Tag: Why play scales?

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.

4 Reasons to do Scales Before Playing

Maybe they’re boring, but scales make the rest of the music more fun. It always helps to know the reason behind doing the boring thing so you can get to the fun stuff faster.

When I say scales, I mean the whole shebang – scales, chords, arpeggios, cadences, etc. Everything that you would find in a good scale book.

Why do we do them? What is their purpose? Can we skip them when we’re in a hurry?

Scales may be boring to some people, but I’ve noticed that the boring stuff is easier to do when I know the purpose behind it. There are more, technical, reasons behind it, but these are the philosophical reasons.

1. They make your music easier.

When you’re playing through the music and come across a fast passage, 9 out of 10 times, it’s just a scale or an arpeggio.

You can look at that tough passage and say, “Oh, that’s just a scale!” and play it like a champ.

2. It helps you get into the key signature.

6 flats. Oof.

Why can’t it be 7? It’s easier to remember.

Why can’t it be 5? It makes more sense.

Practicing the Gb Major scale/cadence/chords/arpeggios helps you get into the 6 flat monstrosity of a key signature. Do the relative minor, too, while you’re at it.

3. It helps your brain and your fingers talk to each other better.

Ever have one of those days when your fingers seem to get tangled on each other or won’t move the way you want? The scales help your fingers work smoother and better together.

4. It warms up the muscles in your hands.

You know how in sports, your muscles work better and you’re less likely to get injured if you do a proper warm-up? Scales work the same way. They prevent injury by bringing the blood to the area so the fingers work better.

Conclusion

After reading all these reasons to do scales, would you ever want to skip them? Maybe they’re boring, but scales make the rest of the music more fun. It always helps to know the reason behind doing the boring thing so you can get to the fun stuff faster.