Technical Matters

Scales: What on earth are they for, anyway?

Why use a metronome?

Stretching and overuse injury prevention
 
 

First of all, what IS a scale?  A scale is a series of tones arranged in a pattern of half steps
and whole steps.  For example, the most common scale used is what we call a "major scale."
This scale's pattern of whole steps and half steps is W W H W W W H.
You then may ask, "What is a whole step?  What is a half step?"  Look at a piano keyboard.
Any two notes that are neighbors to each other are half steps.  Any two notes that have
just ONE key between them is a whole step.

Think of scales as the "ingredients" used to write music with.  The most common scales
used are the 12 major scales and the 12 minor scales.  Major scales lend themselves
to music that is cheerful. Minor scales tend to be more dramatic and perhaps described
as melancholy. Becoming proficient at playing all 24 is like any craftsman becoming
adept at using his or her tools of the trade they are involved in.  Once you learn an
individual scale, you are then able to recognize melodies that use that particular scale,
or even compose your own.  From there, you can come to learn how to formulate chords
from the same notes of the scale that will go with the melodies in that scale.
You will begin to see a bigger picture when scanning music as you come to recognize the
"ingredients" it was composed with.

Not only does your understanding and knowledge of music increase,
several other benefits arise as a result of coming to know your scales.  As you practice
the finger patterns, you develop better fingering technique.  As you hear your scales
over and over, your ears develop, also.  Your eyes and hands become able to move
quickly from place to place more automatically.  Your ability to sight read improves
as you come to understand the "grammar" part of this language we call music.  Need I
say more?  Ahh, yes, you also come to know your key signatures and that is another topic
for another time!  Now go practice your scales!
 

Return to top

One of the most common issues to arise with students, is the use of the metronome.
I have heard many a student say "the metronome messes me up!"

I understand frustration with the metronome.  I experienced the same sort of
frustrations as any student when first learning to use this tool.  Now I regard the
metronome as truly a pianist's "best friend."

Though, we should not use the metronome every time we practice a piece,
using the metronome for "proofreading" our playing of a piece or to master
a difficult passage, is a must.  Use of the metronome trains the player to
"listen" and then conform to the standard set by the metronome.
The metronome is like a coach that keeps a player moving forward.
Without it, we are often unaware of where we are inaccurate, pausing
at places of technical difficulty, thus never gaining in that area.

A metronome will help a student first recognize such trouble spots
and then to gain speed and ease in these difficult passages.  Start at a slow tempo,
even having one click for 8th notes, rather than the quarter note.   Change
the tempo of the metronome up notch by notch ONLY when the difficult
passage can be played with ease at the previous tempo.  When you reach about
120 = the 8th note, you can cut back to 60 = quarter note and thus have more
room to advance without the "clicks" coming too rapidly to hear comfortably.

The student hardly feels the difference when moving the tempo up notch by
notch, and yet can advance 20 points quite easily, often within one practice session.
However, if this student were to leave the metronome out of the picture and
try to play the same difficult passage rapidly right at the start,
he or she will experience "train wreck" after "train wreck".  This will result in a
well-practiced mess of mistakes!

I tell my students to trust me on this.  Toss pride and laziness out of the
window and learn to use your metronome!  Using the metronome to advance your
technical ability is a short cut in the long run.  IT WORKS!

Return to top

Here are some wonderful tips on stretching and overuse injury prevention from my husband,
who is an Occupational Medicine Physician.

Basic principles:
-find a way to warm up your entire body first, e.g., brisk walk, jog in place, etc.
-stretch just barely to the point of slight discomfort
-if it hurts afterwards, you are stretching too hard
-If you feel no discomfort while doing it, you aren’t stretching hard enough
-hold each stretch for 10-15 seconds—steadily, no bouncing.
-always do ALL the stretches, not just the muscles that give you a hard time
-very frequent, but gentle stretching is better than vigorous occasional stretching
 -typically a 30-60 second stretch break every 20-30 minutes is best
-forearm/wrist stretches must be done with the elbow fully extended out straight.
-wrist should hang limp, using the opposite hand to do all the work of stretching
-stretching is NOT an active exercise, it is a passive activity for the limb being stretched

Hand/Wrist/Forearm
1. palm down, stretch wrist both down and up
2. palm up, stretch wrist both down and up
3. twist entire arm clockwise and counter-clockwise
4. close thumb in fist and dive the “joystick” down

Shoulder
1. cross-body “scratch” opposite shoulder blade
2. doorknob straight out in front
3. doorknob straight out to side
4. doorknob straight out behind you
5. use the wall to go straight up

Neck
1. straight forward
2. straight back
3. straight forward and then to left and then to right
4. rotate right and then to left
5. tip to right and then to left
 

Return to top