Home
Piano Music
Piano Music Library
Audiovisual Study Tool
Search pieces
All composers
Top composers »
Bach
Beethoven
Brahms
Chopin
Debussy
Grieg
Haydn
Mendelssohn
Mozart
Liszt
Prokofiev
Rachmaninoff
Ravel
Schubert
Schumann
Scriabin
All composers »
All pieces
Recommended Pieces
PS Editions
Instructive Editions
Recordings
Recent additions
Free piano sheet music
News & Articles
PS Magazine
News flash
New albums
Livestreams
Article index
Piano Forum
Resources
Music dictionary
E-books
Manuscripts
Links
Mobile
About
About PS
Help & FAQ
Contact
Forum rules
Pricing
Log in
Sign up
Piano Forum
Home
Help
Search
Piano Forum
»
Piano Board
»
Student's Corner
»
Scales
Print
Pages: [
1
]
Go Down
Topic: Scales
(Read 2817 times)
heatherlindsey
PS Silver Member
Newbie
Posts: 2
Scales
on: July 07, 2011, 08:53:24 PM
I am a beginner piano player and I am having such a hard time getting the fingering right on scales and arpeggios. Does anyone have advice on how to get the correct fingering to stick in your head? I would really appreciate your knowledge!
Logged
~heather
Technique: Major Scales
Sign up for a Piano Street membership to download this piano score.
Sign up for FREE! >>
Technique: Major Arpeggios
Sign up for a Piano Street membership to download this piano score.
Sign up for FREE! >>
brogers70
PS Silver Member
Sr. Member
Posts: 1765
Re: Scales
Reply #1 on: July 08, 2011, 12:45:16 AM
Try this link to Bernhard's discussion of scales.
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=9211.0
Logged
john90
PS Silver Member
Full Member
Posts: 229
Re: Scales
Reply #2 on: July 08, 2011, 02:16:29 AM
As you are a beginner, I would suggest playing the scale slowly at an even tempo, and just concentrating on the fingering you have, perhaps using written music or your own written hints for each scale. Small amounts of regular practise over time should help a lot.
Logged
sucom
PS Silver Member
Sr. Member
Posts: 276
Re: Scales
Reply #3 on: July 08, 2011, 06:11:07 AM
Playing scales really slowly over and over, ensuring accuracy EVERY time you practise will gradually fix the fingering in your memory. Also, you could try playing the scale in stages, gradually adding more notes. For instance, using C as an example, play the first 5 notes up and down, remembering where the RH thumb turns under on F ascending and where the RH 3rd finger turns on E, descending. Then you could try going up and down for just one octave.
One of the most common difficulties is the fingering around the end/beginning of each octave. Going wrong here can cause your fingering to go haywire! Is it 4 or 3? Keep your eyes on the music and not on your hands and follow the fingering rigidly, ensuring you are accurate EVERY time.
Another problem I have found with students is that, due to notes being written very closely together, looking down at their hands causes their eyes to lose their place in the music. To get around this, I have sometimes written the notes of the scale on paper, putting the RH fingering above the letter names and the LH fingering below. This has helped some students. I also think it is worthwhile to try to NOT look at your hands, but follow the notes as closely as you can and 'feel' your way through the scale. In general slow, regular practice is what will bring the best results.
Logged
casaet
PS Silver Member
Newbie
Posts: 21
Re: Scales
Reply #4 on: July 08, 2011, 03:10:02 PM
Brogers, thanks for the link. Bernhards explanation of these methods is really good, as everything else I have read by him. Now I wonder what other treasures of Bernhards writings are hidden in this forum. So far I have bookmarked two of them, but to get a complete set of links here would probably be impossible. One can of course use the search engine, but it is not easy to know what to look for. Some good solution for this problem would be very much appreciated. Having everything in a book would be nice, but too much to hope for.
Logged
pianisten1989
PS Silver Member
Sr. Member
Posts: 1515
Re: Scales
Reply #5 on: July 08, 2011, 03:21:57 PM
the "rule" for white keys (except for F and B) is that the 4th finger should be next to the main tone. In c the forth finger is on d in left and Bb/b in right. In d Lh. is on c/c# and e in right hand... and so on. Doesn't work on black keys or in f or b though...
Logged
Sign-up to post reply
Print
Pages: [
1
]
Go Up
For more information about this topic, click search below!
Search on Piano Street