I am completely insane when it comes to scales, chords, and arpeggios. If you study with me, you WILL learn them. Learning your scales will improve BOTH technique, and general music theory knowledge- it's like eating your spinach. If you are a former student of mine, you will probably remember my famous scale chart: After years of creating one with a ruler and markers, I've finally created a digital scale chart- I can just print a new one every semester (September, January, May). This will print out perfectly on 11x17 paper. At the beginning of every semester, each student begins with a blank row- they have to earn their stars, but can earn as many as they want in one sitting- building on what they remember from the past. At the "end of the semester" recital, the students with the most stars in each level (beginner, intermediate, advanced) receives an award. I do award ties, and honorable mentions. Beginner LevelI begin teaching scales as soon as a student can comfortably identify and play on the white keys. At this point, they've mastered the musical alphabet, and their finger numbers. All of my students start with 2 octave scales- it is hard to go from 1 octave scales to 2 octave scales, but easy to add another octave once you've mastered 2. Plus- I believe that if you set the bar high, kids will rise to the occasion. Scales are difficult- no doubt, but not impossible AND there is something exciting about mastering something that is difficult. For my beginners, they get a star on the chart when they've mastered the scale in 2 octaves with the right hand alone. They get a star on the chart when they've mastered the scale in 2 octaves with the left hand alone. Most kids get the first two stars pretty quickly. Here's the tough one- they get a star when they can play both hands together, AND the 2 octave arpeggio hands separate (left hand crosses the right hand for the octave). This is HARD. For many kids, this is the first time they are playing hands together, AND they are NOT working together. However, once they've mastered the C scale hands together, G is not difficult- as a matter of fact, the F-sharp in the right hand is very helpful, because it is the only place you will put your fourth finger. For each scale, the student will receive a star for mastering the right hand, left hand, and hands together/arpeggio technique. Once a student has gotten to F major and B major, they are now learning new fingerings (C,G,D,A,and E are identical fingerings) and are ready to move to the intermediate level. Intermediate LevelOnce a student reaches the intermediate level, they know all of their white key scales hands together and arpeggios hands separate (2 octaves with the left hand cross over). They are now ready to learn their primary chords and inversions, and chord progressions, for the white key scales, put hands together for the arpeggios, and learn their black key scales, arpeggios, chords, inversions and progressions. In order to get the star for the intermediate level, they must: 1. Play the scale in 2 octaves, hands together 2. Play the arpeggio in 2 octaves, hands together 3. Play the 3 primary chords of the scale in all three positions (I,IV,and V chords in root position, 1st inversion, and 2nd inversion) 4. Play the standard chord progression: I,IV,I,V(7),I (depending on the student's knowledge, we add the 7th to the V chord) Student's remain at the intermediate level until they have mastered ALL of the major scales- white and black key. Once they have started to explore the minor scales, and understand the three types of minor scales, they are ready to move to the advanced level. Advanced LevelAt the advanced level, a student must do all 4 of the intermediate tasks, BUT now has to add the metronome to #1-#2. Metronome set at 60bpms: 1 octave scale and arpeggio in quarters 2 octave scale and arpeggio in eights 3 octave scale and arpeggio in triplets 4 octave scale and arpeggio in sixteenths By this level, a student should understand all of the basic theory of each scale, and now masters technique- plus get a better grasp of subdivision. For the minor scales, I talk students through all three scales (natural minor, harmonic minor, melodic minor), but when it comes to playing, they play the harmonic minor scale- and understand that by raising the 7th degree of the scale, they help support the harmony by keeping the V chord major, and realizing that Ti always wants to go to Do. As I write this down, it seems like I have crazy high expectations of my students, but in the 16 years I've been teaching, this has remained one of my best methods. My students do meet my expectations. They move quickly through the method books because most of the knowledge is already grasped through learning the scales. They enjoy seeing how their friends are doing, and trying to keep up, or rooting each other on- while it is a competition, it has always been a fun, friendly one. This will prepare students for learning jazz or pop music in addition to classical, so again, it is putting them in a position to guide their own studies. And this is my overall goal as a teacher- to enable my students to eventually leave me, and play and enjoy the piano in whatever way they want. Thanks for reading! Now go practice!
