Memorizing Scales

                A keysignature is a collection of seven pitches that a diatonic piece of music is composed of.  One could think of it as the pitch ingredients within the recipe of a song.  There are 21 total chromatic pitches in music.  This is a result of a seven letter musical alphabet in which each letter can be either sharp, flat or natural.  However, diatonic music selects seven of these 21 pitches as the pitch framework for a particular song.  Diatonic music is limited to one type of each letter in the musical alphabet. 

            The order in which sharps or flats are added to the list of the 7 pitches of a key signature is determined by a mathematical component of music called the circleof fifths.  The key of C major or A minor contains no sharps or flats, so this key signature acts as the starting point of the circle of fifths.  If we travel up a fifth from there (counting C or A as one) we reach the key that contain one sharp (G major or E minor).  Continuing up in fifths will reveal the tonic for two sharps, three and so on.  Traveling down a fifth from C or A will reveal the tonic of the key with one flat (F major or D minor).  Continuing down in fifths reveals the other flatted tonics.  This circle of fifths diagram graphically depicts the order of the cycle.  Major keys are listed in the outside circle and minor keys are listed in the inside one.  At the bottom of the circle, we reach a point where additional sharps or flats would be inefficient.  Once the number of flats or sharps in a key signature exceeds six the resulting key overlaps the opposite side of the circle.  For example, the key of C# major which contains 7 sharps is the enharmonic equivalent to Db major which contains only 5 flats.  For this reason, the circle of fifths diagram usually only depicts the simplest form of each key signature.  For a more in-depth discussion on the circle of fifths, please refer to my blog posts from 5/28/14 and 6/4/14

               A scale is a consecutive listing of the 7 pitches within a diatonic key.  In our previous lesson on key signatures, we discussed that a diatonic key is a selection of 7 of the 21 possible pitches in music.  The selection is limited to 7 because each letter in a diatonic key is limited to one type (either flat, natural or sharp).  The listing of pitches within a scale always starts and ends with the tonic pitch.  The purpose for practicing scales on our instrument is to familiarize ourselves with the 7 diatonic pitches of a given key.

                Music students often learn their scales by reading them off of a piece of sheet music.  To memorize the scales, they practice repeatedly until the movements required to perform the scale are committed to muscle memory.  This method of memorization can be unreliable since it does not employ a cognitive understanding of the pitches in the sequence.  This lack of cognition also robs the student of the true benefit of practicing scales, which is familiarizing ourselves with each key signature.  Once we can mentally distinguish the pitches of a particular key signature, we can free ourselves to play a musical passage without accidentally hitting pitches outside of the key.

                If we visualize the 21 pitches of music, we can practice picking out and naming the 7 consecutive pitches of a scale.  We start by naming the 7 letters of that scale, beginning with the tonic letter (name of the key or scale) and looping around the 7 letters.  This is something that can easily be memorized since it is the first 7 letters of the English alphabet.  Then we simply apply the key signature (derived from the circle of fifths) of that scale while naming the letters.  We practice naming and then playing each pitch of the scale while keeping a steady beat.  Gradually, we increase the tempo and decrease the delay between naming and playing the pitches (eventually this requires naming the pitches in our head instead of out loud).  Finally we reach a point where we can name and play the pitches almost simultaneously, and at a decent tempo.  This method provides the confidence of cognitive pitch recognition as opposed to mere muscle memory reliance. 

                This Learning Music With Ray video discusses the method I use to help my students memorize their scales.  The primary reason for the study of scales is to develop an understanding of key signatures.  Truly knowing a scale frees musicians to mentally contain themselves within the confines of a given key.    In this video, I use the circle of fifths and a display of the 21 chromatic pitches to practice visualizing the seven pitches of a particular scale.  I demonstrate a process of naming and playing each pitch that ensures cognitive recognition of each pitch in the scale.