THE JOY OF SCALES
A CURIOUS eBook By Dr Sally Cathcart
©2016 !1 CONTENTS
Page 5 Page 11 Page 17
Page 24 Page 29 Page 35
Page 41 Page 47 Page 51 !2 INTRODUCTION
How did you learn scales as a child? Were they presented in systematic and imaginative ways or did you struggle to get the point of why they had to be practised? Maybe you still do!
I have to admit that when I was growing up scales were not at the top of my popularity list. I was a good girl however, and quite dutiful and usually got through them all, especially when an exam was looming on the horizon. It was only when I started teaching the piano that I began to appreciate their full value and began to explore how scales could be both played and taught creatively and musically.
This ‘curious’ ebook brings together in all the blog posts that I have written on the topic into one place and within its pages I explore the playing and teaching of scales from all sorts of angles and perspectives.
I consider how to teach the theoretical side of scales through the use of tetrachords, share some thoughts on the various technical aspects of scale playing, stress the importance of developing systems and strategies in scale work, look at ideas for gaining fluency, give some ideas on how to prepare scales for the exam room and explore creative approaches to scales and stepping into wonderful world of scales beyond major and minor.
I have created a few short videos to illustrate certain parts of the ebook and Sharon has worked her magic to create some lovely resources to support the ideas.
I hope you have fun reading and exploring all the ideas!
Dr Sally Cathcart Director & Co-Founder !3 CHAPTER 1 What’s the Value?
!4 Chapter 1 | What’s the Value
Let’s start by having a look what some eminent pianists – both past and present and some of our curious experts – have to say about exactly why we should play scales.
WHAT IS THE VALUE OF PLAYING SCALES?
4 central themes emerge: 1 Scales as tools 2 The physical benefits of scales 3 Developing evenness of tone through scales 4 Engaging the brain
Let’s look at each one in turn.
SCALES AS TOOLS
Many writers are in absolute agreement about the importance of scales as a Fundamental tool for any pianist. Kendall Taylor says that both scales and arpeggios ‘are both indispensable as a foundation for technique’ [1] although Murray McLachlan warns that ‘scales themselves are not central to technical understanding. Rather, they are tools which can be used to develop, enhance, illuminate and inspire healthy, dynamic progress.’ [2].
Graham Fitch – one of our Curious Experts – points out that as well as developing the technical side ‘Scales are literally the ABC of musical theory; we become familiar with the major and minor keys as well as keyboard geography by studying them, and we develop and refine our technique’. [3] So it appears that scales, whilst not replacing technical work, can be used to support and develop it whilst also helping to develop our sense of key relationships and tonal structures.
!5 Chapter 1 | What’s the Value?
THE PHYSICAL BENEFITS OF SCALES
The way that scales can be used to help players develop a sense of keyboard geography has just been mentioned. This essential physical sensation is all too easy to overlook and assume sometimes. Yet it forms a vital part of our relationship with the keyboard. As we play scales in the different keys we build up in our muscle memory a sense of how the pattern of each key ‘feels’. As this develops so does our facility to react to the unseen and yet highly familiar tonal shapes that make up much of the repertoire.
This awareness of the body at the keyboard is one that many argue should be established from the first lesson onwards.
For Ilga Pitkevica and Heli Ignatius Fleet (both Principal Tutors on the Piano Teachers Course) the development of an easy and graceful physical sense at the keyboard is a vital element right from the start. Ilga points out that young children are very flexible and that it is the perfect time to develop velocity ‘the freedom of moving on the keyboard’ [4]. In just the same way Heli points out that ‘scales are a marvellous training ground for aural skills and velocity’. [5]
As scales move beyond the early, hands separately stages, the demands of co-ordinating the hands and fingers come into play and physically much is absorbed through mastering the dance of the hands and fingers as they move through the different octaves.
!6 Chapter 1 | What’s the Value?
DEVELOPING TONE THROUGH SCALES
Essential to all this is the increasingly instinctive response of finger patterns using 3 l 4 grouping. Kendall Taylor tells us that ‘the fingering of scales in groups provides the most important single principle of fingering’. [6] whilst Gieseking and Leimer advise pianists that ‘scales are to be played with a view to training the fingers, so that they do their work evenly and smoothly’ [7].
