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| WHAT does this even mean? I am filled with unease. |
I've realised that I know nothing about the theory of scales.
Usually when I'm playing/learning scales I see the shapes of them, as in movements up or down semi tones are like traversing mountain ranges. Scales are like journeys.
Which means I actually couldn't tell you offhand how many flats or sharps a scale or key would have, but the trail of the journey would be mapped in my mind.
It's the same with keys. I'd have a certain feeling for each key, but wouldn't be able to think now what they were without looking at the notation on sheet music. They're also like little scribbled paintings at the start of each piece.
All of these things are contained in the anatomy of my hands. My hands remember feelings and shapes, and are ready to play a Dm scale without my mind being able to articulate or even understand the theory behind them.
Could this possibly be a flaw in the teaching of the untouchable (as far as my discipline and persistence would go) R___________? I remember that B__________ (my violin teacher) was appalled that I couldn't tell her the makeup of any scales.
For the record, they have different shapes on the violin.
Fumbling Through Minor Scales by vitamin C
5 comments:
Personally, Jessica, I think for an artist it's a great asset not to know too much.
It's a fact of arithmetical life that if you start on a very low note on the piano and keep going up in perfect 5ths you'll have played all the 12 available notes before you get back to the note you started from. If there's a c somewhere in the middle of that series, then as you go up from it you'll need more and more sharps to play the tune known as a major scale starting on the note you've reached. As you go down from the c, you'll need more and more flats.
Good Dustmen Always Empty Bins For Customers! And then of course there were the Five Boys Eating A Dinner Gone Cold...
hello boys :)
Thank you both so much for your comments.
@nothingprofound - your slick reply has been quoted by other people on twitter. You should be either proud or appalled :D
@Dominic - I'm still trying to make what you said compute in my head. It will. I might just take a while. I'll let you know when the penny drops?
I think essentially my question is why do we practice scales so much?
Jessica, thanks for alerting me about the Twitter thing. I'm delighted. What happier news for an aphorist than to hear he's being quoted?
np, N.P. ;) it's pretty deadly isn't it?
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