"You Must Do Your Scales...."

 Does anybody remember Aristocats?


   Seriously. Some of my students could find that those kittens play better than they do! 😉

   Right. The kittens are fictional Disney characters. As such, Disney could make them supremely and flawlessly talented in the music department. Reality check! 

   Anyways. On to real scales and arpeggios. Because that was one of the things I said I'd be practicing this summer. Yes, it's basic. But that's kind of the point. Everybody, teacher, student, or performer, has to be fluent at scales and arpeggios if they want to be fluent at any music. (Hint, students: You also have to use the right finger numbers if you want to be fluent at any music. Not the haphazard fingering that comes easily and will cost you dearly later in your music journey. I know, Toulouse and Berlioz weren't using any fingering. You, however, do not play with kitten paws, and thus do need to learn correct fingering.) 

   
   But you might be surprised at how many different ways there are to do a scale. 

   Not so many for arpeggios and chords. Chords come in three types: solid, broken, and Alberti-bass (alternate-pattern) style. Arpeggios are even less diverse but way harder. They don't have different styles, but an advanced pianist is expected to be able to play them in any inversion. Tricky, definitely.

   But if you're looking for variety in your scales, try searching online how to play any one of these: 
  • Chromatic
  • Staccato scales in triplets
  • Scales in octaves
  • Formula patterns
  • Separated by a 3rd, a 6th, or a 10th
  • Repeated-note
   That's what I meant when I talked about doing one scale set in the previous post (linked above). I'll start with C major, for instance, and practice it in all those different ways I just mentioned. It not only adds variety, it improves my own technical prowess. 

   So... you want to be a good pianist?

   "If you're smart
    You'll learn by heart
    What every artist knows....
    You must do your scales...
   And your arpeggios!" 


Location: Onoway, AB T0E 1V0, Canada

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

And to this I said Amen

Image
 (Note for those who may not know: The word "Amen" comes from an ancient word -- whether Greek, Hebrew, or some other language, I do not remember -- that expressed agreement with truth. It is a transliterated word; that is, it's very similar to the original word in the original language. One person claimed it was one of two words that has been transliterated rather than translated across all languages, the other word being Hallelujah. Fun fact for the day. 😀)    Again, I had writer's block and didn't know what to write about. All I could think about was how it's February, it's a theme month, and I haven't finished planning the theme, even though the month has already started. So, once more, I turned to Pinterest . (If that link doesn't work, let me know, because I'm not sure it will actually take you to my Pinterest profile.)    This time, instead of music humour, I found this beautiful musician's prayer. And I went, "Yes! That is exa
Read more

Gloves: For More than Keeping Your Child's Hands Warm

Image
   Snow swirls around the streets of Leningrad, Russia. Pedestrians pull winter coats tighter around themselves. Car lights shine through the flurries. In one large, multi-story building, a window on the corner of the building is lit. Inside the room, frost decorates the window panes. The only occupant – a young man, with a spark of life in his blue eyes – turns out music, gorgeous music, on the upright piano against the wall. He wears a heavy overcoat and plays with a pair of medium-weight, knit gloves – for his dormitory room has no heat.    At this point in the narrative, the music teacher jerks his enraptured student back into the present – modern Edmonton, a warm and very comfortable music studio, and the two Yamaha baby grands sitting side by side – with this question:    “ Have you ever practiced with gloves on?”    Ahh . . . no, I hadn’t. My house always had heat?!     My music teacher, undeterred by my blank look (which he had undoubtedly seen many times before!), resp
Read more

When Music Teachers Meet

Image
It was Sunday evening, and various members of  PMTA  were gathered at one member's home for the Annual General Meeting. Since I've only been a member for less than a year, this was the first time I'd been to one of their meetings. As we were setting up for supper, I asked the president, "So, what goes on in the meeting?"    She looked at me, and her face instantly displayed drama. With gusto, she replied, "You'll be thrilled, and chilled, and ... bored out of your mind!"    LOL!    That's the great thing about hanging around with other artistic minds. There's plenty of room for drama. :)    Seriously, though, I like getting together with other music teachers, because all of us can talk for hours about music. :) It was a lot of fun comparing notes back and forth and getting to know some of the other teachers. I pick up ideas from these exchanges, including other teachers' favourite methods and new things to include -- or new ways t
Read more