I decided to post today to discuss the way I’ve been practicing scales lately. An exciting topic, I know! But hey, who couldn’t use a little more inspiration to practice scales? (Actually I can think of one student who doesn’t need the push - you know who you are).
Below you’ll find a link to a pdf file with my scale exercise notated and also a video of me playing the scale in case you’re interested. (I know… very high-tech here!) Basically, it is a scale that gets progressively faster and faster not by speeding up randomly, but by adding one note per beat after a certain number of repetitions. The scheme for repetition was inspired by the piece “Piano Media” (sound familiar?) by Toshi Ichiyanagi (soundclip [here]). I recommend practicing the scale in eighth notes, triplets, and sixteenth notes only for a while to get used to the idea. Then, add one more version whenever you feel ready. I find that playing scales this way helps rhythm, accuracy, evenness of tone, and synchronicity between the hands. The video is recorded at a metronome setting of 50. I myself practice it at something like 63, but whatever suits you is fine. The point is to be very rhythmically accurate.
I do this with an A-flat scale for two reasons: 1 - It is a bit harder than B-major (B has a very obvious fingering). 2 - If you sit at the piano with the D above middle C right in front of you (as I do), the A flat scale the way it’s presented here goes the same distance to your left as to your right. I sit this way and think of D as the physical center of the keyboard because if you play chromatically upwards and downwards from D, you will see that the keyboard is completely symmetrical with D as the center. (If that makes any sense.)
Okay, well for whoever is reading this, please take a look at the scale, and let me know what you think. Also, please report any problems with the video. I tried using a format that Mac and Windows users would all find easy to open. Enjoy!