How to think about, read, write, hear, study, practice, internalize, and perform scales like a mindful musician, not like a mindless robot…
Table of Contents
Lesson Goal
To understand what scales do, why it’s important to learn some commonly used scales, the knowledge and skill sets that will help you perform better, and how to study and practice in order to quickly internalize scales by ear, intellect, eye, and muscle.
What is a Scale?
A Scale is a collection of pitches that work together in order to achieve some melodic and harmonic purpose…
There are many kinds of melodic and harmonic purposes; there are many types of scales:
- Each scale type has a unique personality.
- Each scale type sounds different.
- Each scale type feels different.
Think of each scale as a distinctive palette of musical sound-colors that work together to create a certain mood or feeling. Never think of a scale as an unbendable or unbreakable rule.
Each note in a scale has a particular musical function:
- Some notes establish the key center.
- Some notes define the tonality (major, minor, mixolydian, dorian, blues, etc.)
- Some notes create melodic-harmonic tension.
- Some provide melodic-harmonic release.
This will all make sense when you study the music theory and ear training for a variety of scale types–major, minor, mixolydian, dorian, and more–by ear, intellect, eye, and muscle.
Why Study Scales?
The study of Scales, done right, is essential to understanding how the overwhelming majority of music works. Studying and practicing scales like a musician–using all four of your musical intelligences–ears, intellect, eyes, and muscles–…
- Prepares you to recognize a scale when you hear it.
- Prepares you to recognize a scale when you see it in written music.
- Enables you to think about, hear, and play melodies in functional terms.
- Elevates your music reading from “painting-by-number” to deep understanding.
- Enables you to internalize music based on meaningful patterns, not brute force note-by-note memorization.
- Deepens your visuospatial awareness of the keyboard.
- Develops your piano technique.
- Expands your ability to play by ear.
- Broadens your scale vocabulary for composition and improvisation.
- Enables you to transpose melodies like a pro.
What “Knowing Your Scales” Isn’t
“Knowing your scales” does not mean mindlessly playing a scale up and down the keyboard over four octaves in parallel and contrary motion as fast as you can in both hands with bad technique, bad rhythm, no understanding of scale structure, no understanding of harmony, no musical intentions, and without your ears fully engaged.
Sidebar: Scale study, done right, is about training your brain, not your muscles. You’ll know you’re making progress when your brain, not you muscle, get tired.
The “Know Your Scales” Skill Set
Here, for your consideration, is a list of the knowledge and skills (in no particular order of importance or priority) that will help you perform better, not just get better grades on a music theory test:
- Name each note in the scale by its Letter Name.
- Describe the Scale Structure for the Scale using the Number System.
- Describe the Scale Structure for the Scale using the Solfege System.
- Name each note in the scale using the Number System.
- Name each note in the scale using the Solfege System.
- Name each note in written music using its Letter Name.
- Name each note in written music using its Number Name.
- Name each note in written music using its Solfege Name.
- Visualize the unique pattern of white and black keys on the keyboard.
- Name each note on the keyboard using its Letter Name.
- Name each note on the keyboard using its Scale Degree (number name).
- Name each note on the keyboard using its Solfege Syllable.
- Explain what each note in the scale does.
- Know the Key Signature and be able to write it on the grand staff (Treble and Bass clefs).
- Recognize when the scale or scale fragment is being used in written music.
- Be able to define the key center (Do) and tonality (major, minor, mixolydian, dorian, blues, etc).
- Recognize the unique sound-feeling of each note with respect to the key center.
- Recognize the unique sound-feeling of each note with respect to the other notes.
- Connect the unique sound-feeling of each note to its letter name, scale degree, and Solfege syllable.
- Construct, think about, hear, see, and play the chords than can be built using the notes in the scale.
- Construct, read, write, name, visualize, hear, and play the modes for each scale.
- Play each scale in musically meaningful patterns using easy fingering and choreography.
- Can you think of some others?
(*) Naming things is not a necessary performance skill. The Letter Names, Scale Degree Numbers, and Solfege Syllables are just like training wheels that you will quickly abandon as you build you learn to speak the language of music.
