Piano scales got you crying and wanting to pull your hair out? Feeling like you’ve finally mastered them and can play them all pretty solidly and error-free? Thinking it’s time to quit practicing them and move on to bigger and better things?
I’ve got good news and bad news.
The bad news, you can’t stop. They are the foundation of everything you do as a keys-player.
The good news, we can make it fun and interesting again!
Piano Scales + Variations
There are tons of variations for changing up the way you practice scales. This week we’re going to do a 2-octave remix, or as I affectionately like to call it, Piano Scales 2.0.
Grab your metronome and set up a moderate tempo, a great place to start is around 70-75bpm. Play hands together and play two notes per beat. When you get to the top of your scale, instead of playing the final RH note with your RH pinky play it with your RH thumb. That will reset your right hand to keep going up for another octave! Get your LH caught up by playing the next note of your second octave with your LH 4th finger.
Here’s a quick demonstration!
Once you can nail this pretty well, increase that tempo!
Speed + Dexterity
Playing your piano scales like this can double as dexterity and speed drills, depending on how you approach it so change it up from time to time. When your goal is speed, don’t worry about accuracy. When your goal is dexterity, keep it slow enough to play it 100% accurately the first time.
And voilá! Scales are fun again.
Weekly Challenge 💪🏻
Take yesterday’s Scales 2.0 variation and use it for at least two different scales. Keep it in the “skills” camp and aim for slow accuracy. If you need to slow it down significantly, do that in order to keep it accurate.
For my overachievers, do this for every key!
Practice that this week and then post a video of your success in Tuesday’s Brag Box.
Drill of the Week! 🎶
This week’s drill is going to focus on Left Hand dexterity! This one is very simple but is aimed to target the weak muscles of the left hand. So after doing this one you should feel a little muscle fatigue if you’re doing it right. 🙂
CLICK HERE to view the demonstration
Be sure to play slowly and steadily in the beginning. Don’t pick up the speed until you can play the whole thing without mistakes!
Practice this exercise 1x daily, going up and back down the keyboard.
RESOURCES
I’m getting ready to open enrollment for a new round of Coaching! If you’re interested in hearing more, join the waitlist!
And don’t forget to join our Worship Community group. We’re going to be learning a lot together in the coming weeks!
