Does practicing scales make sense? Everybody knows that practising scales and other sorts of up-and-down-the-keyboard-exercises belong to a proper classical piano education.
But these elements of learning piano also have a kind of bad reputation.
Often scales and broken chords are considered a very boring activity that you may be forced to do if you're unlucky and your teacher turns out to be of the old-fashioned type.
In the worst case, these endless scales and broken chords become a reason for people to quit playing piano altogether.
Few people begin playing piano because they want to be able to play a perfect scale or arpeggio up and down the keyboard - what most people want to focus on is real music.
So, are they really necessary? Isn't it possible to do without these stupid exercises, that have the potential to bore us so much that they kill our love and enthusiasm for the piano? Well, I would say that it would be very possible to do without much of the perfectly senseless practicing of scales just for the sake of it.
For instance, learning scales and broken chords in all major and minor keys, for somebody who hasn't ever played a single piece with more than two or three flats or sharps in it is totally unnecessary.
The point is that the practicing of scales and arpeggios should always relate to the music we want to end up making.
Music is made up of scales and chords.
That is why it makes sense to get to know them in a systematic manner, so that you are not completely taken by surprise every time they show up in your music.
To learn standard fingerings by practicing scales and broken chords will actually save you a lot of time if done in a well-judged manner.
Piano teachers have a real challenge here: to make their pupils feel the need for and the good of these exercises.
If you don't understand why you are practicing your scales, I am afraid they won't do you much good.
So, here is one way to start making sense of scales: Begin by looking at a piece that you would like to play really well.
It might be something that you already tried but found a bit too difficult, or something that you've always wanted to play but weren't quite ready for.
Look if there are scales or broken chords in your piece, and in that case in which keys they appear.
Then take your first steps towards being able to play this piece by practicing these scales, both in the exact form they have in the piece, and in the more abstract way we usually do it, for example playing the c major scale from one c to another in a number of octaves, up and down.
Always play your scales and broken chords with care and musical feeling.
They should be considered melodic exercises and not just mechanic ones.
And the moment they begin to bore you, just leave them and start practicing something else!