Another way of teaching scale patterns.

[johnk]

In the attached picture I recoloured the piano keyboard to show the two wholetone scales. Any major scale can then be seen to consist of 3 notes from one WT scale followed by 4 notes from the other. This may be a simpler description than the traditional TTSTTTS.

[dan101]

Nice observation, although the two whole tone scales may not look quite as obvious to students when displayed in other keys. But hey, whatever works...

[johnk]

when displayed in other keys.

?
Not sure that you get this. There are only two wholetone scales, shown in my pic as the black WT scale and the white WT scale. Start on ANY key and form the major scale in that key, by playing 3 keys of one colour then 4 of the other. The [doh ray me] (relative pitch) is one colour, and the [fah soh lah te] is the other.

You could call the two WT scales the 3-3 and the 4-2 scale. The 3-3 scale is CDE F#G#Bb, and the 4-2 is FGAB C#Eb. But wholetone scales in this sense are just a collection of pitches - I dont mean the first note as a tonic. 

[mknueven]

Very nice - john k!
But don't expect someone to get it without your explanation -

I think it really makes it easy though!

[mknueven]

How would you finger it the easiest?

[johnk]

Fingering the 4-2 wholetone scale is easy, 123 123 with thumbs on the B and F.

For the 3-3 wholetone scale, you can either do:
12 1234 with thumbs on C and E,
OR
123 123 with the 3 white keys played 123 and the 3 blacks also. In this case the two thumbs come on different notes. And you dont play perfectly legato when going from the white keys to the blacks. You can sort of put the thumbs over the fingers instead of the usual tuck under.

If you want to try teaching major scales by this method, get the student to practice just 4-note segments of the wholetone scales starting anywhere, and get them to say which WT scale (3-3 or 4-2) it is part of. Then only when they are fairly quick with this, play the major scales with the formula 3 notes of one WTS then 4 of the other. You might find that it is heaps easier than other ways of prescribing the major scale.

[puddy]

I've noticed that in all the major flat scales, the 4th. finger falls on the B flat in the right hand and pointing that out to students usually reduces the collapsing when played hands together. Confusion of fingering also arises when playing arpeggios in different positions. My answer is to listen to the instruction e.g. E major, place your hands as how you would play it in root position and start on the note of the given position. So, in second inversion, you would start on B with the 3rd finger in the r.h. and 2nd in the l.h. Then you just have to remember to finish on B!

[johnk]

I wouldnt do arpeggios with this fingering!

For any arpeggio in any inversion starting on a white key, use thumb in R and 5th in L.

For arpeggios starting on a black key, the RH thumb comes on the first white key going up. The LH thumb comes on the first white key going down.

If there are no white keys, use thumb and 5th.

[puddy]

I wouldnt do arpeggios with this fingering!

For any arpeggio in any inversion starting on a white key, use thumb in R and 5th in L.

For arpeggios starting on a black key, the RH thumb comes on the first white key going up. The LH thumb comes on the first white key going down.

If there are no white keys, use thumb and 5th.

       

The logic behind my answer is that if you don't have a problem playing the arpeggio in root position then whether you start in root position. 1st. inversion or 2nd. inversion shouldn't be of significance. No additional learning is required.

[johnk]

I understand what you say, but it is better to have flexibility in hand shapes to account for arpeggios as they occur in actual pieces.

Anyway, out of interest, did you get the point of teaching scales by the two wholetone scale method instead of the key signature method?

[puddy]

I understand what you say, but it is better to have flexibility in hand shapes to account for arpeggios as they occur in actual pieces.

Anyway, out of interest, did you get the point of teaching scales by the two wholetone scale method instead of the key signature method?

I don't quite agree with the thumb falling on the black note in the 123 123 fingering. You'd get an undue accent in the middle of a scale. It's not a good idea to circumvent the knowledge and application of key signatures. All music is made up of scales and arppegios and a sound knowledge of key signatures makes learning a piece of music much easier.

[johnk]

Its not circumventing key signatures, its discovering them!

This way a young student could easily work out the notes for any major scale, by taking 3 notes from one WT scale then 4 from the other. So for A major (for example) what did you get? What then is the key signature? So where will we place A on the key clock ... etc.

In any major scale, doh ray me is from one WT scale and fah soh lah te is from the other. It also explains why the fah and te are important notes. (Fah = 4th degree,  Te = 7th degree in relative solfa.) Fah being the last flat and te the last sharp. To change the scale to the next nearest related, either end of (fah soh lah te) has to be changed to belong to the other WT scale, either fah raised or te lowered leaving either (soh la te)  or (fah soh lah) as the 3-some of the new scale. Thus the related keys are soh and fah.

I think this WT scale method is easier to explain than the tetrachord method where you have to construct 4 notes by TTS twice. Just because things are usually done this way does not mean it is necessarily the best way to explain something. I am all for expanding understanding and seeing things in new ways.

Like the symmetry of ABCDEFG ...

[puddy]

Its not circumventing key signatures, its discovering them!

This way a young student could easily work out the notes for any major scale, by taking 3 notes from one WT scale then 4 from the other. So for A major (for example) what did you get? What then is the key signature? So where will we place A on the key clock ... etc.