Although separated by a few decades another Curious Expert Tim Topham expresses the same beliefs whilst acknowledging the difficulties of achieving it: ‘The value is fluidity of motion and evenness of sound through efficient use of the fingers’ [8]. So scales can be used in order to develop a refined awareness of sound and the differing role of each finger within that scenario.
ENGAGING THE BRAIN
There have been some interesting blogs recently about the mindful nature of playing the piano (Piano Dao, Bulletproof Musician, Practising the Piano) and playing scales is no exception. Without getting caught up in notation reading, playing scales allows us to focus on the sensation of the body and the ensuing sound. For this to happen a high degree of relaxed concentration is required because playing on automatic with the brain switched off ‘is a very roundabout way of obtaining results’ [9].
!7 Chapter 1 | What’s the Value?
So for a final say on the subject of why scales are valuable let’s finish with a couple of quotes from two of our Curious Experts both of whom in their individual ways, sum much of the above:
Pam Wedgwood suggests that scales are valuable for the following reasons: ‘Technique-Touch-Fingering awareness-coordination, stretching your weaker brain side’ [10].
And here’s what Elissa Milne shared with us [11]:
If you want to read more about Elissa’s views on why we require our pupils to learn scales, you can read her blog post Scales as Propaganda.
!8 TIME TO REFLECT…
CHAPTER 1 WHAT’S THE VALUE?
1. Which of the quotes in this chapter do you agree with the most? Why? 2. Do you disagree with any of the statements? Why?
!9 CHAPTER 2 Singing & Tetrachords
!10 Chapter 2 | Singing and Tetrachords
First, I would like to say that I don’t have the magic key or solution when it comes to teaching and learning about scales!
I know that not everyone will necessarily agree with some of my ideas along the way and that is just fine – no, honestly it really is. What would be healthy though is to keep an open mind and a curious outlook as we explore and test out ideas.
THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL UNDERSTANDING – SIDE BY SIDE?
There are two sides to learning scales. One side is concerned with developing an understanding of the theoretical properties of scales whilst the other focusses on the physical act of playing them. Quite often in lessons these are tackled together but this has real problems and can often lead to a lack of deep understanding and a restricted physical sense when playing scales.
Separating the teaching of these two elements makes so much more sense and is far easier for the pupil to grasp. As Uszler and her co-writers point out ‘recent pedagogy is more careful to distinguish that learning to build a scale and learning to play a scale are two different experiences’. [12]
This week I want to share my thoughts and approaches of how to teach the more theoretical side of scales. As Graham Fitch pointed out in the last chapter ‘scales are literally the ABC of musical theory‘ [13]. For me scales are the essential building blocks of music – understand the construction of a scale and how one relates to another and many things begin to fall into place.
!11 Chapter 2 | Singing and Tetrachords
‘LET’S START AT THE VERY BEGINNING’
Unsurprisingly, for me an understanding of scales has to start with the development of a sense of the relationships between notes through singing. Although many of you might recognise the above quote as being from The Sound of Music you might have forgotten (I certainly had!) that Maria goes onto say: ‘Doh ray mi fah soh lah ti doh are only the tools we use to build a song. Once you have the notes in your heads you can sing a million songs’.
She is absolutely right! Click here for full lyrics
THE BENEFITS OF USING SOLFA (SINGING NAMES)
Personally, I have absolutely no doubt that building an understanding of the relationship between notes happens most effectively through the use of solfa (click here to find out more about the use of syllables in singing).
Cyrilla Rowsell, one of the UK’s leading Kodaly practitioners, believes that solfa is the ‘language’ of music. She initially struggled to understand the theoretical side of scales, when they were presented as an abstract concept. But when Cyrilla was introduced to solfa, the penny dropped. She understood scales in a way she hadn’t previously.
