While scales can be great for building consistency, they also provide a perfect testing ground for adding variety to one’s playing. Making sure scales and arpeggios are evenly paced can be a good way to develop an internal metronome, and aiming for consistency in dynamics or articulation can increase awareness and control of those aspects as well. Practicing scales provides a great opportunity to build a pleasant consistency in rhythm, dynamics, and articulation. If a student has mastered the C# major scale, they’ll be much less intimidated by all those sharps when they that key signature in a piece. Some teachers recommend practicing scales and arpeggios in the same key as the piece a student is working on to solidify those connections. Scales are also a great way to acquaint students with the different key signatures and basic chords within those keys, as well as the whole and half step patterns that create different scale types. Dexterity and strength are just as important for the left hand! Scales, however, get the left hand moving along with the right. Many early pieces involve long left hand notes while the right hand plays the melody. Many scale patterns also require both hands to work together in ways early piano literature doesn’t often require them to. Certain fingers get used more often then others within the pieces students play, but scales make sure all ten fingers are engaged. Part of building the fluency mentioned above is physically strengthening the fingers. When similar patterns arise in the pieces students are playing, it will be natural for them to follow the fingerings they know from scales. Repeated practice of different scales helps solidify muscle memory of the best scale fingerings. Finger crossings can often cause hesitations, and scales are the perfect opportunity to focus on such transitions outside of a piece of music. Practicing scales will help build comfort and smoothness in some of the most commonly used fingering patterns in music. Below are ten reasons to practice scales and arpeggios on the piano, along with three free printable piano scales to use with your students. As I now know, my piano teacher, and other piano teachers who teach scales, were accomplishing much more than just getting our fingers moving. I didn’t ask why– I just assumed it was a warm up, like running laps before gym class. When I studied piano as a child, every lesson and practice session began with scales.
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