Scales for piano

It is difficult to imagine a more boring occupation in the life of a student of a pianist than playing scales. At the same time, experienced teachers not only do not exclude these exercises from classes, but also demand that they pay great attention. Even experienced pianists with many years of practice devote a lot of time to perfecting scales. It is worth understanding why such activities are useful and how to approach them correctly.

Gamma is a sequence of sounds in the ascending or descending direction, forming a certain key. The scale is built according to a special formula, determined by the fret, from a given note. Practicing these exercises has several goals.

1. Accelerate the development of various tonalities, of which there are 24 in music (there are more of them on paper due to enharmonic sound substitutions). Learning scales, the pianist gets used to the number of signs and fingering, which makes it easier to memorize pieces of art written in these keys.
2. To consolidate the basics of musical literacy, including knowledge of modes and types of tonality.
3. Develop mechanical memory. As a result, parts of compositions based on the scale movement will be memorized faster.
4. To work out the technique of performance, without which it is impossible to perform virtuoso concert pieces.

Playing scales is often compared to a warm-up for athletes or ballerinas. Just as a gymnast will not start practicing complex elements of a program with cold muscles, a professional pianist will not move on to playing pieces from the very beginning of classes.

Scales for the piano differ in modality, structure and method of performance. The following types of exercises are available for the pianist, depending on his musical knowledge and skills.

1. Playing a scale in the direct form in an octave (distance of 8 notes). Here the hands play the same notes up and down. Despite the seeming simplicity of the task, the musician is required here to control the sound quality, the correct replacement of fingers on each hand.
2. Divergent gamut. This means that the hands move to move away from each other, and then to move closer. This exercise is often combined with a straight movement scale.
3. Scale to third (distance between notes in 3 steps). If the left hand starts from the note C, then the right hand starts from the E. Since the arms are in one octave, this exercise helps to improve coordination in a small space. For convenience, you can move your right hand an octave higher. The result is a gamma to decimus.
4. Gamma per sixth is similar to the previous version, but here the hands are swapped.
5. The most complex type of scale is considered to be a scale with triceps doubling. This exercise teaches you to lead 2 voices simultaneously with one hand. When working with it, it is important to achieve smoothness and consistency of each interval, and you cannot do without precise fingering.

Playing the scale in several ways on the piano will help you practice your skills, avoiding the monotony of movement and sound.

Major is called a bright, joyful mood. This scale can be built from any key on the piano. Moreover, the choice of the first note will be reflected in the name of the key. So, C major will start from C, and D major will start from D.

The natural major scale is built according to the principle: 2 tones - semitone - 3 tones - semitone. In folk music, it is called Ionian.

In addition to it, there are other varieties.

1. Harmonic Major. It is distinguished from the usual scale by a low sixth step (A flat in C major). This gives it an oriental flavor. If you further lower the second degree, you get a double harmonic mode.
2. Melodic major. Its differences from the natural mode appear only when moving downward, where the 6th and 7th steps are lowered.
3. Major pentatonic scale. A fret, devoid of halftones, is characteristic of Asian culture. Unlike the European seven-step counterparts, it consists of 5 steps with two intervals of one and a half tones. So, in the key starting with C, the notes F and B will be absent. And on the black keys, you can play the major pentatonic scale from the note F-sharp.
4. Blues Major. It was based on the pentatonic scale with the addition of an additional third degree. So, in the mode from to, E and E flat are simultaneously present. As a result, a composer using this mode can actively use the shimmering colors of major and minor.
5. Lydian mode, which is performed with a high fourth degree. It can be played on white keys from the note F.
6. Phrygian mode, characterized by a low seventh grade. Corresponds to the G scale played on the white keys.

The chromatic scale stands apart, which does not belong to major or minor. It is formed from sounds located strictly in semitones. And fingering involves only 3 fingers on each hand.

A minor is called a sad, dark mood. The number of minor keys corresponds to the major ones. A pair of keys with the same number of characters is called parallel. An example of this is in C major and A minor, which are played on white keys.

Natural (or Aeolian) minor is built according to the formula: tone - semitone - 2 tones - semitone - 2 tones.

We will consider its varieties further.

1. Harmonic minor, which is formed by raising the seventh degree. With a passing increase in the fourth, a double harmonic mode is formed.
2. Melodic minor, in which, when moving up, 6, 7 steps are raised, and when moving down, they are replaced with a natural look.
3. Minor pentatonic scale. The structure of 5 steps without halftones is retained here. But the scale is built according to a formula that differs from the major version: 1.5 tones - tone - tone - 1.5 tones - tone. On the black keys, the minor pentatonic scale is convenient to play from the note of D sharp.
4. Blues minor. Like its major counterpart, it is based on a minor pentatonic scale with added sound. In A minor, it becomes E flat, which is used along with pure E. This scale is popular for guitar parts in compositions written in the style of blues, rock and some others.
5. Dorian minor differs from the natural range in a high sixth step. It is easy to play on white keys from D.
6. Phrygian mode, which is a natural minor with a low second. Corresponds to the scale based on the white keys from the E notes.

