Week 5 - Scale Week! The "V-W" System

Next week, as you know, we'll be playing scales. Our scales for the first half of the quarter are Eb, Ab and B, 2 octaves. Since this is the first time we're doing 2 octaves, you don't need to play at the tempo you were at last quarter. Go as slow as you need to with your metronome to keep it clean.

The fingering rules for black-key scales are what we call the "V-W" system. This means that you will use your first two fingers (2 and 3 in piano numbering) to play Db and Eb - making a "V", sort of like the Nixon Victory sign.

For the group of 3 black keys (Gb, Ab and Bb) you will use your first 3 fingers (2, 3 and 4 in piano numbering) which will look like a "W". The only challenge here is getting used to making the switch from the first to the second octave. Once you get comfortable with that, you're home free. You can do as many scales in a row as you like.

Get Into the Groove

We've been talking about how to play rhythmical patterns between the right and left hands. It's one thing to learn a rhythm in your right hand, for instance, but the difficulty is putting it together with the left hand. The trick to this is to break it down into small steps so that you can connect your hands together and develop a muscle-memory group that involves both hands.

Here's an outline that breaks it down to its most basic elements.

Let's take this pattern from "Isn't She Lovely". What we are going to do is break it down rhythmically - before we even touch the keyboard! As always, get the metronome involved.

1. First, figure out the right-hand rhythm, and tap it out on a hard surface (table, wall, whatever's handy). Find a metronome tempo that you can tap this rhythm to, and just tap along with the click using your right hand. Do this until it's automatic.


2. Now, it's time to take it to the keyboard. Play the first chord (C#min9) in rhythm with your right hand, along with the metronome.


3. Next, take your left hand and rest it on the keyboard near the C# in the bass clef. At this point, your left hand is doing nothing but introducing itself into the mix. Even though your left hand is not tapping, it’s becoming part of the physical connection with your right hand, and getting your right hand to consider its presence. Continue to play the pattern with your right hand along with the click and keep your left hand still.


4. The next step is to add your left hand as a downbeat only. Play the low C# and the C#min9 together on the first beat, and the rest of the pattern with your right hand. When you’re comfortable doing that, add the C# at beat 3 in the left hand, so that you are hitting beats 1 and 3 with your left along with the syncopated pattern in your right. Add the eighth notes in between, and you have your pattern in both hands. Once you have the basic pattern, you can play the next measure much more easily. Practice the first and second measure together, and so on.

The trick, of course, is the constant repetition until it becomes muscle memory, and slowly adding components to it until they, too become woven into the process. Whenever you face a keyboard challenge, this is the way to approach it - break it down to its smallest component, and repeat that component until it goes into muscle memory, then add the next component. Befor you know it, you're grooving!