Tag: Scales as a tool

The “Divide and Conquer” Practice Technique

This is a practice technique that can and should be done from day one of starting a new repertoire piece. It’s simple, it makes you better, and you may realize that you’ve accidentally done it before.

The only time you might not want to do this practice technique is if you’re in the process of learning all your scales. If you have time to do this in addition to learning your scales, go for it.

What You’ll Need:

You’ll need a metronome, a good scale book, and etudes (optional). I can’t make a good recommendation for a piano scale book, but Pares Scales (affiliate link) would be a good place to start on the flute.

If you don’t have a metronome, there are a ton of good, free metronome apps that you can use on a phone or tablet. If you need a real one because you want to reduce screen time, I really like this Matrix one (not an affiliate link). It’s loud enough for me to hear with earplugs and over the piccolo.

Analyze Your Piece

First you have to ask yourself a couple questions:

  1. What key(s) is my piece in?
  2. Does the piece transfer into a different key for awhile using accidentals?
  3. Double-check. Is it Major, minor, both, or modal?

Scales

When warming up, play in the key(s) of your piece all scales, arpeggios, chords, and thirds with a metronome.  Keep increasing the speed of the metronome over the course of the weeks/months that you’re learning the repertoire.

For variety, use the various scale exercises in your scale book. They’re designed to even out your fingers. They’re also designed to practice the common trouble spots that you might encounter in the music.

Etudes (optional)

An optional part of this is to find etudes that are in the same key(s) as your new repertoire piece. Play a new one each week.

Etudes weave into a melody a problem-pattern that is common in your instrument. If you practice etudes that are in the same key as your repertoire piece, the problem-patterns that the etudes bring up are more likely to be the problems you’ll encounter in your repertoire piece.

These are the reasons I can think of that etudes are optional for this practice technique. I’m sure there are more.

  1. You’re going through a lesson book and you need to go through those etudes in the order given (lesson books are etude books).
  2. You have a goal of going through certain etudes. It feels good to say you’ve played all of a certain composer’s etudes, and I’m not one to get in the way of your goals.
  3. It’s hard to find etudes based on key signature, and you don’t have the time or resources to scour etude books for hours on end.

This technique can and should be used in conjunction with all the other practice techniques.  It helps you recognize parts of the song that may look hard at first, but then you realize it’s just a scale.  It also helps you keep your fingers even.

Tone on the Piano

Wait, you can have good tone on a piano? I thought you just pushed the key and it made a sound. I thought tone had everything to do with the piano and nothing to do with the player. That’s what I thought the first time my piano teacher talked to me about tone.

Wait, you can have good tone on a piano? I thought you just pushed the key and it made a sound. I thought tone had everything to do with the piano and nothing to do with the player.

That’s what I thought the first time my piano teacher talked to me about tone. I was playing Debussy. It was flowy and beautiful, so she taught me to stroke the keys as I played.

The other way to have good tone is to have perfect hand position – no collapsing fingers, no flat fingers, no collapsed wrists. Your hand needs to be perfectly rounded, wrists at or above the hand, and a strong (not stiff) first finger joint.

Scales

Scales are a great tool for any number of things because they’re simple and should be memorized. The other instruments begin their practice with tone, and piano should be no exception. Play your scales slowly and watch your hands like a hawk.

Scales are a separate category of practice from tone. This is practicing tone, and it should be done before scales. Scales usually have a different focus, given to you by your teacher or your personal goals.

Should I Practice Both Kinds Of Tone Each Day?

Maybe. It depends on how long you practice each day. If you’re practicing for half an hour per day, just pick one. Start with the perfect hand position one until it’s mastered. Afterwards, master the finger stroke. If you have already mastered both, then alternate each day.

If you’re practicing for an hour or longer per day, then practice each kind of tone each day. If you’re in the inbetweeny stage where you’re practicing between half an hour and an hour per day, then go with your gut. If it’s boring to you, just do it once. If you enjoy it, do both kinds.

What About My Other Music?

As you practice tone, your good tone will naturally expand to the other music. It will stay in the back of your mind because you began your practice with concentrating on it.