I watched this just because I'm interested in what pianists do at a higher level. I am still struggling to sound musical after noodling for one year, and have started lessons with a real live teacher. I've registered this in my head as a 10 year plan. Merci beaucoup.
Yes, I always default to the harmonic minor in the grand pattern - although it's important to make sure you know and can practice the natural and melodic minors as well. Using the harmonic minor as a default saves time (you're not practicing each minor scale 3x) and is a good default choice because the harmonic minor is what appears most often in context in piano literature when there are minor scale passages.
up in 10ths down in 6ths / up in 6ths down in 10ths is one of my favorites -- only I turn around on the tonic rather than going up to the 3rd above. This also works for arpeggios -- starting on the 3rd in the RH, going up in "mostly 10ths" and turning around on the tonic at the top to come down in "mostly 6ths"
New subscriber. I joined your channel to supplement my piano education provided by my piano teacher. She doesn't advocate learning scales because she says scales are a technique but she'd rather first have us learn to read notes comfortably first. (She uses the John Thompson series and scales are a part of that curriculum.) I'm a senior so it takes me a bit longer to learn and retain everything.
Welcome - glad you're here! It's good that you have a teacher to help you learn, as she will be able to help devise a curriculum that fits your needs. Good luck with your journey!
Thank you this was useful. I'm a jazz saxophonist, mostly and ear player and I've been working hard on piano for 18 months, and the fingering is what is interesting me most about scales. I enjoy practicing scales because my brain likes patterns, but I'm still not sure why they are useful. E.g. in G major, the standard RH finger fot the F# would be 4. But in any piece of music I look at there are snippets of notes, where the F# could be played by any finger. Even runs of notes, say a melody of E F# G A. If that was the phrase then all my endless playing of a G major with 123 1234 is suddenly not required. My point being really, *associating a fingering* with scales is only useful if there are long passages of scales in a piece of music isn't it? Again though, thank you for the video I liked the clear method of advice.
Thanks for your comment! This is a good point and I can see why you're asking the question. Short answer: you're right! One of the main reasons to learn scale fingerings is because there are so many passages in classical piano music that use scales that sweep up and down the keyboard - think of Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Haydn, Bach, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, etc. And when you come across a scale pattern, it's super helpful to just plug-and-play the fingering that you've learned and practiced. In short runs of notes e.g., E F# G A you can use whatever fingering makes sense next to the adjacent notes. However, when we practice scales, we're doing more than practicing fingering: we're working on evenness, steady rhythms, and facility in the fingers. Scale practice will make it easier to play shorter groups of notes evenly, as they appear in the music. Hope this helps! 👋
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd yes. Watching your videos, I finally understood what it is meant with playing scales evenly. My scales are fine but my left hand contrary motion, when I cross my thumb it feel like I play louder. I'm kinda surprised because it is my guitar hand and I am usually solid on my left hand. Thank you so much for your response.
Overwhelm can be real. I included a lot in this video, to help a wider range of people. Hopefully you can find the part that is right for you with where you are at and just do that. Good luck and let me know how it goes!
Yes, I always default to the harmonic minor in the grand pattern - although it's important to make sure you know and can practice the natural and melodic minors as well. Using the harmonic minor as a default saves time (you're not practicing each minor scale 3x) and is a good default choice because the harmonic minor is what appears most often in context in piano literature when there are minor scale passages.
I don't understand the benefit of such extensive scale practice. That really takes a lot of time, which I spend on learning musical skills instead. But of course one should learn the system and how to play all the scales. But that's it IMO.
I totally agree that scale practice should not come at the expense of learning musical skills. 💯%! And I don't advocate that you should spend too much time on a daily basis practicing scales, especially just to practice scales and with no larger goal in mind. However, there are 3 points I'd make with regard to scale practice: 1) Scale practice should not be practiced mechanically or to the exclusion of practicing musical skills - once you learn the scale patterns, you can and should use them to practice musical skills. This is helpful because you can really learn a lot about articulation, dynamics, and so forth while practicing scales and arpeggios. 2) Once you learn the basic scale patterns, it's important to maintain your skill and knowledge of them, and then, over time, level up (i.e., get comfortable with 2 octaves, then work up to 4 octaves, then work on contrary motion, etc) - so that you are continually building your skills. That is the subject of this particular video - sort of giving a progression for how to do that. But again, these are long-term goals, not practicing more than 10-15 minutes on any given day on scales. 3) Scales and arpeggios come up quite often in classical repertoire, and being comfortable with them is also helpful at gaining a deep understanding of music theory and key relationships. Consistent practice of scales and arpeggios can help you "pre-learn" these patterns so that you can approach them as they appear "in the wild" with ease and familiarity.
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd I very like your channel and wow, thanks for your thoughtful answer. I'm not a beginner and have a good education at the piano, but I'm still an amateur. I play the entire piano repertoire except for very difficult pieces like Chopin's Etudes and I think I have a good musical sense. I only practiced scales in my early days. Today I only learn pieces or musical knowledge such as harmonic theory or improvisation. I guess at this stage scale exercises aren't that important anymore ;) .
![Slow Practice at the Piano [with 5 tips!] | The Piano Prof with Kate Boyd](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Hj_0YoJgHV8/mqdefault.jpg)
I watched this just because I'm interested in what pianists do at a higher level. I am still struggling to sound musical after noodling for one year, and have started lessons with a real live teacher. I've registered this in my head as a 10 year plan.
Merci beaucoup.
Congrats on finding a teacher! I'm betting you can make faster progress on this than 10 years - keep me posted! 👍🏻
2:21am 9:03 When she did what she called NATURAL minor (which should be the Aeolian Mode) , it sounded more like the HARMOIC Minor.