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It's hard to argue the fact that the most important thing you can teach your piano students is how to practice. Across the board, EVERYONE needs to practice- we practice sports, presentations, speeches, we do mock interviews, and debates. A good chef will try a recipe before serving it to others. A good writer journals regularly. We need to practice our craft- it's how we get better. Unfortunately, I get so many transfer students who haven't been taught HOW to practice. They bring notebooks to me full of assignments with notes to practice X,Y, and Z. When I ask students how they practiced, they usually say something about 30 minutes a day. They sit down and play for 30 minutes. I would say that at least 50% of my lessons are focused creating a practice strategy. As a teacher, you will get 14% of a student's time at a piano (if they practice 30 a day every day), so you better be sure that when they leave, they are prepared to go home and master that new technique. I ask my kids to do a certain number of reps, rather than a certain time on the clock, and we do that short practice session together. If they sit down and get busy, they can usually knock my assignments out in 20 minutes, and they WILL improve. Practice doesn't have to take forever, but it does need to be FOCUSED. My goal is to get them to sit down to the piano for at least a short time everyday- this is way more effective than one or two long sessions. Okay... scales. I am totally OCD about scales. I teach them early- way earlier than the method books recommend. I start my students with scales as soon as a student feels comfortable with the white key names. They usually haven't started reading the staff yet. When I notate the scales in their assignment book it usually looks something like this: The fingering for scales is identical backwards and forwards, so your fingers actually follow your eyes- to go up, read left to right. Going down, right to left. I teach scales so early for several reasons: 1. It helps them understand the need for good technique (you can't have a bad wrist position and slide your thumb under comfortably, etc.) 2. It reinforces the finger numbers, while not associating a finger number with a note: i.e.- C will not always be under your thumb in the RH and pinkie in the LH. 3. It reinforces the sound and harmonic progression of traditional western music at the very beginning of music making. They already know this sound instinctively. 4. It shows us how to move comfortably up and down the piano in all keys using various patterns. Students will instinctively understand why you don't put a thumb on a black key without you actually needing to explain it. You can eliminate weird fingering at the very beginning. 5. By the time you get to key signatures, your student will already understand it. 6. By the time you get to switching positions, your student will already be navigating the keyboard comfortably. In a slightly insane twist, I also start my students out with two octave scales instead of just one. As a student, my first teacher who taught me one octave scales, and when I switched, the new teacher made me do two. It was so difficult adding that second octave it was like learning the whole scale over again. BUT, if you can play two octaves, you can do three or four. It's difficult to add to one, but not to two. In my experience, your kids will rise to meet your expectations, so set the bar high. This is achievable, AND will save them stress in the long run. In my opinion. I have three scale levels in my studio- Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. I usually set up a chart in September, and again in January, and everyone starts at the beginning and plays as many scales as they can. At the end of the "semester" (December and May), the student with the most scales learned in each category receives some sort of prize. You've gotta make scales fun in some way, because who really wants to practice scales? Here are my criteria for each level: Beginner- receive a "pass" for each hand alone, and then hands together. They are also doing arpeggios- one hand, two octaves (LH, RH, LH crosses, then back down). Students stay in the Beginner level until they have successfully passed C,G,D,A,E,B, and F scales hands together. Once a student has gotten to B and F, which are slight fingering variations from the "norm", they are now ready to do scales with "unique" fingering. Intermediate- These students need to do their scales hands together, the arpeggio two octaves hands together, and the I,IV,V,I chord progression to "pass". FYI, I teach V and NOT V7 in the chord progression. This way when you're teaching inversions, you can already demonstrate first inversion chords (the V chord), and second inversion chords (the IV chord) and save teaching 7th chords for another day. My Intermediate students need to add F#, C#, Bb, Eb and Ab scales to the beginner scales. At this point, they should know ALL their major scales, including black key scales, chords, and arpeggios. They have started on minor scales and understand the difference between the three types of minor scales, but are playing the harmonic minor scale. Advanced- All the scales, both black and white in major keys, plus arpeggios with the metronome set at 60- 1 octave in quarter notes, 2 octaves in eighths, 3 octaves in triplets (hard!), and 4 octaves in sixteenths. I have yet to actually have a student complete ALL the minor scales. Black key minors are HARD! Again, everyone starts back at C at the start of the "semester". You can come in and pass all your scales in one week if you can. The student with the most scales at the end wins fame and glory beyond their wildest dreams. Or... An iTunes gift card. Anyway... In my studio, my desire to help students develop practice skills and my insistence that all students learn scales have led me to develop some helpful strategies. Here is one where the scale is broken down into four smaller sections: ascending 1 octave, ascending the second octave, descending 1 octave, descending the second octave. You can watch me break this down for a young student- I'm excited to see what next week will bring! Depending on the student, you could just do ascending one week, and descending the second week, and then put them together the third week. There are many variations that you can make to this. The key strategy: create a systematic approach, break it down into more manageable sections, and master the scale!
You can do it! |
Amy Riffle-Kouyeasis a professional pianist, teacher, singer, and Music Director currently residing in Snohomish, Washington. She is the Director of Music at Peace Lutheran Church in Monroe, WA, and also teaches private piano, voice and ukulele lessons at The ARK in Snohomish, WA. |