In any major scale, doh ray me is from one WT scale and fah soh lah te is from the other. It also explains why the fah and te are important notes. (Fah = 4th degree,  Te = 7th degree in relative solfa.) Fah being the last flat and te the last sharp. To change the scale to the next nearest related, either end of (fah soh lah te) has to be changed to belong to the other WT scale, either fah raised or te lowered leaving either (soh la te)  or (fah soh lah) as the 3-some of the new scale. Thus the related keys are soh and fah.

I think this WT scale method is easier to explain than the tetrachord method where you have to construct 4 notes by TTS twice. Just because things are usually done this way does not mean it is necessarily the best way to explain something. I am all for expanding understanding and seeing things in new ways.

Like the symmetry of ABCDEFG ...

Sometimes, things stand the test of time for a reason. Your method might be understood by seasoned musicians but like, for example, how would you get the student to unlearn the colouring scheme i.e. colouring the cde in black? It's hard enough to get them to recognize the 2-3 pattern! As one of the earlier replies said, it'd be hard to get the students to understand it. I hope I'm not sounding hard headed but teaching requires REAL simplicity. Look at the mistakes in theory where writing a scale with or without key signature requires infinite reminders. Even after you get them to underline with or without, the answer will still be to the contrary. Sometimes it feels like you're forever filling potholes. But, there we are....

[johnk]

Well the WT scales can be taught without the key colour being changed. One WT scale is the 3 back keys plus 3 white (CDE). The other is the 2 black keys plus 4 white (FGAB). So you test them in playing the 3-3 wholetone scale and the 2-4 wholetone scale. You point out what we mean by wholetones, specially showing where they cross from black to white. You also point out what we mean by semitones. Point out that if you move by a semitone, you get into the other WT scale. For kids who have a logical, mathematical or scientific type of brain, this would appeal. For kids without (aaggghhh), you just teach the mnemonics without trying to explain anything!

I always wanted explanations when I was young, and was never satisfied with the conventional answers. Why is treble clef different to bass clef? The fact is, it was a quirky error of judgement somewhere in history! There is no logical reason why they could not have gone with the French violin clef that had the G on the bottom line.

When I first saw that ABCDEFG made a symmetrical pattern, i thought "So thats why the notes are named the way they are!" If we were meant to start with C, it would have been called A!

I dont teach kids to pass theory exams any more. I try to teach them piano skills, one of which is playing sheet music, classical style. But too often, the kids aim is to do other things and I try to keep a balance. Sometimes we play melody by solfa and "Home" (tonic) and "Away" (dominant 7th) chords, or we interpret chord symbols and make our own arrangements or versions of pieces.  Also kids want help with how to pick up pop songs by ear, or how do some improvising in boogie blues style etc ...

Playing classical music is not what most would people want to do, unless it was a bit easier.

Anyway thats my outlook ...

[puddy]

Well the WT scales can be taught without the key colour being changed. One WT scale is the 3 back keys plus 3 white (CDE). The other is the 2 black keys plus 4 white (FGAB). So you test them in playing the 3-3 wholetone scale and the 2-4 wholetone scale. You point out what we mean by wholetones, specially showing where they cross from black to white. You also point out what we mean by semitones. Point out that if you move by a semitone, you get into the other WT scale. For kids who have a logical, mathematical or scientific type of brain, this would appeal. For kids without (aaggghhh), you just teach the mnemonics without trying to explain anything!

I always wanted explanations when I was young, and was never satisfied with the conventional answers. Why is treble clef different to bass clef? The fact is, it was a quirky error of judgement somewhere in history! There is no logical reason why they could not have gone with the French violin clef that had the G on the bottom line.

When I first saw that ABCDEFG made a symmetrical pattern, i thought "So thats why the notes are named the way they are!" If we were meant to start with C, it would have been called A!

I dont teach kids to pass theory exams any more. I try to teach them piano skills, one of which is playing sheet music, classical style. But too often, the kids aim is to do other things and I try to keep a balance. Sometimes we play melody by solfa and "Home" (tonic) and "Away" (dominant 7th) chords, or we interpret chord symbols and make our own arrangements or versions of pieces.  Also kids want help with how to pick up pop songs by ear, or how do some improvising in boogie blues style etc ...

Playing classical music is not what most would people want to do, unless it was a bit easier.

Anyway thats my outlook ...

I face a similar situation with my students wanting to learn pop music. It's amazing how quickly they can pick up on the piano version of canon in d but keep getting arpeggiated parts in other pieces wrong. I play my own arrangements of pop music for them to show them the importance of knowing their tonic triads and rearranging them e.g. 1,5,3 spread over a 10th interval. Pop music also brings to their attention the importance of bringing out the melody. After this con(!), I try to shift them back to classical music. I teach in Malaysia, where music takes a backseat to other academic pursuits and paper qualifications are the ideal. As a teacher, I try to make those paper qualifications mean something. I've come across students who have managed to obtain a distinction in their grade 8 practical without knowing what a diminished 7th. chord is. I suppose it's half the battle won. You have to think of ingenious ways to get them to remember their arpeggios( hence my shortcut version). Otherwise, there will be an uncomfortable silence in the exam room after the instruction has been given. Better the devil you know, than the one you don't.