‘I can’t say strongly enough how much singing – which naturally engages the inner ear and helps us to understand things more deeply, as the experience is within our bodies – and learning solfa helps any student or teacher of music understand and have facility with the vast array of scales that are out there for us to discover and enjoy.’ [14]
!12 Chapter 2 | Tetrachords and Singing
An alternative to using solfa is to use the degrees of the scale (1 2 3 4 etc.) and I will be using both during this series.
WHAT ARE TETRACHORDS?
A tetrachord is a string (chord) of 4 (tetra) notes.
The discovery of tetrachords in the Alfred series of piano primers was one of those light bulb moments for my teaching. The endless battle for pupils to remember tone tone semitone tone tone tone semitone was gone – FOREVER!
Instead all that is needed is just 4 notes and all major scales can be worked out.
LET ME SHOW YOU…
Here are some of my approaches to teaching tetrachords.
In the first video I demonstrate how the introduction of tetrachords should be part of an ongoing musicianship approach. CLICK HERE TO WATCH
!13 Chapter 2 | Tetrachords and Singing
In the second video I show just how easy it is to transfer tetrachords to the piano. CLICK HERE TO WATCH
So tetrachords, I believe, are the key to understanding the structure of major scales. Here is a worksheet that you can DOWNLOAD and use with your pupils to reinforce the practical activities that I have just demonstrated.
!14 TIME TO REFLECT…
CHAPTER 2 SINGING AND TETRACHORDS
1. Do you use tetrachords already or are they a new concept for you? 2. How might you use them in your teaching?
!15 CHAPTER 3 Fingers & Thumbs
!16 Chapter 3 | Fingers and Thumbs
So, having considered the theoretical aspects of scales, in Chapter 3 of our series we are focussing on the physical aspects of introducing scales.
It’s good to remind ourselves at this point that the physical and theoretical aspects do not need to be developed concurrently, in fact it is a lot easier if the playing of scales is introduced well in advance of the theoretical understanding.
In particular today I am looking at different ways people suggest introducing playing scales, the importance of having systems and strategies for fingering patterns and giving three top tips for getting the thumb under control!
WHERE TO START?
Which is the first, full octave scale that you introduce to your pupils? Do you fall into the C major camp or do you introduce B or E major first? There are certainly two different schools of thought as to which is the better approach. The advantages of introducing B or E major are to do with the shape of the hands and fingers on the keyboard – the longer fingers, 2 3 4, falling more naturally on the black keys.
It is known that B major was Chopin’s preferred way of teaching scales, however it is possible that younger beginners might struggle initially to even cover the black notes. Certainly C major, with all its unremarkable white notes, has no keyboard geography to be remembered and negotiated, however, neither does it have any discernible patterns for the eye to spot. Essentially, the decision about the first scale to introduce to a student is down to you and should be made only after all options have been considered.
!17 Chapter 3 | Fingers and Thumbs
ESTABLISHING FINGER PATTERNS
Whichever scale you choose to address first the initial work on scales has to focus on raising the student’s awareness of the fundamental fingering patterns of 3 and 4. For this you need to have a system and the more imaginative this is the more it will stick in your pupil’s brain. Ilga Pitkevica [4] introduces scales starting on C D E G A, all of which share a common fingering pattern. Initially these are played just on white notes and before students are even aware that they are learning scales. Instead, young students are told a story where their fingers go on a journey past cars (which uses finger pattern 123) and lorries (pattern 1234).
This story based approach helps young pianists to absorb, and remember, without realising it, the all important fingering pattern with its emphasis on chunking notes together rather than thinking of them as 7 discrete units. This idea of ‘chunking’ a scale pattern (as a young teacher I think I first found it in Dame Fanny Waterman’s Piano Lessons Book 2) certainly isn’t a new one but I wonder whether a lot of us introduce it too late in the learning process?
INTEGRATING THE THUMB
How do you teach your first, full octave scale? Do you ascend and descend with the RH and then do the same with LH or maybe the LH descends first? There are lots of choices to be made here! If the scale starting on finger 1 is taught first then the tricky thumb has to be dealt with immediately whereas starting on finger 5 avoids this; attention can be focussed on the crucial aspect of playing with an even tone.
!18 Chapter 3 | Fingers and Thumbs
Once this is established you can move on more confidently to integrating the thumb.
