Why do you have to practice scales ?

POSTED ON 27 MARCH, 2018 BY
BERNARDT JAMES (aka COBUS VAN DER WALT)

A lot of my students ask me when they start music lessons: Why do I have to practice scales ? They are boring !

Scales are the foundation and building blocks of music in any instrument.
You need to keep practicing scales all your life, otherwise you’ll lose it. Ask any concert pianist, they practice them every single day!

“Pianists are not born” they are made. Practice, practice and more practice.
We are not superheroes from some distant plant. We worked and practiced very hard.

I remember practicing at least 3 times a day. In the morning when I woke up. After school in the afternoon and evening before or after dinner. This was my daily routine and I wanted to do it.

Here’s some areas scales will improve in your playing:

Intonation – for most instruments like guitars and stringed instruments (except piano) there is a need to make sure we are playing in tune. Scales are the best way to check the tuning of every note.

Timing - To play together with other people or in an ensemble you need to have good time. The best way to develop this is to practice your scales with a metronome.

Muscle Memory – To simply explain it is that you program your brain. This is the greatest benefit of practising scales. Soon you’ll be able to play your scales without thinking. You simply just play them as they become a natural part of your. So many songs and especially in classic music have snippets of scales. Bach, Mozart and Beethoven to name a few used snippets of scales in their compositions.

Dexterity – one part of learning any instrument involves training different parts of the body to do new things. They will help you refine and increase your speed.

Some quotes from pianists:

“Personally I practise scales in preference to all other forms of technical exercises when I am preparing for a concert. Add to this arpeggios and Bach, and you have the basis upon which my technical work stands. Pianists who have been curious about my technical accomplishments have apparently been amazed when I have told them that scales are my great technical mainstay – that is, scales plus hard work… and I may reiterate with all possible emphasis, that the source of my technical equipment is scales, scales, scales…” Wilhelm Backhaus: (Germany, 1884-1969)

“I am old fashioned. I practise scales and arpeggios that I might need but don’t always use… I practise and have practiced long hours. After five hours I begin to get warmed up.” Rudolph Serkin: (Czechoslovakia, born 1903)

“The study of scales is more than necessary – it is indispensable. The pedagogical experts
of the world are practically unanimous upon this subject.” Josef Hofmann: (Poland 1876-1957)