Sidebar: Music theory should always be integrated with ear training.
Knowledge & Skill Set Sample Questions
Q: What is the Key Signature of the key of Eb Major?
A: Three flats: Bb, Eb, Ab.
Q: What does Mi in a major scale do?
A: It defines the scale as major.
Q: What does Me in a minor scale do?
A: It defines the scale as minor.
Q: What is the leading tone in the key of F major?
A: The note “E”.
Q: What function does “Ti” typically perform in a Major Key?
A: “Ti” creates strong harmonic tension that wants to resolve to Do. “Ti” is called the “leading tone” because it naturally leads the ear back to the key center Do.
Q: What is the Letter Name of scale degree “6” in the key of D Major?
A: The note “B”.
(*) Naming things is not a necessary performance skill. The Letter Names, Scale Degree Numbers, and Solfege Syllables are just like training wheels that you will quickly abandon as you build you learn to speak the language of music.
Ways to Know a Scale
Letter Names & Keyboard Layout
The baseline skill that lays the foundation for every other skill…
Sample Question: What are the letter names of the notes in a G Major Scale?
Answer: G-A-B-C-D-E-F#-G.
Sample Question: Play them.
Answer: [insert video]
Literacy (Reading & Writing)
A sampling of music reading and writing skills that someone who really knows their scales should be able to demonstrate without hesitation…
Skill #1: Write the Key Signature and notes for a Bb Major Scale (and name them using their letter names, scale degree, and Solfege name in two octaves in both Treble & Bass Clef).
Skill #2: Write the Key Signature, notes, and diatonic triads for a Bb Major Scale (and name each chord using it’s Letter Name and Roman Numeral Name).
Reading & Writing the Bb Major Scale
The ability to map the melodic-harmonic function of each note in a scale to music notation is a huge advance in your musicianship.
Here, for example, is the Bb Major Scale written over two octaves in both treble and bass clef, along with the letter names, scale degrees, and Solfege syllables for each note…
Knowledge & Skill Set: Given the music notation and key signature, be able to identity the letter names, scale degrees, and Solfege syllables for any note in the scale.
Again, not just what these things are (nouns) but what they DO (verbs!)
If you study and practice your scales this way, melodic transposition is automatic!
Scale Structure, Scale Degrees & Solfege Ear Training
Study & Practice Idea: Read, play, and sing the notes in a Bb Major Scale over 1 octave, ascending and descending, using one finger, with a metronome at 60 beats per minute.
Sidebar: The goal here is to connect and internalize the letter names, scale degrees, solfege, reading, and pattern of black and white notes are on the keyboard. Play with your index finger for now. It’s ok if you playing using the standard fingering, but please start thinking choreography, not finger gymnastics.
[insert notation, keyboard, audio, and video]
Sample Question: What is the scale structure for all Major Scales (using Scale Degrees)?
Answer: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8(1).
Sample Question: What is the scale structure for all Major Scales (using Solfege Syllables)?
Answer: Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do.
Sample Question: What is the Letter Name of “Do” in the key of Bb?
Answer: “Bb”.
Sample Question: What is the Solfege name for F# in the key of E?
Answer: “Re”.
Diatonic Triads
Knowledge & Skill Sets:
- Given a key center and scale type (major, minor, etc.), name each chord by its Roman Numeral name, letter name, and type (major, minor, diminished)
- Know the letter names and Solfege syllables for the notes in each chord.
Sample Question: What are the diatonic triads in the F Major Scale?
Answer: F, Gm, Am, Bb, C, Dm, Edim.
Sidebar: Scales and chords are inseparably and intimately inter-related views of the same musical stuff. Knowing your chords helps you know your scales and knowing your scales helps you know your chords.
Diatonic Triads for the Bb Major Scale
Diatonic Triad Arpeggios for the Bb Major Scale
Study-Practice Idea: Play each triad as an arpeggio. As you play, say the chord name, and sing the letter names and sound names for each note out loud. Do this going either up or down the scale.