Yes, I always default to the harmonic minor in the grand pattern - although it's important to make sure you know and can practice the natural and melodic minors as well. Using the harmonic minor as a default saves time (you're not practicing each minor scale 3x) and is a good default choice because the harmonic minor is what appears most often in context in piano literature when there are minor scale passages.
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd Understood , logical . Thanks for answer. Your show is awesome !
I didn't know such scale-worlds existed. Thanks for the trip!
You're very welcome!
up in 10ths down in 6ths / up in 6ths down in 10ths is one of my favorites -- only I turn around on the tonic rather than going up to the 3rd above. This also works for arpeggios -- starting on the 3rd in the RH, going up in "mostly 10ths" and turning around on the tonic at the top to come down in "mostly 6ths"
This is a great video. The scales in 6ths and 10ths are my next skill to work on. Didn’t know that was a thing!😮 thank you!
Glad it was helpful! Good luck with 6ths and 10ths. Those are fun to play!
New subscriber. I joined your channel to supplement my piano education provided by my piano teacher. She doesn't advocate learning scales because she says scales are a technique but she'd rather first have us learn to read notes comfortably first. (She uses the John Thompson series and scales are a part of that curriculum.) I'm a senior so it takes me a bit longer to learn and retain everything.
Welcome - glad you're here! It's good that you have a teacher to help you learn, as she will be able to help devise a curriculum that fits your needs. Good luck with your journey!
Thank you this was useful. I'm a jazz saxophonist, mostly and ear player and I've been working hard on piano for 18 months, and the fingering is what is interesting me most about scales. I enjoy practicing scales because my brain likes patterns, but I'm still not sure why they are useful. E.g. in G major, the standard RH finger fot the F# would be 4. But in any piece of music I look at there are snippets of notes, where the F# could be played by any finger. Even runs of notes, say a melody of E F# G A. If that was the phrase then all my endless playing of a G major with 123 1234 is suddenly not required.
My point being really, *associating a fingering* with scales is only useful if there are long passages of scales in a piece of music isn't it?
Again though, thank you for the video I liked the clear method of advice.
Thanks for your comment! This is a good point and I can see why you're asking the question. Short answer: you're right! One of the main reasons to learn scale fingerings is because there are so many passages in classical piano music that use scales that sweep up and down the keyboard - think of Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Haydn, Bach, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, etc. And when you come across a scale pattern, it's super helpful to just plug-and-play the fingering that you've learned and practiced.
In short runs of notes e.g., E F# G A you can use whatever fingering makes sense next to the adjacent notes.
However, when we practice scales, we're doing more than practicing fingering: we're working on evenness, steady rhythms, and facility in the fingers. Scale practice will make it easier to play shorter groups of notes evenly, as they appear in the music.
Hope this helps! 👋
Do you do contrary motion of all 24 keys?
Yes - do you think it would be helpful if I did a video where I just play through all 24 of them to demonstrate?
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd yes. Watching your videos, I finally understood what it is meant with playing scales evenly. My scales are fine but my left hand contrary motion, when I cross my thumb it feel like I play louder. I'm kinda surprised because it is my guitar hand and I am usually solid on my left hand. Thank you so much for your response.
I'll need several reincarnations to cover all of this.
Overwhelm can be real. I included a lot in this video, to help a wider range of people. Hopefully you can find the part that is right for you with where you are at and just do that. Good luck and let me know how it goes!
Oh , I see , she was deliberately doing the HARMOIC MINOR. I guess so you can practice a new pattern.
Yes, I always default to the harmonic minor in the grand pattern - although it's important to make sure you know and can practice the natural and melodic minors as well. Using the harmonic minor as a default saves time (you're not practicing each minor scale 3x) and is a good default choice because the harmonic minor is what appears most often in context in piano literature when there are minor scale passages.
I don't understand the benefit of such extensive scale practice. That really takes a lot of time, which I spend on learning musical skills instead. But of course one should learn the system and how to play all the scales. But that's it IMO.
I totally agree that scale practice should not come at the expense of learning musical skills. 💯%! And I don't advocate that you should spend too much time on a daily basis practicing scales, especially just to practice scales and with no larger goal in mind.
However, there are 3 points I'd make with regard to scale practice:
1) Scale practice should not be practiced mechanically or to the exclusion of practicing musical skills - once you learn the scale patterns, you can and should use them to practice musical skills. This is helpful because you can really learn a lot about articulation, dynamics, and so forth while practicing scales and arpeggios.
2) Once you learn the basic scale patterns, it's important to maintain your skill and knowledge of them, and then, over time, level up (i.e., get comfortable with 2 octaves, then work up to 4 octaves, then work on contrary motion, etc) - so that you are continually building your skills. That is the subject of this particular video - sort of giving a progression for how to do that. But again, these are long-term goals, not practicing more than 10-15 minutes on any given day on scales.
3) Scales and arpeggios come up quite often in classical repertoire, and being comfortable with them is also helpful at gaining a deep understanding of music theory and key relationships. Consistent practice of scales and arpeggios can help you "pre-learn" these patterns so that you can approach them as they appear "in the wild" with ease and familiarity.
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd I very like your channel and wow, thanks for your thoughtful answer. I'm not a beginner and have a good education at the piano, but I'm still an amateur. I play the entire piano repertoire except for very difficult pieces like Chopin's Etudes and I think I have a good musical sense. I only practiced scales in my early days. Today I only learn pieces or musical knowledge such as harmonic theory or improvisation. I guess at this stage scale exercises aren't that important anymore ;) .