OK, Its dumb question time !!!

by Maddogron Fri Sep 26, 2008 8:37 am

This is day two of learning the piano. I have went over 20 of your videos and learned everything from cords to circle of fifths.
Even tho I say learned it doesn't mean I can play everything, just thats its in my head.

Now I have went over and over about scales. I know about them and know how to figure them out, but here's the dumb part.

I started with the C maj scale , I go back and forth working on my fingering then my wife asked " why am I doing that? "
And she's right. Why am I learning scales? Sure I can see how it helps me learn fingering and it helps me know what key
I'm starting on ( like C for the C scale ) but I'm lost after that. I'm not learning what notes come after that "I just know my fingers goes there. Can you tell me what the main thing I'm learning here. Is it the fingering or should I be calling out each key
that I press. Just feel a little dumb and lost on this one.

And again Thank You for your time.
Ron

by Thomandy Fri Sep 26, 2008 8:42 am

Many reasons Smile

The key that the piece is written in is of course the foundation, the groundstructure. You you can move easly trough the scale it will be easyer to play a piece in that key. You will also much easyer understand what notes are flat and sharp just by looking at the sheets since you already know you dont have to dubble and tripple check all the time. You get stronger fingers and coordination and speed by practicing scales. You get mot confidence, more control and security by knowing the scale. And there are probably more reasons, but thos are the ones from the top of my head! Smile

VictorCS wrote:This might seem out of the wild:
"And scales are the ultimate beauty, the blend of ugly and pretty, the best of the best....

It's like humans, as more normal you look, as more beautiful you will be...
( broken english.... ^_^ )"

Lets pretend the keys are a puzzle, and all 12 keys makes the puzzle complete. In the complete puzzle you have sadness,
happiness and other feelings. By only using 5-6-7 keys/bricks you puzzle a puzzle without some of the bricks...
Lets say you play a minor scale, then you remove the happy brick/key, while when playing a major you remove the sad brick/key.

Each scale has it's own feelings/mood, and it depends on what part of the puzzle/image you remove.
Remove all of the bricks, but not the spanish city, and you got a spanish sounding scale.

A song written in A doesnt need to stay in A all the time, but it would want to go back to A, lets imagine all the scales are the world, and the song is written in L.A,
then you travel to Las Vegas, San Fransisco, New York and Miami, but you'll want to go back to Los Angeles at the end. Cities are the scales,
while the different places in that city is the keys of a scale. You could just make a L.A song, but to make it more interesting you travel to other cities/scales.
Usually you want to head back home, but songs do break rules, so it might be that you travel from L.A to N.Y and stays there.

A piece written in A minor has A minor as its home