Diatonic 7th Chords for the Bb Major Scale…
Study-Practice Idea: Play each seventh chord as an arpeggio. As you play, say the chord name, and sing the letter names and sound names for each note out loud. Do this going either up or down the scale.
Modes
Ionian (1st) Mode of the Bb Major Scale
Dorian (2nd) Mode of the Bb Major Scale
Phrygian (3rd) Mode of the Bb Major Scale
Lydian (4th) Mode of the Bb Major Scale
Mixolydian (5th) Mode of the Bb Major Scale
Aeolian (6th) Mode of the Bb Major Scale
Locrian (7th) Mode of the Bb Major Scale
Performance
Never, ever, ever play scales as mere “exercises”… like mindlessly lifting weights or doing jumping jacks. Doing so is not good preparation for performance. You should study and practice scales in a way that helps you perform better.
To that end:
- Study and practice scales in musically-useful patterns (see below).
- Always play scales musically–with musical phrasing, articulation, and dynamics.
- Always play with good rhythm. In order to check your time, play with a metronome or click track.
- Always play with good technique. Never accept any tension or awkwardness in your execution. (see Piano Technique)
- Always, always, always play with your ears fully engaged. Hint: Sing the notes in your mind’s ear as you play, and play it like you sing it!
Here are some musically-useful scale patterns applied to the BbMajro Scale that combine reading, theory, keyboard awareness, ear training, fingering, technique, and interpretation all at once.
Many other musical patterns are also possible, but at this point you are better served by getting your study-practice material directly from the kinds of music that YOU want to play!
Takeaway #1. A scale is not just a row of notes to be mindlessly played up and down the keyboard as physical exercise day after day after day. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever play scales as mere “exercises”… like mindlessly lifting weights or doing jumping jacks. Why? Because doing so is NOT effective preparation for performance.
Bb Major Scale in Legato nine-Note Scale over I-V7-I Chord Progression
Ascending with crescendo, then descending with diminuendo…
Descending with diminuendo, then ascending with crescendo…
Bb Major Scale in Staccato Nine-Note Scale over a I-V7-I Chord Progression
Ascending with crescendo, then descending with diminuendo…
Descending with diminuendo, then ascending with crescendo…
Bb Major Scale in Duplets over 2 Octaves
Ascending…
Descending…
Bb Major Scale in Triplets over 3 Octaves
Ascending…
Descending…
Bb Major Scale in Broken Thirds
Technique Tip: This pattern absolutely requires lateral and rocking arm motion…
Ascending…
Descending…
Bb Major Scale in Broken Duplets (Two-Note Slurs)
Ascending…
Descending…
Bb Major Scale in Broken Triplets
Ascending…
Descending…
Many other musical patterns are also possible, but at this point you are better served by getting your study-practice material directly from the kinds of music that YOU want to play!
Relative Keys
Sample Question: What Minor Scale has the same key signature as A Major?
Answer: F# Minor (three sharps: F#, C#, G#).
Sample Question: What Mixolydian Scale has the same key signature as C Major?
Answer: G Mixolydian (no sharps or flats).
Sample Question: What Dorian Scale has the same key signature as D Major?
Answer: E Dorian (two sharps: F# & C#).
Relative Keys of Bb Major Scale
G Minor, F Mixolydian, C Dorian.
Words of Encouragement
Studying your scales so deeply and in so many ways may seem like an overwhelming task until you realize four things:
- You can study-practice many of these skills–reading, theory, ear training, chords, chord progressions, visuospatial keyboard awareness, fingering, technique, and interpretation all simultaneously.
- Each skill overlaps with every other skill, so that they mutually reinforce each other.
- Mastering your scales is a very learnable skill that requires no special talent. All it takes is the discipline to study and practice the right things the right way.
- The process of knowing your scales will become self-sustaining once you see the enormous benefits of do so.
Don’t worry if you don’t know all the above yet. That’s what the following lessons are for!!! Keep on browsing and doing. It will all make sense in no time!
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