Scales: your building blocks

Building Better Technique

Practicing Scales 

by Adrienne Tedjamulia

Hate them or love them—scales are the building blocks of music. Think of every playing test, audition, and piece on your repertoire list and you know that scales are a part of everything you play.  With scales being omnipresent, it can be tempting to ignore them or think you’ll learn your scales by “osmosis” and only practice repertoire. Don’t fool yourself with these thoughts! Neither of these methods will give you the ability to improve your sight-reading, learn repertoire more quickly, and enjoy the ease of playing with solid technique as actually practicing your scales. Walt Disney once said, “When you are curious, you find a lot of interesting things to do.” This can be true of anything, including scales practice! Bringing curiosity to your practice of scales can transform automatic mechanical playing into a brilliant display of virtuosity.

MORE THAN AN EXERCISE 

It is tempting to get in the habit of playing only the scales you already know with disinterest, but remember how scales are the building blocks of music? So treat your scales with the same curiosity and creativity as you could a large bucket of Legos. You don’t have to have all the instructions to build a good, solid foundation of technique out of your scales.

BRICK BY BRICK

How do you normally practice your scales—in the circle of fifths (C, G, D, A), chromatically, or at random? Have you ever separated a bucket of Legos by color?   If you already feel confident with different scales, you can try this method. Go alphabetically (A then B, etc) and play every scale you know that begins on A—major, minor (all three), in thirds, pentatonic, octatonic, whole tone, chromatic.  Play them forwards; play them backwards. Play each scale with eager interest. How does the scale feel in your fingers?  When you notice something that is slow, flumbles, or is uncomfortable—that’s your clue to get curious!  Hone in on that spot. Ask yourself, “Why isn’t this smooth and effortless to play?” Then take time to investigate that spot, the one that isn’t 100% easy to play yet, and spend your practice time there.

Don’t just settle for “close enough” in your summer scale practice. Go for the details. Play those spots slowly, forwards, backwards, upside down. Get to know every single “brick” in your bucket of scales and clean it. Is you middle E to F# sounding floofy? Go slow! Take the opportunity to understand your playing through your scales. Then when it comes time for you to learn a new piece, you can minimize those “I-don’t-know-why-I-always-play-that-wrong” sections.

IMAGINE

Remember to bring your creativity and imagination into your scale practice. Music is a reflection of the natural world around us. So when you practice your scales, try to make it sound like something you’ve seen or experienced in nature.  “Can I make my scales sound like a gust of wind?  Can I outline a mountain range?”  

Imagery and imagination will help you stay curious and focused as you practice. As flutists, we often have to imitate bird calls in our repertoire.  Why not take the quick gestures of bird song as a pattern for playing scales? Start by playing your scale in quick chunks of 2-4 notes at a time. Play that small group of notes quickly while maintaining ease and freedom in your fingers. Do this until you have completed the scale pattern (this is especially challenging and beneficial in T&G #6!). 

Make your practice time interesting by exercising your imagination while you are exercising your flute fingers. Be curious about how to build a better technique and let that motivate you. Have an idea, story character, color, or image to every scale you play and transform your musical building blocks from mundane to masterful.

BUILD WITH PEOPLE

It is rare in the music and performing arts fields to do something truly on your own. We are always collaborating and working with people to create music. So take your metaphorical bucket of building blocks (scales) over to a friend’s house and play with them.  Play your scales for each other. Play “catch” where each person takes a turn playing one scale, or one person plays ascending while the other plays descending. Ask a friend how they practice their scales and try their method together. Learning from your peers can expand your creativity in scales practice and help you see your areas that need improvement. 

PLAY WITH MUSIC

Sometimes you cannot find people to play scales together (hey, social distancing), and that is when you play your scales to recorded music. Armed with headphones and a music streaming service, you can prepare yourself for playing in any type of ensemble you choose.  Play your scales over great symphonic repertoire or jazz chord changes. Play your scales to your favorite music of any genre or style and polish your sense of steady time, tuning, various articulation styles, and make music out of your scales practice session. Using recorded music expands your musical senses beyond the regular setup of yourself and a metronome.  Recorded music helps you develop your technique and your ensemble skills even when you cannot play with other people.

OUTSIDE THE FLUTE BOX

Besides practicing extended scales, Taffanel & Gaubert 17 Big Daily Exercises, Moyse Gammes et Arpeges, you can ask your friends of other instruments what scale patterns they use. One day I asked a jazz musician to play scales with me, and I certainly learned a lot! Since scales are the Legos, or building blocks, of your music, why not explore how other instrumentalists build their technique? Use your curiosity to help you explore and find creative new ways to make your scales a life-long practice of self-improvement.