How to Practice Scales on the Piano

Music is often described as a language. A language that, as the Bobby McFerrin video in a previous post demonstrated, exists naturally in all of us. Just as we have to learn vocabulary, sentence structure, and grammar in any language, the same applies to music; scales and arpeggios are the building blocks of the musical language. 

Josef Lhevinne in Great Pianists on Piano Playing by James Cooke reveals that the first five years of a typical eight to nine years of study at Russian Conservatories consist of "building the base upon which must rest the more advanced work of the artist". Translation: SCALES AND ARPEGGIOS. The students don't get to pieces until the last three to fours years of their program! 

So now that we know the importance of practicing scales, what do we do about the monotonous and boring aspect? That's easy, you VARY the scale practice. In the same book, Lhevinne says the teacher is largely to blame if a student finds scale practice to be boring; it's because the student "has not been given enough to think about in scale playing, not enough to look out for in nuance, evenness, touch, rhythm, etc." I'm happy to say I've never had a student groan or express disinterest in practicing scales. 

Had experience with a teacher varying your scale practice like this? Teachers, tried these variations with your students? Have any other variations? Share your experiences  in the comments below!

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"The practice of scales and arpeggios need never be mechanical or uninteresting." -Josef Lhevinne

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Different Ways to Practice Scales (roughly sequenced in the order I have my students try these in):

• Start from top of the scale first
• Start soft, crescendo to top, then back to soft. Vice versa. 
• Start with hands 2 octaves apart
• Accent first note of every group of four 16th notes, shift the accent to the second note of every group, then third, then fourth
• Play with eyes closed
  
• Vary the balance between two hands: RH loud, LH soft, vice versa
• Cross the hands
• Vary rhythms
• Play with different articulations: short, really short, slightly detached, legato, legatissimo (overlap each note)
• ANY COMBINATION OF 2 OR MORE OF THE ABOVE!

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