Why Practice Scales?

Why Practice Scales?

Ed Dumas

When I browse through an old band music library, I am often surprised at some of the things that I find. The first thing that often surprises me is how much truly great music there is in the world of concert bands and that after all these years, I have still done only a fraction of it. The other thing that constantly surprises me is the state of pencil marks by band students on the sheet music. I am always surprised that these marks were never removed after so many years, and then I am also surprised how ineffective so many of these pencil marks are.

The one kind of pencil mark that drives me crazy is that of circling the key signature. When students are playing a piece of music and they play a wrong key on the instrument because of apparently not noticing a key signature, students are often then directed to circle the missed key signature. What I do not understand, though, is circling that key signature so many times that the number of musical failings at the key change is uncountable, and the pencil marks obliterate the new key!

This qualifies for Einstein’s definition of insanity which states “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” The trouble is not in circling the key signature, but in what does NOT happen afterwards.

Ideally, the student would review the band music at home as part of a larger practice routine, and therefore check for these circles. Some teachers direct their students to use stars, and that is just fine. Finding a circle or a star on the music would mean that this passage needs to be worked on until it can be played without error. Then, the circle or star is removed to not make the page illegible for future readings!

When I see students that are circling key circles numerous times without correction, I point out to them that the error is not that they circled the key change, but that they did not practice the scale that accompanies the new key. This is the first reason for practicing major and minor scales. This problem needs a closer examination.

Most students in secondary music programs work in a default key signature of Eb Concert. The reason for this is that the vast majority of early band music for beginning bands is written in the key of Eb. Note that the default is not normally the key of Bb which is the most common scale that teachers use to warm up the band. Eb is the most common key for young bands because it falls easier under their fingers and so much beginning music is written in Eb. But Bb is the scale that teachers prefer because it is within the playing range of most young players, especially the trumpets. This alone is the biggest reason for so many very young players messing up the seventh note in the scale of Bb!

The scale of Ab major sounds better in tune, but even better yet is Db major if the players can play all the flats correctly. You will know this is true if you hear a great band playing “On A Hymnsong of Philip Bliss” written by David Holsinger. The harmonies are stunning in Db, and can easily bring an audience to tears.

Now a default key is one to which most students will fall back when they do not have enough time to think, such as during fast passages or difficult counting. At those times, students will often “forget” to play in the new key, and run the difficult passage in the key of Eb. 

The trouble here is not that the students have “forgotten” the key change, but the fact that they have a default key that they go back to when stressed. The way out of this default is by practicing the scale that accompanies the new key. But, practicing it once or twice successfully will not suffice. The new scale must be practiced so much that it becomes as common as the default key, in effect helping to destroy any defaults at all. The finger patterns must be learned to the point that the fingers move to where they should go in the new key WITHOUT having to think about them. The musician’s intellect has enough to think about in the music without having to think about finger corrections from a default key.

The obvious scale objective would be for senior band students in their final year to be able to play all of the major and minor keys equally well without any sense of a default. To achieve this, you as the music teacher will need to spend time practicing these scales in class, assuming that your students will not do it unless you direct them to. 

Now I don’t think you will be practicing the B major scale in grade 8 band, as that is just unrealistic. That is a tough scale at any age and I doubt you would find many grade 8’s ready for it. But, you can lay out a plan in which all twelve major scales and accompanying minors are covered by the time the students graduate. 

As an illustration, you could reasonably expect grade 8’s to cover the Bb major, Eb major, and maybe the F major scales and their accompanying minors. Each year you can add in a few more until all twelve by sound (15 by sight) are covered by graduation. As a rule, do not go back to the Bb scale after grade 8 unless there is a reason for it, such as students needing a review. I always called the Bb scale the “Boring Flat” scale, because it has been done SO many times it is boring!

So, a good reason for practicing the major scales is intellectual. Students simply cannot know the scale if they have no familiarity with it. They will never know what the notes are on that scale if they have not encountered it before. The next reason is all about instincts.

Many years back I was asked to accompany a band on an England tour as their guest conductor. When we arrived I could see firsthand the perils of me trying to drive in England, which I refused to do. In short, I just could not be sure that my driving instincts would keep me alive until I had a fair bit of safe practice at it over there.

You see, here when there is a traffic emergency in front of us, we are taught to “brake” and “avoid.” In your mind, I am sure you pictured the avoid part the same way I do, which is swerving to the right. But in England, those instincts can get you killed by swerving into oncoming traffic. There you must swerve to the left to stay safe.

Now consider instincts from the perspective of the pedestrian. The highest number of traffic fatalities in London comes from tourists crossing their streets. Here in North America, we learn to look left, then right, and then cross. Most people here take shortcuts in that process by looking left, starting to cross the first lane of traffic, THEN looking to the right, and then crossing the second lane of traffic.

In England, that short-cut procedure will get you killed, and it often does. There you must look to the right first, as the traffic is travelling on the left side of the road, which is coming to you from the right. The problem is so large in England that major cities have taken to painting on the curbs just where you would step off “Look RIGHT!” with an arrow indicating right. Those signs are for tourists whose instincts will be radically different than the locals.

Now consider instincts from the perspective of the musician. Students that have never developed instincts in the new scales will forever be destined to “forget” the key changes no matter how many times they circle it. The fingers need to learn new pathways and need to know how to get there without the brain having to tell them which notes to “not play flat.” The default system will never work in getting to more challenging band music outside of Eb major.

There is a third important reason why students need to practice all of the scales, major and minor. Students need to learn to predict in sound which notes should come next in a progression of sounds. Even beginners, shortly after they have started in band, will be able to tell you that a scale is “wrong” if you play it for them purposely incorrect. Most, though, are too polite and would not point out to a teacher that the sound is off.

When they are permitted to do so, though, they can tell you that something is not right when you play the seventh note of the scale flat. They may not know what is wrong, but they can tell you that something is wrong. Use this as a springboard to teach tones (T) and semitones (ST) in scales, for what they hear is this order of tones and semitones.

When students come to understand that the order of tones and semitones in a major scale is T T ST T T T ST, then they can begin to intellectually understand why a scale is “wrong” in sound. They can also then understand that “wrongness” is relative, and that if the ear hears the same passage played incorrectly repeatedly, it will begin to sound correct. This takes less repetition than students care to admit, usually only a few times. Hence the now corrected saying “Practice does NOT make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.” 

With these thoughts in mind, practicing major scales and minor scales is now also done to create in the ears of the students predictability in the pitches that should be chosen. This predictability will tell students when a sound is not correct and lead them to develop the instincts required to play in any key. You can test this if you play three pitches to students and ask them to provide the fourth. The first three pitches would all be separated by a tone so that the fourth should be a semitone from the third. If you play for them the fourth pitch as a semitone above, they should recognize it as correct. But if you play the fourth pitch as a tone above the third they should recognize this as incorrect. If they do not, they have not yet developed the instincts necessary in that key.

The practice of scales will also help students learn what is common between all of the scales. That commonality is the sounds of the major scales, the natural minor scales, the harmonic minor scales, and the melodic minor scales. When they become familiar with all of the scale types they will soon be able to hear one scale and know if it is major, natural minor, harmonic minor or melodic minor. With practice, students have a great ability to learn these sounds but need to be exposed to them.

Here is one final thought for you. One of the greatest band posters that I have ever seen is this: “Amateurs practise until they get it right. Professionals practice until it cannot go wrong ever again.” They will need extensive practice on all the scales to develop instincts, predictability and sound recognition in each key. It is time to stop using Bb major scale as a warmup!