Why do we practice scales and arpeggios?

Practising scales and arpeggios can be tedious and time consuming. It can seem pointless as the goal is to play pieces and songs that are stimulating to the young performer. What can be hard as well is the patterns that need to be learned. The fingering is sometimes hard to get especially when we play with both hands at the same time.

I personally have found practicing difficult in the past. Not so much for understanding the patterns but mostly for gaining a good balance between having relaxed wrists and active fingers. I have grown to love working solely on technique and it has become a joy to start the day with a few scales. 

Why do teachers and examiners focus so much on a good rendition of a scale and arpeggio? And why are scales, arpeggios and broken chords such a big part of the exam? 

Playing an instrument and the piece that have been written for it can only be achieved at the highest level when skills come together. Isolating technique from musicality and expressivity is therefore the necessary way to intertwine these aspects. Scales are a way to understand one’s hands, arms and body in order to gain the flexibility and dexterity needed to eventually play those pieces you have always wanted to play. 

You are basically making sure that you develop different technical parts of you overall instrumental technique by isolating them. In a variety of scales and arpeggios you’ll work on techniques that might occur in pieces but also there is the general technical development that’s important to address.

I am speaking of finger independence, weight and flexibility and quality of sound. But there is the also joy of playing purely technical exercises, it can give a sense of achievement not having to think about notes and movements. This freedom is very satisfying and with a lot of controlled repetition everyone can achieve this.