Musically Useul Scale Practice by Jason Siord jiano@gmail.com The study o scales is one o the oundations o iano ractice. They rovide the ianist with a means to ractice coordination, imrove inger dexterity, and gain control over dynamics and articulation. Furthermore, scales acquaint us with the major and minor keys that govern the melodic and harmonic oundation o the reertoire. Unortunately, too many ianists ractice scales in only one way: ascending and descending with a quasi-legato m tone. That's ine i your goal is to lay the Choin Ballades or Beethoven sonatas with a quasi-legato m tone, but those interested in a more richly textured rendering o these masterworks may beneit rom a more musically-aware study o scale technique. It is my hoe that this brie guide will give you a ew ideas to make your scale ractice more ruitul. Enjoy! Coyright 2008
2 Musically Useul Scale Practice The Metronome I'll ut it this way - i you ever want to accomany or lay in an ensemble with others, you need to be able to hear and ollow an external beat. Learn to do it. Ater all, i you can't ollow something as regular and redictable as a metronome, how are you going to ollow something as odd as eole? Hands Searate vs. Hands Together Do them both, lease. Practicing your hands searately hels you reine your technique and ocus on the quality o your tone. Putting them together hels you coordinate your technique and tone. Do them both, lease. Introduction: Getting the Second Octave We'll be racticing scales in two, three, and our octaves. This guide assumes that you've already learned the ingerings or one-octave scales and you're ready to move on. I you're having diiculty getting that second octave, the ollowing exercise may be o use. Simly ut, it's a one-octave scale lus one note. This can also hel you with the inger crossings that begin the second octave o white-key scales (C, G, D, A, E, and F Major.) From here on, the exercises will reer to scales being layed in two, three, or our octaves. I suggest racticing two-octave scales in eighth notes, three-octave scales in trilets, and our-octave scales in sixteenth notes. Common time is assumed or all exercises. The exercises will also be shown in the key o C Major, but you should ractice them in all 12 Major keys (And it wouldn't hurt to do the natural and harmonic minor keys while you're at it. Come on, you know you want to!) While I do suggest racticing scales in all keys, I do not suggest racticing scales in all ways. While some ianists may embark on a comrehensive study o scale technique, I tend to think o exercises as tools in a toolbox. Owning a monkey wrench doesn't mean you have to work on your lumbing. I the aucets and drains work, so be it. Also, scales will oten be notated with hands two octaves aart. This is done or two reasons. First, it looks better on the age, and second, laying scales two octaves aart romotes careul listening. This won't always be necessary, and most examinations are layed with the hands searated by one octave, but do send some o your time racticing this way. It really does hel the ears, and good listening is essential in develoing a musically useul technique! Finally, you'll notice that nothing in this guide will tell you how to ractice, only what to ractice. Not all teachers and erormers agree on the "best" hand osition or the "best" way to manage inger crossings. I leave it u to you and your teacher to ractice with good orm. Piano ractice is like a itness workout that way - the only shortcut is to ractice with good orm. There are no others.
Dotted Rhythms When a teacher hears a scale layed unevenly, the irst suggestion is invariably: "Practice in dotted rhythms!" Now or a dirty little secret - nobody really knows why this works. It might be because it demands a certain rhythmic intensity that we usually don't bring to scale ractice; it might be because it alternates relaxation and tension; or it might be because it orces us to slow down and think a bit about what we're doing with our ingers. What we do know is this: It works, so do it! The irst dotted rhythm we use is simle enough - long/short: The next dotted rhythm is a little trickier, but well worth our attention. Be careul, it's easy to cheat and switch over to long/short, so a metronome might come in handy with this one. Plus, Haydn actually uses this rhythm in real music! For three-octave scales, a siciliano rhythm also works nicely.
4 Rhythmic "Bursts" Seed is something we all want to develo. Whether it's the quicksilver sound o assagework in the last movement o Mozart's F Major sonata, K. 2 or the volcanic ascents in the coda o Choin's irst ballade, to arahrase Michael Douglas' amous line rom the movie "Wall Street," seed is good! In racticing these exercises, be sure to relax on the long notes and lay the short notes very quickly. It's okay to lengthen the longer notes i necessary - this will hel avoid tension and works great or assagework in the literature as well. As layed or two octaves, but works or three and our as well: Another ossibility using trilets: This also works well or assagework in the literature. Here's an examle on how one might ractice the LH art to the "Revolutionary" etude by Choin:
5 Accents Some call it "inger indeendence," but I like to call it "digit equality." The ingers never work entirely indeendent o one another, but we do need to be able to control the sound equally well with each digit. Practicing in rhythms can hel, but varied accent atterns can also be quite useul. Here are several variations or scales in two or our octaves: You can also accent a certain note in each grou o our. The irst: The second: The third: The ourth:
6 The same rincile can be alied when racticing three octave or trilet scales: First note: Second note: Third note: And i you really want a challenge, try it with a dierent accent attern in each hand. This isn't just an academic exercise, we use this technique in Bach ugues all the time! OR As you can see, racticing with accents has many ossibilities. Feel ree to make u your own, or steal interesting rhythms rom the literature. Bartok Mikrokosmos, or examle:
Dynamics 7 Control over hrasing and dynamics is another imortant asect o technique that can be addressed in scale ractice, and by laying dierent shades and shaes in each hand, control over balance and texture can be enhanced as well. As with accents, many exercises are ossible: OR For balance, it is oten helul to ractice a dierent dynamic level in each hand. This will hel your scales sound much cleaner and is very common in the literature. One o the biggest reasons scales oten don't sound "together" is that the texture is not transarent. I you're ever accused o not being able to lay your scales "together" or "cleanly," this is an excellent ix: AND
8 Once you're comortable with the exercises on the revious age, it's time to shae each hand indeendently: AND Articulation Tyically, we want our scales to sound "clean." In addition to the texture/balance exercises mentioned reviously, it is also imortant to be aware o this ianistic truth: "What Goes Down, Must Come U." It is not enough that the keys go down at the right time, they should also come u at the right time! The same sort o treatment given to dynamics can be given to articulation as well. We can vary the articulations used and exlore dierent combinations o: staccato (ractice both a wrist staccato at slower temi and a inger staccato at aster temi) legato non-legato marcato leggiero Again, try dierent articulations in the let and right hands, and i the reertoire demands, consider combining the dierent elements suggested here. For examle, extended assagework in a Mozart concerto might be heled a great deal by combining a RH legato with a LH non-legato in one o the dynamic shae exercises given above.
9 Patterns There are two atterns that may hel in adding interest to your scale ractice sessions. The irst o these is the amous "eyeglass" attern: UP one octave, OUT one octave, IN one octave, UP one octave DOWN one octave, OUT one octave, IN one octave, DOWN one octave A our-octave version is also ossible: UP two, OUT one, IN one, UP two, DOWN two, OUT one, IN one, DOWN two The second attern is the trill attern. It can greatly imrove the overall luency and reliability o your scale technique. The idea is simle enough, just lay each air o notes twice: