THE EARS and fingers feel orderliness in the arrangement of tunes long before we ourselves are conscious of any logical arrangement of the tones or the need to learn how to play scales. Since the ear player more or less feels his way along, rather than rationalizing it, he is able to progress far without any intellectual effort. The time comes, however, no matter how good he may be, when he reaches the limit of this easy development and his progress in music slows down or completely stops.
Few ear players progress beyond this point; it is too tedious for them to begin anew with the rational theory of music and develop it to the level which they have attained in performance with so little effort. Those who learn to play by note carry more or less of this theory right along with them as they improve their performance. Their playing is both developed and limited by intellectual manipulation.
The most efficient way of learning to play an instrument obviously lies somewhere between the two. So it is necessary to learn how to play scales. That is, the ear player should rely upon his ear as far as possible; but at the same time he should be conscious of the relationships which he is hearing and should use his knowledge when his ear fails. How valuable this ability is will be apparent to the reader if he will take the trouble to understand the system of scales.
Tonic
The basis of all the music which the ear player is likely to attempt is in a certain key; it gets its effect largely from the relation of the tones to the tonic or basic keynote. You have probably already attempted many tunes in different keys. In order to gain facility in doing this, it is well worth while to practice how to play scales. This should not be continued to a point where it becomes drudgery; but playing scales is fun and makes progress in learning new tunes much faster.
Half-steps
The piano is constructed in the key of C. That is, if you play all the white keys on the piano, you are playing the scale of C. Begin on C and play up or down the next seven tones and you will recognize the familiar scale. The characteristic of the major scale is that the half-steps come between 3 and 4, and 7 and 8, where there is no black key. All the other intervals are whole steps. Thus, the C scale runs:
C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
½ 1/2
Flats and Sharps
When a tune requires other notes than those in the scale, we call these tones “accidentals.” When the tone is lowered and uses the black key to the left, it is called a flat; when the tone is raised and uses the black key to the right, it is called a sharp. Thus, G# and Ab are the same key. All the scales except C, however, require the use of one or more black keys. These keys are not considered accidentals then, since they belong to the scale; instead, if the b or # is removed, the tone is considered an accidental, since it is foreign to that scale. Now, if we play the scale of D, it will run:
D E F# G A B C# D
Notice that the scale of D has two sharps: F# and C#.
Now you know how to play scales and can play scales beginning on any note you wish. Do not figure them out by steps and half-steps but trust to the ear to tell you what the next note will be. You will find that the ear soon develops a fine discrimination and is able to determine whether the next tone is a half or a whole step. It is of the utmost importance that you let the ear do the work; only by this procedure are the scales helpful in your ear playing.
Learning how to play scales is an important step in your training as a player of music.
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