Here is a short video where I share three top tips on how to do this. CLICK HERE TO WATCH
!19 Chapter 3 | Fingers and Thumbs
THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT!
A story to help our pupils understand why getting the right fingering is important
Whilst pupils don’t need to know the ins and outs of how the brain works I do think it is important that they know why getting the right fingering for scales from the start really does matter.
I tell my pupils a little story that they seem to enjoy that helps them to understand this concept. I thought I would share it with you.
IMAGINE YOU LIVE on one side of a deep and dense forest and a friend, who you haven’t seen in a long, long time moves to a house on the other side of the forest. It’s her birthday and you buy her a very special present and set off across the forest to deliver it.
There are no paths so you take your axe with you and slowly hack your way through the undergrowth. It is hot and hard work and takes hours and hours and lots of effort. You get there eventually but, horror of horrors, you realise that you left her present back at home. You turn around and head straight back the way you came.
!20 Chapter 3 | Fingers and Thumbs
It’s still quite hard work but not quite as bad and it doesn’t take so long. Having collected the present and changed your clothes once more you pick up your axe and…
At this point I usually ask the pupil what the best route is for him/her to take. Should s/he chop down yet another new path with just as much effort as before or would it make sense to go the same route? What would the path be like after 10 visits? Would it still take hours and hours?
ESTABLISHING PATHWAYS
This is just how the brain works – every single action we perform fires off a sequence of neurons making a pathway through the brain. When we repeat the action again the same pattern of neurons will use the same pathway. Use it often enough and the pathway becomes a road and eventually a superhighway through a process called myelination (which in my head I think of like a plastic coating). The first time you perform an action (e.g. the fingering pattern for scales) it requires conscious thought and effort as the neurons establish a pathway but, through repetition and subsequent myelination, the fingering pattern becomes an instinctive response freeing up brain space for other, higher order stuff.
So I hope you have found this chapter helpful and it has made you consider how you can introduce scales in imaginative and creative ways for pupils.
!21 TIME TO REFLECT…
CHAPTER 3 FINGERS & THUMBS
1. How do you raise a students awareness of fingering patterns? 2. What creative ways do you have of introducing fingering patterns to your students?
!22 CHAPTER 4 Five Tips for Putting Hands Together
!23 Chapter 4 | Five Tips for Putting Hands Together
You know those penny dropping moments? Those times when something suddenly takes on a new and unexpected meaning? For example I remember a time as a young teacher when I spelt ‘rehearsal’ incorrectly on a notice and one of my pupils pointed out to me that it really says ‘re-hEAR’ sal. Definitely an ah-ha moment!
Another one was when I discovered for the first time that the word ‘scale’ is from the Italian word la scala which means stairs or steps! Oh course – how could I not have known that before?
Today I am going to share five top tips on how to put hands together for the first time.
5 TIPS FOR PUTTING HANDS TOGETHER
#1 HANDS SEPARATELY The Birthday Present, the story in the previous chapter, highlighted the persistence needed in establishing consistent fingering patterns. So before playing hands together in similar motion is attempted (of course contrary motion is easily achievable) each hand has to be confident and secure in its own right.
#2 ONE PATTERN AT A TIME If you remember last week the starting point for Ilga Pitkevica’s young pupils was C D E G A. Why? Well, these five scales all have the same fingering pattern – let’s call it Scale Pattern 1.
It has the following fingering pattern: • RH finger 4 is on the 7th degree of the scale • LH finger 4 is on the 2nd degree.
!24 Chapter 4 | Five Tips for Putting Hands Together
When putting scales hands together for the first time I recommend starting with E major – just try it out for yourself and see why.
#3 CHOREOGRAPHING THE HANDS So hands together, at last! It is crucial to encourage students to give themselves enough time and space to learn the ‘dance’ of Scale Pattern 1, in effect to choreograph the hands at the piano.
I start with just one octave and make sure this is secure before moving onto two. Following last week’s discussion about the brain, the right connections need to be made from the start and the best chance for this to happen is to play the scale slowly (see Chapter 8 for more on fingering patterns).
