FROM LEFT AND RIGHT Scales

FROM LEFT AND RIGHT

Scales 

«When playing two octave scales, count for two quavers,

when three count for three quavers,

when four for four semiquavers,

when five for quintoles and when six octaves for sextuplets».

1. Before commencing your study, dedicate fifteen to twenty minutes to the sole and slow studying of scales.

2. Playing the scale (alongside with its arpeggios) in which a particular piece was composed prior to commencing your study, can prove very helpful.

3. When a beginner is playing a one-octave scale for the first time, he should be slowly counting every note.

4. At a later stage, when beginning to perform two-octave scales, he should start counting placing an accent on every other note. Accenting the first of two notes is, of course, wrong, as he will eventually have to perform the scale without accenting (or even counting, even silently!). Accenting can, however, help the beginner avoid the much greater danger of emphasising the dominant (1st scale) and subdominant, the notes that is, performed by the thumb.

5. It is only at a later stage, after having surpassed this danger that a student may begin to perform scales correctly, that is, without accenting, but with proper, internal counting.

6. One can tell if somebody is a good teacher from whether or not he can tell when his student, not accenting any of the notes, is counting correctly or wrongly, when counting is being done internally.

7. When playing two-octave scales, group the notes into teams of two quavers. When playing three-octave scales, group the notes into teams of triplets or three quavers. When playing four-octave scales, group the notes into teams of four semiquavers. When playing five-octave scales, group the notes into quintoles and when playing six-octave scales, into sextuplets or groups of six quavers.

8. An advanced pianist should make use of the whole piano range, especially when performing various romantic or modern day compositions. He should, therefore, perform five, or if possible, six-octave scales.

9. When performing scales which are enarmonious with certain others, the pianist should be thinking of both scales (e.g. C flat and B).

10. With scales, as with all compositions in general, the wrist should maintain a certain degree of elasticity and comfort, especially when a composition is to be studied at a tempo slower than the correct one for the first time. When playing quickly, be careful to avoid tightening your hand, especially your wrist and perform the scales gracefully. The faster and more complicated a scale, the less the effort and tension that should be placed on it. Try to understand the meaning of the phrase: « The effort of non-effort».

11. The several scales, always in accordance to their key, have acquired through the centuries, a certain tone and style, this being heroic, melancholic, etc. 12. There are pieces for which the wrist should move quickly, preparing the forward part; there are, however, pieces (dances, etc.) for which the wrist should move upwards.