note, musicScales. I used to hate ‘em. I used to fiddle and fudge on my piano bench to waste the 30 minutes I had to practice. It was pure torture. Fortunately, my kids don’t think that way.

Everyone knows you have to play scales. They improve you ear and dexterity, whether it be major, minor, melodic minor, chromatic . . . etc. The point is you have to play them so why not learn to like them? Whether it be Liberace or Beethoven many of their songs included octaves of scales and Bach’s fugues were a myriad of scales and counter melodies to the scales. Scales traditionally go from low to high and back and are repeated.

When I was taking guitar lessons my instructor, a jazz player, never bothered with “The Old Gray Goose” or “Three Blind Mice.” he went right into scales. But these were “blues” scales, adding the flatted 3rd and 5th and he explained how Jimmy age played these notes in different keys. I was immediately enamoured and practiced these scales until my fingers were swollen. Why? Because these weren’t scales, these were blues riffs! My nstructor took the ho-hum out of playing scales by just adding a couple of notes and mentioning a guitar hero.

My aunt told me that her teacher said the same thing to her about Liberace. “Barbara, Liberace plays scales and arpeggios all through his songs.” My aunt immediately clued in on scales and became a good player. Same thing. Her teacher took the “Old Gray Goose’ out of her music program.

So, music teachers, make scales fun by providing a link. Oh, I know it doesn’t work all the time but your student might just develop a love for the real thing if they can associate a scale with something he or she loves.