#4 PLAYING SLOWLY Now, here’s a word that some children (and adults) struggle with because ‘slowly’ only works when it is a comparison to something faster. On the other hand ‘snail speed’ seems to work a treat and gives everyone a clear understanding of the required tempo!
Another analogy might be the comparison to using a new climbing wall for the first time. Many schools and sports centres have these so it is quite likely that your pupils will have tried one. Get them to describe the approach taken to climb it for the first time. Were they able to scramble up it first time? What did they do when they weren’t sure where to move to next? Was it easiest with a tense or a relaxed body? Hopefully you can see where I am going with the analogy.
#5 THE THINKING SCALE The final piece of the jigsaw is to get pupils to ‘think’ aloud the fingering patterns as they play. ‘OK’ you’re saying ‘but we have two hands’?
!25 Chapter 4 | Five Tips for Putting Hands Together
So here’s the thing, you focus and/or say the RH fingering on the way up and LH fingering on the way down. If you are wondering why then just go back to Chapter 2 where I discussed introducing the full octave for the first time. Initially it is much easier to pop a finger over the thumb when you run out than it is move the thumb smoothly underneath. With both keep focussing on the position of finger 4 – as I have already said they are the magic formula to getting Scale Pattern 1 ingrained into the muscle memory! They appear just once in each octave and if they are in the right place everything will fall into place
TROUBLESHOOTING
Of course there will be problems when students just go too fast and completely forget about the fingering patterns or the strategies needed! Each and every student will need individual, bespoke attention but whatever you do keep being consistent in your delivery and use imagery to help the concept become memorable whenever possible.
!26 TIME TO REFLECT…
CHAPTER 4 FIVE TIPS FOR PUTTING HANDS TOGETHER
1. Think about a pupil who currently has a problem. 2. Now write down 2 strategies that you could try out with him/her.
!27 CHAPTER 5 Minor Scales
!28 Chapter 5 | Minor Scales
In this chapter I am turning my attention back to the theoretical side again with a look at the minor scale and all its emotional associations and thinking more about the circle of 5ths.
MINOR SCALES
Minor keys have a naturally expressive quality to them (established by the minor 3rd interval of the 1st and 3rd notes) and young learners often find them very appealing. A pupil of mine has recently been learning Sneaky Business by Martha Mier and he has enjoyed exploring the colours and characters conjured up by the A minor key.
Minor scales can be played alongside majors from the very start but once again the theoretical understanding should be introduced later in the learning process.
Back in Chapter 2 I extolled the virtues of solfa – and using it to understand the different types of minor scale is one of the most powerful examples of this.
Here’s a short video where I show you what I mean. CLICK HERE TO WATCH
!29 Chapter 5 | Minor Scales
THE 3 TYPES OF MINOR SCALE
Some teachers and pupils ask ‘why are there three different types of minor scale?’ Let me see if I can answer this.
WHAT DO THEY HAVE IN COMMON?
So there is the natural minor, harmonic minor and the melodic minor. All of them start on the 6th note, the ‘lah’ of the relative. In fact the bottom five notes in all three form a minor pentachord; it is only the top of the scale that alters.
THE NATURAL MINOR
The natural minor has exactly the same notes as the relative major, just a different starting point. Both of these scales have emerged from the modes with C major having its origins in the Ionian mode and A minor the Aeolian mode – there will be more on modes in a subsequent post.
What the natural minor lacks is the strong harmonic and emotional pull generated in a major scale between the 7-8 degree. This interval of the semitone has become one of the defining features of Western Art music and, the development of music since the Renaissance, has been all about exploring the limits of this relationship – hence the emergence of the harmonic and melodic versions of the minor scale.
!30 Chapter 5 | Minor Scales
HARMONIC MINORS
The clue to the usage of the harmonic minor scale is in its name. In it the 7th note (leading note) of the scale is raised so that the emotionally charged semitone appears between the 7th and 8th degree. But in doing so it creates the awkward sounding interval of an augmented 2nd. This is not a scale to use if smooth sounding melodies want to be created! Instead its role is mainly a harmonic one.
