Piano Scales – What Exactly Are They?
A scale on the piano consists of the eight notes that lay between one note and the same note but an entire octave higher. The scales are all different. There are minor scales as well as major scales. The more upbeat and lighter sounding scales are known as the major scales. The more melancholy or deep and gloomy sounding scales are what people refer to as the minor scales.
If you spend a part of your practice time playing scales, you build muscle memory in your hands. This means that, after much time practicing, your hands go more easily to notes in the scale you are playing at any given time. You only have to see the piano sheet music or think of the melody and your hands know what to do.
To talk about scales, you must talk about keys. There are two kinds of keys when you are learning to play the piano. There are the physical blocks of ivory, or some look-alike material, and wood. There are also keys that scales or songs are played in.
Have you ever been to a lounge where a singer is giving an impromptu performance? She might lean down to the pianist and say something like, “In the key of C.” That tells the pianist where on the keyboard to begin. It also tells the pianist what physical keys to start with and what chords to use. The key of a piece of music is very important.
When you are learning scales, you can do it without learning all the key signatures. (Key signatures are the written notation of the keys, such as the key of C or the key of G.) You can begin by playing a C scale. A major C scale is all done on the white keys. Begin with your right hand in the Home Keys position. Remember that your fingers are numbered 1-5, with the thumb being 1.
Press the keys and listen to the sounds of the one two three keys being played. You have now heard the sounds of you playing the C D E chord. Rather than going on to the next finger, place your thumb under your other fingers and continue with your thumb hitting the fourth key in the row, or the F key. Let your fingers flow from there to complete the scale with the final note being keyed by your pinkie finger. When you are finished you can pat yourself on the back as you have completed the complete scale by pressing the keys in order, 1-2-3-1-2-3-4-5 (otherwise known as C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. Continue to practice this so you can play it fluently.
After you are comfortable with the C scale on your right hand, move on to mastering it with your left hand. Rest your pinkie finger on the C key that is below middle C. Your fingers should be mentally numbered from one to five beginning with the pinkie finger. Play the keys as 5-4-3-2-1. After you have completed this step, use your middle finger to reach across the other fingers and put it on the next available key. Play 3-2-1 beginning at this location on the keyboard. When you put it all together you are playing 5-4-3-2-1-3-2-1, otherwise known as C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C.
Once you have taken some time to practice playing the C scale with each hand separately, try to combine them and play them at the same time. Hit the C below the middle C key with your left pinkie and the middle C with your thumb on your left hand. Travel up the scale using both hands. You may find it a bit challenging since you will have to maneuver the middle finger on your left hand over top while you are moving your thumb on the right hand underneath and at different times as well. You will find that as you practice the function becomes much more doable.
After you have mastered this scale you will find that it is much easier to grasp the other major scales. Be sure to concentrate on the order of the half steps and the whole steps that occur in a major scale. If you are following the right order up the major scale you will be playing like this: starting note-step-step-half step-step-step-step-half step. Keep in mind as you follow these steps that there are no black keys found in between the B and C and the E and F so they are considered to be half steps.
A scale can be started from any place on the piano keyboard. You can choose to start with a white key or a black key. If you follow the sequence that was discussed above and pay attention to the half and whole steps when you go up the scale of eight notes then you will be fine. Try beginning at very last key on the left and carrying the scale to the last key found on the right side of the piano. Major scales will seem very simple after you have spent some time practicing them.
This entry was posted on Monday, January 4th, 2010 at 4:32 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.