Why scales ?

[martinn]

What is in your opinions the pedagogical value and benefit of, say playing scales hand together ?

I have started learning a few ( 4 ) scales two octaves hands together, and it is hard work to get it automatic, memorized, and even.

It would help to know why it is important.

[ignomike]

It's like riding a bike - so simple once you've got it but seems insurmountable at first.
Only takes 5 mins tho... 

As for benefits, just a few really that come to mind but quite important:

Ability to play within key at ease, players who tend to find key signatures hard probably don't practise scales enough. 2 hands does make a difference here.

Co-ordination, hands perform a simple but independent pattern, very useful.

Quite a common pedagogical requirement. Plenty of romantic cadenzas and classical pieces will require 2 hand scales in any key but admittedly one hand is more common.

More efficient to practise both hands simultaneously (though don't neglect separate practise to focus on quality and speed.



Here's an effective method that should get you through it in 5 mins: Get one octave done first, I won't elaborate, this is the easy bit hopefully. Now think of it as hurdles. There are 3 to clear. Master the first before approaching the 2nd ofc.

1. Instead of finishing first octave with pinky land both thumbs on tonic (keynote/first note of scale), try to listen for it to develop your aural skills too you'll hear the dissonant 7th note just before the tonic.

2. Immediately after you play the tonic the left hand puts 4th finger over

3. The hardest one - right hand thumb under after your 3rd finger plays

Clear these hurdles one at a time. Only once you can do this easily should you come down - the hurdles are the same but hands are swapped.

Maybe this helps!

[brogers70]

Scales are great. Yes, it's true that once you've learned all the major and minor scales, reading music in any key will be easier. It's also true that there are an awful lot of fast scalar passages in music of all periods, so getting good at playing that sort of thing is very helpful. That's just the beginning of what practicing scales is good for, though

1. Any aspect of how you move your shoulders, arms, elbows wrists, or fingers can be the focus when you practice scales. Once you've made the fingerings second nature, you've basically got a bit of fast passage work in both hands that you can use to work on any aspect of your motions with. You don't have to think about which note comes next, it's automatic, so you can focus your mind on how particular things feel, what sounds you are getting from different fingers, almost anything you want to work on you can use scales for.

2. Working up the speed and alignment of scales will help with the alignment of all sorts of fast passages, and working up the speed with a metronome will brutally show you where and how your technique breaks down at speed.

3. There are lots of other things you can do; to learn polyrhythms I practiced scales 2:3, two octaves in the LH at the same time as three in the RH, and 3:4. If I ever have a hard 3:4 passage and the polyrhythm doesn't feel right, I just go back and do a few 3:4 (or 4:3) scales and things improve quickly. You can practice different articulations in the two hands, or different dynamics, or decrescendo in one hand while you crescendo in the other.

All of these things, in principle, you can work on by working on excerpts from your pieces, but I find it really convenient to isolate the specific issue while working on scales, since the notes and fingerings are completely automatic.

[martinn]

Thanks, now I have some food for thought while I repeat and struggle.