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Students Tip 9
WORKING THOSE SCALES & ARPEGGIOS #1

Dear Friends,

Just checking up on you:

  1. Did "The Joy of Scales and Arpeggios"(Tip #8) help you understand how important they are?
  2. Did you check out the music you're working on to see if scales and arpeggios (S & A) are, in one form or another, everywhere?
  3. Did you then run--not walk--to practice your scales and arpeggios?
  4. And have you, therefore, formally concluded--in the deepest part of your being--that getting your S & A down cold will mean you've "pre-learned" most of the music you'll ever play or sing?
For a loving reminder of how to practice your S & A so you do get them "down cold," have another look at Tip 1.

If your answers are yes, yes, yes, and yes... bravo! Let's get on with Tip 9. (If not, you know what to do.)

OK, here we go. Most of the scales and arpeggios in the examples in Tip 8 were pretty obvious, right? To nail them, you'd just have to practice the right scale and arpeggio. As a reminder, here's the Queen of Sheba example:

Queen of Sheba

Now, when you hunted for the S & A in the music you're working on, I'll bet they weren't so obvious. If, for example, you're a flutist working on the C Major Handel Flute Sonata, you'd see plenty of scale-like motion, but the complete scale wouldn't jump out like it did in the Queen of Sheba example. Have a look and a listen:

Handel 1

You saw and heard the scale-like motion, but where's Ms. Full Scale? To find it, we have to know that scale and arpeggio notes are sometimes separated by other notes. Now look and listen again to the same example. I've made the Notes of Ms. Full Scale louder and the others softer:

Handel 1a

I'll bet you heard the full scale very clearly. If we take away the separating notes, here it is:

Handel 2

Now here's Ms. Full Scale surrounded by her loyal, but somewhat subservient, separating notes:

Handel 2a

Now that you can see and hear the full scale--the obvious question is: So What? Here's So What:

These three measures are really two lines--melody and accompaniment; the scale is the melody, and the separating notes are the accompaniment. If you really want to play this musically (not like some 16th note exercise), practice the melody and the accompaniment separately (and, of course, slowly). First practice the melody.

Let's take these scale notes--the melody--and make them longer. Then, since the music is rising, crescendo from measure one to the beginning of measure 3 to express the striving of the notes to reach the top…like you're in a cherry tree reaching, stretching to get that red, ripe cherry that's just... right... there:

Handel 3

Now, the accompaniment; it should be softer than the melody. Practice it very slowly so that you can get it really, really soft:

Handel 3a

I added the precautionary pp in the second measure because we want to keep the accompaniment soft throughout and, as the notes rise, we all have a tendency to make them louder.

Now it's time to put the melody and accompaniment together. Do it so very, very slowly that you can control the dynamic of each note.

Handel 1a

I'm sure it sounds far more musical now that you've found the full scale, isolated it, and practiced it as the melody…then identified the accompaniment, isolated it, and practiced it very softly.

Take a look at the music you're working on and find the "hidden" scales. Unless your music is from the Baroque or Classical Period, they probably won't be as clear as they are in this example, but do persist…and you're such to be able to apply what you've learned in this Tip.

With All Best Wishes,
David Barg


David Barg, Learning Center Director
The Classical Archives, LLC
email: david@prs.net

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