Look at this example taken from Schumann’s The Wild Horseman. The Dm chord (IV) in bar 7 contains F natural whilst the first chord of bar 8 is E major (V) with the raised 7th. It’s also interesting to notice the angular nature of the melody and how the melodic movement always descends away from the 6th degree (F natural).
!31 Chapter 5 | Minor Scales
MELODIC MINORS
So if the notes of the harmonic scale are used in the harmony, the notes of the melodic scale are used in the (all together now!) melody. Raising the 6 and 7 degrees gives a smooth transition up to the tonic whilst still heightening the emotional tension. The movement down, away from the tonic, wants to get rid of the tension hence the lowering of the 6/7 degrees.
THE CIRCLE OF 5THS
The circle of 5ths has already been mentioned back in Chapter 2 on tetrachords. The circle of 5ths is something that teachers should be fully aware of and familiar with as it is a critical component of understanding harmony, modulations and key relationships. I think we quite often leave its development in our pupils to chance and yet, if we are systematic about it, it is not hard to teach and learn.
FOR EXAMPLE… • Find the lowest C on the piano (C1) and just play the root of each subsequent key – it should take you right the way up to the last Key having done a full circle. Play this until programmed to be automatic. • Play up the same notes again this time stating the number of sharps or flats in each one: “C major none” – “G major 1 sharp” – “D major 2 sharps” etc. • Reverse the order going from top down • Play the cycle of sharps stating the tonic with each addition • Do the same with flats
Of course this all sounds very worthy and hard work when written but as ever I encourage you and your students to be both playful and curious about the process! !32 TIME TO REFLECT…
CHAPTER 5 MINOR SCALES
1. Have you noticed an increased level of engagement from your pupils when playing pieces in minor keys? Why do you think this is the case? 2. How quickly can you play round the circle of 5th naming the key and key signature? You are aiming to do this pretty automatically!
!33 CHAPTER 6 Three Top Tips for Exam Preparation
!34 Chapter 6 | Three Top Tips for Exam Preparation
As teachers many of us enter our students for exams. For many boards, scales are an integral part of the assessment system. In today’s post I am going to share three top tips to help your students get the most out of the experience and, as a consequence, achieve higher marks!
PREPARATION
I’ve already spent quite a bit of time in this series talking about the technical aspects of scale playing. Part 3 in particular took a good look at the importance of having a consistent fingering pattern and the role of the thumb. What follows is about building on these already firm foundations.
#1 PRIORITISE THE SOUND In the exam room examiners only comment on what they hear in that moment. They can’t and won’t mention specific technical aspects, such as wrong fingering or an awkward thumb movement. They will however, refer to the evenness or unevenness of the sound which of course is often a by- product of a technical problem.
It might seem a bit of a paradox but if we keep the idea of creating a beautiful sound to the forefront when teaching, the technical elements often begin to fall in place more easily.
Pupils should be involved in this from the beginning – after all it’s their learning journey isn’t it?
!35 Chapter 6 | Three Top Tips for Exam Preparation
#2 KNOWING WHAT AND HOW TO IMPROVE Many of you have heard me say before that teachers work FAR TOO HARD in lessons. In fact, many of us tend to put so much energy into teaching that we end up exhausted at the end of the week. Yet, they are slightly perplexed that the following week their students appear to hardly remember a thing about the previous lesson! I wonder why??
It is so important to get the students aware and motivated by what needs to improve. To do this they have to know what lies ahead – what they are aiming for.
I give my students Scale Challenge sheets which are divided into Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum levels.Here is an example of one statement for ABRSM Grade 1 at each level:
• Bronze Level – I can play all the major scales with the right notes. • Silver Level – I can play all the major scales with the right fingering. • Gold Level – I can play all the major scales with a good, even sound and at a steady tempo. • Platinum Level – I can play all the major scales fluently and musically.
The same statements are repeated for minor scales, contrary motion and broken chords. Breaking the learning and assessment process down into these really tiny steps means that all students have a tangible sense of the progress they are making and what needs to happen next.
