Practicing chromatic scales, why is it important?

[ashtonm]

I'm curious to what the benefits are, and which problems will be less troublesome by practicing them. I Googled it but only get results regarding major/minor scales, and chromatic fingering.

Regards,

Ashton

[indianajo]

This question belongs in the student area.
Chromatic scales are physically difficult, and occur in many famous pieces.  The Gnome, which I am practicing now, has some.  The many crossovers in a chromatic scale give one fine motor control over the small muscles residing on the tendons. 

[faulty_damper]

1) musical reasons
2) technical reasons

There are many pieces which include chromatic scales that should be performed musically.  Usually, ascending scales increase in dynamics; descending ones decrease in dynamics.

Technically, you learn how to play them.  If you learn to align the apparatus correctly as you depress each key, it is very simple to learn.  If you use just the fingers, it becomes very difficult and requires extensive amounts of practice to condition the muscles.  It's better to do the former rather than the latter.

[ashtonm]

This question belongs in the student area.
Chromatic scales are physically difficult, and occur in many famous pieces.  The Gnome, which I am practicing now, has some.  The many crossovers in a chromatic scale give one fine motor control over the small muscles residing on the tendons. 

I assumed that initially, until I skimmed threads such as "How vital is understanding chords?" and there were no issues. Mods, feel free to move this if it's appropriate.

Interesting, do you think that improvement in control is also beneficial for pieces that don't contain chromatic scales?

1) musical reasons
2) technical reasons

There are many pieces which include chromatic scales that should be performed musically.  Usually, ascending scales increase in dynamics; descending ones decrease in dynamics.

Technically, you learn how to play them.  If you learn to align the apparatus correctly as you depress each key, it is very simple to learn.  If you use just the fingers, it becomes very difficult and requires extensive amounts of practice to condition the muscles.  It's better to do the former rather than the latter.

Thanks for the tip! I've been applying material from Ortmann, Fink, Fraser, etc. That will be useful.

Ashton

[faulty_damper]

I'd beware of the kinds of things promoted in those technique books.  It's better to think of each of them as a technical school rather than one whose aim is a genuinely effortless technique.  You can go through each book and still not achieve it.

[Bob]

This question belongs in the student area.

 


I'm surprised at you... *Bob shakes his head.*

[indianajo]

Interesting, do you think that improvement in control is also beneficial for pieces that don't contain chromatic scales?

Fine motor control has benefit in the crossovers of other scales and runs.  It also provides benefit in other areas of life, like assembly and repair and crafts.  Few people achieve the sort of control over the fingers and hands one can gain with piano training.  
I'm practicing a JS Bach piece where the best fingering on one run includes consecutive finger crossovers IMHO. The teacher suggested I help by inserting the other hand, but on organ one can tell from the records, the artists are doing that run all on the same manual (sound).  All those years of practice of a purely physical skill pays off in the end.   It is a tonic run, not a chromatic one, but my fingers don't get very tired because of all the practice of those muscles.  Yeah, faulty_d  it is not all fingers, you have to rotate the wrist a little to be fastest at this skill.  But when you are trying to thread a nut on a bolt behind an opaque bulkhead upside down or sideways with the wrist twisted to align, the movement is all fingers. That is a skill I can do due to fine control, the other techs on my shift could not. 

[ashtonm]

Fine motor control has benefit in the crossovers of other scales and runs.  It also provides benefit in other areas of life, like assembly and repair and crafts.  Few people achieve the sort of control over the fingers and hands one can gain with piano training.  
I'm practicing a JS Bach piece where the best fingering on one run includes consecutive finger crossovers IMHO. The teacher suggested I help by inserting the other hand, but on organ one can tell from the records, the artists are doing that run all on the same manual (sound).  All those years of practice of a purely physical skill pays off in the end.   It is a tonic run, not a chromatic one, but my fingers don't get very tired because of all the practice of those muscles.  Yeah, faulty_d  it is not all fingers, you have to rotate the wrist a little to be fastest at this skill.  But when you are trying to thread a nut on a bolt behind an opaque bulkhead upside down or sideways with the wrist twisted to align, the movement is all fingers. That is a skill I can do due to fine control, the other techs on my shift could not. 

That makes sense. I'll give it a go, thanks for the insight.

Ashton

[greglloydmusic]

Hi Aston,

For me chromatic scales help get you in between the white and black notes. They make the piano feel like one scale. Not key of G, Key of D, E...etc..

A good exercise I do is 5 notes up: C Db D Eb E  then Eb D Db then go back up: Db D Eb E F  etc.
                                                 1  2  3 4  5          3  2  1                           1  2  3  4 5

Try this out 'VERY SLOWLY' continuing up the piano an octave or 2 and after a while for me the Black notes became as easy as the White notes to play.

Greg