What Are Piano Scales?
A scale goes from one key to the key that is an octave above that key. It consists of eight tones. There are different types of scales. Some of them are major scales and some of them are minor scales. Major scales have been described as sounding happy, while minor scales are said to sound sad or gloomy.
You will develop memory in the muscles of your hands as you spend time playing scales during your practice. You will find it much easier to get your fingers to move to the particular notes in the scale that you are working on after you have spent some time practicing them. As you glance over a sheet of music or hear a melody in the air your fingers will be naturally gravitating to the correct keys.
Any time you talk about scales you will also find yourself discussing keys. The piano has two different types of keys on it. The word “keys” as it pertains to the piano could mean the physical ivory or wood keys on the keyboard or the keys that a song or scale is played in.
You may hear a singer who is about to give their big performance lean over to the piano player and whisper “The key of C please”. The singer is telling the piano player where he or she wants the pianist to being on the keyboard. The keyboardist will know which keys to begin with as well as the chords that will need to be played to accompany the singer. Playing in the correct key is a vital part of any good musical piece.
As you start your training in mastering the scales, the key signatures do not all need to be learned. (The written notation in regards to the keys is referred to as the key signatures. This is referred to as the key of G, for example). Start your training off with the C scale. When playing a C scale all on white keys you will be playing the major C scale. You should start by putting your right hand in the Home Keys position on the keyboard. You should put an imaginary number on each finger beginning with the thumb and going up from number one.
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.
To play a C scale with your left hand, put your little finger on the C below middle C. Position your fingers from 1-5 coming up the keyboard from each key to the next. Play 5-4-3-2-1. Then, reach over the top with your middle finger and place it on the next key. Play 3-2-1 from this position. Therefore, you are playing 5-4-3-2-1-3-2-1, or C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C.
Combining the functions of both hands at the same time is the next step once you have spent some time practicing with each individual hand. You will be playing the C below middle C using your pinkie on your left hand just as you are using your right hand thumb to play the middle C. Travel up the scale using both hands. The task may seem a little challenging until you have gotten over having to maneuver one hand over and the other under to finish the scale. After you practice you will find that it comes much easier.
Once you get the basic procedure down, it is easy to play other major scales. The only thing you have to remember is the sequence of steps and half steps in a major scale. The correct order up a major scale is: beginning note-step-step-half step-step-step-step-half step. You should be aware that, since there are no black keys between them, the intervals from B-C and from E-F are each 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 Friday, January 8th, 2010 at 4:11 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.