Locrian is considered one of the exotic and rarely used modes. Its reference sounds form a diminished triad, so it is not classified as a major or minor.

Playing the piano requires a proper fit regardless of the repertoire. Therefore, when performing scales, one should not forget about the position of the legs, back and arms. In addition, playing technically complex elements requires the ability to properly relax. Squeezed shoulders and elbows lead to rapid fatigue of the hands and fingers, which reduces the quality of the exercise. And the inability to recognize body signals leads to such a familiar phenomenon for pianists as hand replay. As a result, work on other works will have to be suspended for several hours or days.

To quickly master the scales, it is worth considering several principles.

1. It is worth immediately learning the correct placement of the fingers. All substitutions need to be checked and monitored, otherwise it will be impossible to achieve the necessary fluency of the fingers, and it will be more difficult to correct the learned mistakes later.
2. To memorize the scale correctly, you must first work out each hand separately. When the first stage has been mastered to automatism, you can start playing with two hands.
3. At first, work is carried out at a slow pace on a two-octave section of the keyboard. At the next stage of development, you can play faster and 4 octaves.
4. When playing scales, it is important to achieve equal sound strength from all fingers. At first, this is not easy, since the thumb is physiologically stronger than the little finger. You can hone the skill through exercises on the table. Having imitated the setting of the hand on the piano, you need to hit the surface with your fingers, trying to achieve the same sound.
5. You can diversify the play of scales using different rhythmic patterns. For example, you can alternate two long notes with two short notes.
6. Scales are also worked out with different strokes. These include legato (smoothly), staccato (abruptly), non legato (separately), marcato (abruptly, with an emphasis on each sound).
7. Musicians also recommend working out dynamic shades in parallel with the scales, including forte (loud), piano (soft), crescendo (with a gradual increase in volume), diminuendo (with a gradual attenuation of the sound).

At the next stage, you can proceed to the scales with key characters, which begin with white keys. These include major sharp and minor flat scales. Scales that begin with black keys are considered more complex.

To simplify the designation of fingers in notes, they are numbered 1-5. When playing the piano, the numbering starts with the thumb, so the index finger is 2, the middle finger is 3, the ring finger is 4, the little finger is 5. On instruments where only 4 fingers are used for playing (guitar, violin), the index finger becomes the first and etc.

When mastering the fingering of scales, attention is paid to the substitution of fingers. For the right hand, when moving up, the first is placed first after the third, and then after the fourth. When changing the movement to the final note of the ascent, put the fifth finger. In the opposite direction, after the first, the third and fourth fingers are alternately placed.

The left hand fingering is in the opposite order. When moving up after the first finger, the third and fourth are placed alternately. And in the opposite movement, these fingers are alternately replaced by the first.

To check the correct fingering, it is important to control the position of the fourth finger. In sharp scales starting with a white key, he always hits the seventh note in his right hand, and the second note in his left.

In flat keys starting with a white key, the fourth finger of the right hand falls on B flat. In his left hand, the fourth finger in F major plays the second note, and in subsequent keys he presses the key corresponding to the newly appeared flat. So, in E flat major the fourth finger of the left hand will fall on A, and in D flat major - on G.

Arpeggios become a separate part of piano exercises. This is the name of the chords, the sounds of which are played alternately. There are 3 types of arpeggios:

• short;
• broken lines;
• long.

The short arpeggios are tonic triads with doubled low-pitch inversions that are played in turn, gradually ascending and then descending. Broken arpeggios are similar to short arpeggios, but the notes of each individual section are played in the following sequence: 1, 3, 2, 4.

The Long Arpeggio is a chord played in a single movement up several octaves and then reversed. This way you can play major and minor triads, sixth chords, fourth chords, seventh chords of various kinds.

To summarize: scales are considered an integral part of piano lessons. They are required for beginners and experienced musicians, since they contribute to the development of musical notation, the development of performing techniques. Scales differ in harmony, degree of difficulty and method of performance. Scales starting with black keys are more difficult to play than white ones.

Therefore, mastering scales starts from simple to complex, from slow to fast, from two octaves to four. It is worth training scales in a straight, diverging, combined movement, in third, decimal and sixth.

Experienced teachers will definitely pay attention to the freedom of the shoulder and elbow zone, because in the absence of it, the hands get tired faster, which reduces the duration of classes and the quality of performance.

Starting each lesson with scales and etudes, the musician prepares himself for the perception of works of art. Well-honed technical skills will help him quickly move from parsing notes to working on strokes, dynamic shades and character. The result will be a performance that will delight the performer as well as evoke a lively response from the audience.

You can also watch some of the exercises to develop your piano skills in the following video.