are free random number generators on the web. iPhones have those built in, you can even ask Siri to “pick a card.” I can see the fun of having a special die that has pitches on it, if you want, but it’s really not necessary.

In The American Trombone Burtis wrote about tossing a pencil down on a piano or keyboard and using that as a random pitch.

I prefer to borrow Buddy Baker’s approach from his book (I lost my copy, I think it’s called Tenor Trombone Method). Instead of practicing random scales you set up a cycle of scale qualities and practice exercises based on that scale type over the course of a couple of days. 2 days later you move to the next type of scale and repeat it after you’ve gone all the way around.

For example, if today was your Dorian mode part of your routine work is to practice legato scales and chord arpeggios (so in this case, min7 or min9). Start on low Bb and go up the different Dorian scales/chords by whole steps (C, D, E, Gb, Ab, etc) until you run out of range. Then you start on A just below middle Bb and practice descending scales going down by whole steps (G, F, Eb, Db, B, etc.). A little later in the routine you catch the scales you missed in a staccato pattern, starting on low B to ascend and middle Bb to descend. Tomorrow you repeat, but switch the scales you start on so legato starts on B and staccato on Bb. Then the next day you repeat with a different scale quality.

I think it’s better in the long term to touch on many keys this way over time than to cram on key/scale in one practice session.

Dave

I feel like it should be a magic 8 ball instead, but the die has many more sides. Then you can go "oh wise and powerful Joe, what did you think of that last except attempt?"

And it can reply with a genuine Joeism:

"Seriously, why are you still adding vibrato?"

"Is that the most interesting question you can come up with?"

"We still have 40 minutes to go, and I'm not done talking to you about posture yet"

"We can't move on until you realize how out of tune that still is"

"Imagine a world of robotic trombone players"

"The farther out on the slide you go, the sharper you get. How is that even possible?"

"Listen one more time to me. Just play it like this."

That would be such a better tool -- no matter what you just played, Joe would be right. You could even add a button that gives realistic crying sounds from all the students who have cried on stage in front of their peers at masterclasses with Joe. And it's not Joe's fault! No one has the power to make another person cry - that person has to choose to do so. They make themselves cry. The magic 8 ball could give you a small taste of the power of an Alessi masterclass.