Contrary scales

[kghayesh]

I need advice on ways to learn contrary scales (i.e: starting and keys and moving one hands upwards and the other downwards..) especially when the scale has a lot of black keys. (Db, F minor, F#,........etc.)

I feel it is too hard to coordinate the two hands to move in harmony with such irregular motion of each one compared to the other....

[kghayesh]

Well i guess contrary scales are so easy then since nobody wants to reply me 

[xvimbi]

Er..., contrary scales are mirror images. The movements you do with one hand are exactly duplicated in the other. They are a lot easier than parallel scales where the fingering is in fact different. One hand can train the other.

Of course, all this falls apart when you play them out of sync.

[bernhard]

Er..., contrary scales are mirror images. The movements you do with one hand are exactly duplicated in the other. They are a lot easier than parallel scales where the fingering is in fact different. One hand can train the other.

Of course, all this falls apart when you play them out of sync.

If you use standard fingerings 8 or 9 of the scales (can't remember it is a long time since I used standard fingerings) are mirror images and quite easy.

The rest (Bb major, Eb major, Ab major, F minor, C# minor come to mind) are not and can be quite nightmarishly to co-ordinate. With non-standard fingering, only C major is mirror like.

In my opinion the best way to master contrary motion co-ordination is to use repeated note-groups.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[xvimbi]

The rest (Bb major, Eb major, Ab major, F minor, C# minor come to mind) are not and can be quite nightmarishly to co-ordinate. With non-standard fingering, only C major is mirror like.

You are right (of course). i must have been in my contrary-parallel universe when I wrote this

That goes to show how much I practice contrary scales...

[bernhard]

You are right (of course). i must have been in my contrary-parallel universe when I wrote this

That goes to show how much I practice contrary scales...

Now that you mention it, I cannot remember any piece that actually has contrary scales (except for etudes) in any extensive way.

[xvimbi]

Now that you mention it, I cannot remember any piece that actually has contrary scales (except for etudes) in any extensive way.

That's why I don't practice them

Mind you, I practice things only when I come across them in a piece. Perhaps, I should do more Hanon, so that I can have some exposure to contrary scales. I have the feeling I am missing out on something here

[ted]

I've found one of the best ways to develop coordination of finger movements of the two hands is to play simultaneous figures (scales in this case) with one note removed or added in one hand. Done this way you come back to where you started after the lowest common multiple of the periods of each hand, proceeding through contrary and back to parallel, with every possible combination used.

If you reach the stage where you can do this with any arbitrary pair of figures I'd say coordination problems will be a thing of the past. It has peculiar long-term benefits to feeling independent rhythms in improvisation too.