!36 Chapter 6 | Three Top Tips for Exam Preparation
#3 FINDING FLOW At the top level of the Scale Challenge sheet young pianists are encouraged to play like musicians, with a sense of flow and purpose. In my experience as an examiner only a minority of candidates present scales in this way and yet it isn’t hard to achieve once the right notes and right fingering patterns are known.
A scale played with musical purpose has the following characteristics: • it exists within a beat • is rhythmical • even in sound • has a sense of going somewhere • is confidently presented
Watch the short video below to hear me demonstrate. CLICK HERE TO WATCH
!37 Chapter 6 | Three Top Tips for Exam Preparation
Using a Scale Challenge sheet is one effective way of making scale practice more purposeful and enjoyable for our students. It’s not of course the only way; asking pupils to play scales in different moods or characters can also be highly engaging.
To get inspiration for this type of approach, explore Dr Gail Fischler’s Musical Adjectives Project. Early in the week I had many of my pupils scampering or gliding up their scales and in one lesson we had a ‘Scooby-doo’ scale…….!
!38 TIME TO REFLECT…
CHAPTER 6 THREE TOP TIPS FOR EXAM PREPARATION
1. Do you have any favourite tips for using with pupils to help them improve their scales?
!39 CHAPTER 7 Getting Creative
!40 Chapter 7 | Getting Creative
I want to encourage everyone to get creative with how you play scales and with what scales you play.
FRESH CHALLENGES
Back in Chapter 1 I mentioned the need for us to engage our brain when playing scales. Just going up and down a scale 2 or 3 times without a purpose often leads to the brain disengaging as it wanders off in search of something more interesting to think about. In the meantime our arms and fingers get on with the mechanics of actually playing.
Sound familiar? I just love Eloise Ristad's description of this sensation: 'my brain floats off like a dandelion seed' [15] - for me, that says it all!
The brain pathways that I described back in Chapter 3 are essential for developing automated responses but in order to prevent these from becoming routine and mindless we have to constantly set ourselves and our students fresh and new challenges.
Thinking of new and inspiring ways of presenting known material is one of the things I really love about teaching the piano. It makes me think quickly and creatively as I form new connections and ideas.
!41 Chapter 7 | Getting Creative
So, if you want some fresh ideas for developing scale work at the higher end watch the last video of the series where I explore:
The Russian or Grand Scale The Rhythm Scale Scales in canons Connected scales - round the circle of 5ths
CLICK HERE TO WATCH
NEW SOUNDS AND PERSPECTIVES
As well as new ways of playing familiar scales why not explore the many other types of scales that exist. For example, if you have the score writing software Sibelius you can download 24 pages of different scales!
Scales are so much more than just major and minor and by limiting ourselves and our students to them I think we are narrowing their musical horizons and sense of adventure considerably.
!42 Chapter 7 | Getting Creative
Take for example the pentatonic scale, easily remembered because it can be played on the black keys. Can you play it starting on C? What about E flat?
The pentatonic scale appears to be a universal scale in that it is found in many cultures - it is not a major scale with notes missing! If you haven't yet seen the clip of the fabulous Bobby McFerrin demonstrating our instinctive response to singing a pentatonic scale CLICK HERE TO WATCH
In fact, even the pentatonic scale can come in many flavours: major pentatonic, minor pentatonic, dorian pentatonic for starters.
Lucinda Mackworth Young, one of our Curious Experts and author of Piano by Ear, says that it is:
'wonderful to learn not just major and minor but also pentatonic, modal, whole tone, jazz, blues, Jewish and Arabian etc. so that you can properly understand and play in many different sound worlds'. [16]
!43 Chapter 7 | Getting Creative
Then of course there is the octotonic scale, tritonic, Spanish minor, bebop, Hungarian major scale and so on. I urge you to go and explore - maybe you could even get your pupils to create their own scale.
With a whole host of scales at our fingertips we become more technically assured, harmonically aware and musically fluent. Scales should have energy, rhythm, precision, colour and can take us beyond the limits of what we thought we could achieve.
They provide a secure foundation for us all to develop as pianists.
!44 TIME TO REFLECT…
CHAPTER 7 GETTING CREATIVE
1. Have any of the points made in this ebook made you re-think your approach to teaching scales? 2. What area of scale playing are you most interested in finding out more about? 3. Make a note of at least 3 steps that you could take to help you achieve this.
!45 CHAPTER 8 Final Thoughts on Fingering
!46 Chapter 8 | Final Thoughts on Fingering
Just when I thought it was all over I realised that I had more to say on fingering - so here’s an extra bonus chapter!
STANDARD FINGERING
Buy any scale book from any of the exam boards and I suspect you will find a fairly uniform approach to fingering patterns. Before I explore any of the alternatives let’s just have a look at the standard fingering patterns.
In the table below I have split all scales into three different groups and they are all based on the position of the 4th finger in the scale. This is because in the vast majority of scales, the 4th finger only appears once in each octave which makes it easier to remember and identify when it goes off course.
SCALE GROUP 1 SCALE GROUP 2 SCALE GROUP 3
RH - 4 on 7th degree RH - 4 on Bb RH - 4 on A# LH - 4 on 2nd degree LH - 4 on 4th degree LH - 4 on F#
C F - LH 4 on 2nd degree B
G B flat C#/Db
D E flat F #
A A flat
E
Rather than always introducing scales according the key signature why not try doing it by fingering groups - you might find that it leads to a more secure understanding of finger patterns.
!47 Chapter 8 | Final Thoughts on Fingering
ALTERNATIVE FINGERING There are, of course, a lot of alternative ideas and thoughts about scale fingering patterns.
Many of the scales in the standard fingering follow the maxim of ‘the thumb plays the next available white note’ but of course some of them don’t lie easily under the hand. For example, have you ever noticed the tendency of students (or even yourself) when playing LH D major descending to want to put the thumb down after the F# and C#, giving a pattern of 1234/123? Yet, many of the scale books stick with 123/1234 giving an awkward feel to it.
It is good and healthy to explore and experiment with fingering patterns I think as in doing so new perspectives of a familiar scale are often discovered. Penelope Roskell's book, The Art of Piano Fingering, is a good place to start this process. She points out that in the book ‘the emphasis is on understanding the principles of fingering’ and that ‘the suggested fingerings aim to use the hand on the keyboard in the most natural way’ [17].
So, I recommend exploring other fingering in your quest for an even, fluent and musical scale.
Above all, stay engaged, keep listening and enjoy yourself!
!48 TIME TO REFLECT…
CHAPTER 8 FINAL THOUGHTS ON FINGERING
1. C major is one of the hardest scales to play evenly because of the lack of black notes. One fingering pattern to explore is just using 1234 (except for finger 5 at the bottom and top!)
!49 REFERENCEs & Further Reading
!50 References & Further Reading
[1] Kendall Taylor, p. 32. Principles of Piano Technique and Interpretation.
1986, Novello [2] Murray McLachlan, p. 53. The Foundations of Piano Technique, Faber
Music
[3] Graham Fitch. Personal communication, 2016.
[4] Ilga Pitevika. Personal communication, 2016. [5] Heli Ignatius Fleet. Personal communication, 2016.
[6] Kendall Taylor, p. 30. Principles of Piano Technique and Interpretation. 1986, Novello.
[7] Walter Gieseking & Karl Leimer, p. 52. Piano Technique. 1972, Dover Edition.
[8] Tim Topham. Personal communication, 2016. [9] Walter Gieseking & Karl Leimer, p. 50. Piano Technique. 1972, Dover
Edition. [10] Pamela Wedgwood. Personal communication, 2016.
[11] Elissa Milne. Personal communication, 2016. [12] Marienne Uszler, Stewart Gordon, Scott McBride Smith, p. 12. The Well-
Tempered Keyboard Teacher, 2nd Edition. 2000, Schirmer. [13] Graham Fitch. Personal communication. 2016.
[14] Cyrilla Rowsell. Personal communication. 2016 [15] Eloise Ristad. p. A Soprano on her head. 1982, Real People Press.
[16] Lucinda Mackworth-Young. Personal communication, 2016. [17] Penelope Roskell. The Art of Piano Fingering. LCM Publications 1996.
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